New Delhi: As soon as the tentative timeline for the Common University Entrance Test (CUET) for the new academic session of 2022-23 was announced, my WhatsApp groups of fellow students pursuing doctorates, which had been dormant of sorts since the start of Covid-19 pandemic, suddenly got abuzz.
Debates ranged from the short time provided to Class 12 students to prepare for another test right after they finish and recover from the board exams to forming a new strategy to get admission in prestigious colleges where the cut-off was the last word.
While the success rate of CUET is yet to be tested, I believe this common entrance test format for undergraduate students will not only be a boon but a game-changer.
Centralisation
First and foremost, students’ utmost priority was to keep track of when universities and colleges are coming out with their admission forms. It is almost like maintaining a calendar to know the important dates for forms, admission procedures to follow, dates for entrance exams (wherever applicable). The process of buying and applying (online or offline) forms also incurred monetary expenditure.
With CUET, there will be no hustle of filling out multiple forms for different universities, which means money can be saved in the process.
Tracking University-Wise Syllabus Or Requirements
As most of the students keep their options open, they often try to crack entrance exams of various central universities like Aligarh Muslim University, University of Allahabad, Jamia Millia Islamia or Assam University.
Students will go in rigorous or strenuous preparation mode keeping in mind the different syllabi prescribed by different central universities.
As CUET rolls out in the new academic session, it will be easy for students to prepare for just one entrance test with one syllabus to keep in mind.
Fair Representation Of State Board Students
It has always been hotly debated that the state boards are stricter than the centralised boards like CBSE or ICSE in terms of evaluation. This has created a huge gap in terms of marks obtained by students depending on the boards they have attended.
Cut-off marks for certain colleges of Delhi University remain upward of 95%. This has created an unfair disadvantage for state board students, who were not at par in terms of numbers with their peers from CBSE or ICSE.
CUET will be the new leveller as a common entrance test will help students decide their fate rather than boards enabling or disabling them to enter a particular university.
Clarity – Date Clash, Rankings And Choices
Earlier, a student interested in a particular undergraduate subject would apply to as many universities as possible and wait for the earliest merit list or entrance results to be out.
That student can either join the first university providing admission or wait for the declaration of results by another university.
The conundrum of either to take admission or to wait for more results to be declared has always been one anxiety-filled period. And often the last date for admission and declaration of results of different universities clash, leaving a student under the immense pressure of choosing the first option rather than the best.
CUET will end this issue for students and one can plan based on their rankings rather than dates.
Easy Way To Explore Universities
Even after the admission process was made online, it was difficult to explore all the options available at hand. It is because ultimately the students would have to travel a distance or visit multiple centres to explore various universities.
This CUET will give a fair judgement to students, as to where all they can apply for admission based on one single merit if they are not making it to one of their likeable destinations. CUET will open doors for students to easily navigate a wider range of university options.
Proven Track Records Of Common Entrance Test By NTA
Centralised tests JEE and NEET are already held for undergraduate engineering and medical courses, proving that NTA has a better mechanism of organising national-level common tests. Hopefully, CUET will be a fair test like JEE and NEET. The board exam will not be the criterion for deciding the college one gets. This would relieve students of the Class 12 board stress. The merit list prepared by the NTA will be the sole criterion for getting admission to universities or colleges.
The author is a PhD scholar at Aligarh Muslim University.
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