Bengaluru, DHNS: A number of students, who took the COMEDK undergraduate test for engineering on Sunday, had a harrowing time when a last-minute change in their exam centres caught them unawares.

Ravi R A had come all the way from Bagalkot with his daughter who was allotted a centre at the BMS Institute of Technology, Yelahanka, before it was changed. “We reached the BMSIT around 8.35 am on Sunday. However, my daughter’s name was not in the list. Later, I found that it was shifted to the Acharya Institute of Technology in Hesaraghatta which is 15 kilometres away from the BMSIT. The COMEDK had sent a message but it came late in the evening on Saturday and I did not see it,” he said. Pooja P, Ravi’s daughter, reached the centre only 15 minutes before the exam because of the confusion and nearly missed it.

Narayana Prasad, another parent whose daughter was allotted a centre at the BMSIT that later turned out to be Acharya College, said: “Many people had come by their own cars while others arranged cabs. I took several students from the BMSIT to Acharya as they had no means of transport. Messages were sent very late,” he said. His daughter, Sahana, a student at Chaitanya PU College, said the exam went without any glitches.

A number of parents at the BMSRIT said they saw many students who missed their exam as result of the confusion. The hall tickets of many others did not show the change in the centres, they said.

A total of 123 students were moved from the BMSRIT to Acharya, said B N Subramanya, CEO, Era Foundation. This was the only centre where students had to be shifted. A message about downloading the revised test admission ticket had been sent on Friday itself which many students may not have noticed, he added.

A few candidates, who were to take the exam at the MS Ramaiah Institute of Technology, north Bengaluru, had to rush to the Dayananda Sagar College, south Bengaluru, because of the change in the centre, said a source.

‘Test result on May 28’

The results of COMEDK undergraduate test for engineering courses could be declared on?May 28 soon after the final answer keys to the exams are published, said B?N?Subramanya, CEO,?Era Foundation.

A COMEDK statement said the provisional answer keys for Sunday’s exam would be notified on the COMEDK website on May 11, along with forms for challenging the said answer keys. The final answer key will be made available on May 26. The score cards will available to candidates in their respective applicant logins on May 28.

Med test cancellation hits engg exam

The cancellation of COMEDK’s MBBS and BDS entrance test following a Supreme Court ruling had a cascading affect on the engineering test on Sunday. This necessitated various changes in exam centres. B N Subramanya, CEO, Era Foundation, which collaborated with COMEDK to conduct the test, said that as a result of the court ruling, the number of centres was reduced from 739 to 697 across the country.

The engineering test was cancelled in 42 centres where the physics-chemistry-maths-biology (PCMB) exam (for medical and dental seats) was scheduled. Some of them were in Karnataka. In the majority of centres, both the exams — MBBS, BDS entrance test or engineering test — was to be held, said Subramanya. “In at least 250 centres, we had to conduct the exam for only 20 students as we could not consolidate the centres. For example, at Manav Rachna University in Haryana, the exam was conducted for just 19 students instead of the original 500 students,” said Subramanya.

Technical glitches cause delays

The first-ever online entrance test for engineering courses, conducted by COMEDK was marred by technical glitches and delays at some test centres. Shivam Sharma, a student at Kendriya Vidyalaya, Jalahalli, who took the test at the Cambridge Institute of Technology, KR Puram, said the server crashed at the 82nd minute. “The server was restored and the lost time was given to us. We finished a bit late,” he said.

Another student who took the exam at the BMS Institute of Technology said some examinees in her centre faced difficulty during the Maths paper.

“The system got stuck and students had to be shifted to another one,” she said. A press release from COMEDK said that in five of the 78 centres in Bengaluru, there was delayed login for some students. “The built-in mechanism permits that whenever there is delayed login, time gets extended automatically to the extent of delay,” it said.