Kerala Engineering entrance exam to turn online from next year; 100 exam centers

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Kerala Engineering Entrance Exam will be conducted online from next year. Cabinet meeting will soon give permission for the decision. Tenders will soon be invited from companies with technical expertise to conduct the test. Three companies have expressed interest.

At present, the entrance exams conducted by the Entrance Commissioner, except for this one, are conducted online. Currently, the exam consists of two papers namely Physics-Chemistry and Mathematics. It is recommended by the Entrance Commissioner to conduct it as a single paper of three hours duration (300 marks questions). It is modelled after the JEE exam for all India engineering admissions.

There are no computer and internet facilities to conduct the exam in a single phase for which about one and a half lakh candidates are appearing. 15,000 children each will be made to write the exam over several days. Two exams will be held in January and May. It is recommended that the highest score in this be considered for rank and percentage score method adopted as in All India Examinations. Currently, 5 exams including LLB, PG Nursing and MBA entrance exam K-MAT are conducted online.

Result will be within a week and cost will be reduced

If made online, the answer key can be published the next day and the score within a week. As the rank list will get published faster, admissions can also be made earlier. As OMR answer sheet and question paper printing will not be required, that expenditure will be reduced.

Meanwhile, securing computers, internet and electricity in all centers in districts like Idukki and Wayanad will be a challenge.

Method of Examination

• Computers will be set up for children in examination centers
• Two laptops in examination centers to transfer questions to them
• Children have to click on the correct answer
• After saving, the answers will be recorded on the server

Uncertainty in pharmacy

At present, the pharmacy exam is conducted along with the engineering entrance exam. The first paper of the engineering exam is Physics-Chemistry. B.Pharm will have to be conducted as a separate exam with the addition of mathematics as a single paper in online exam. Otherwise only questions other than Mathematics will have to be considered.

100 Online Exam Centers

“The online examination will be flawless.

- Office of Minister R. Bindu