Board exam results mean little cuet the deciding factor say du aspirants

Board exam results mean little cuet the deciding factor say du aspirants

Days after CBSE, ISC results, students get busy with CUET preparation to compete for the nearly 70,000 undergraduate seats at university; last year, DU scrapped the cut-off system for admissions.

JAIDEEP DEO BHANJ NEW DELHI

High board exam scores, which till a few years ago would have assured the Delhi University aspirants of landing a college or course of their choice, mean little now, students say.

Days after the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and Indian School Certificate (ISC) exam results were declared, students are preparing for the computer-based Common University Entrance Test (CUET), which begins on May 21, to compete for the approximately 70,000 undergraduate seats on offer at the university.

Jia Prakash Jha from Aravalli International School, who scored 97% in the commerce stream, is busy with her CUET preparation. “I want to pursue BCom (Hons) from colleges like S.R.C.C. or L.S.R. for which acing CUET is essential. The result of this test, not my Board exams, will get me into my preferred college”, she said.

Niyati, a science student from Pragyan School, Greater Noida, says she is preparing for CUET as well as JEE and BITSAT, which are engineering colleges entrance tests. “Entrance tests were already mandatory for other higher education courses. With CUET also getting into the picture, the Board exam results don’t seem that important any more,” she said.

Since last year, DU has done away with the cut-off system for admissions, while Board exam scores are sought only to meet the minimum eligibility criteria.

The university has made it mandatory for the aspirants to appear for the CUET (UG) 2023 examination in subjects they studied until Class 12. It will only consider CUET scores for admission into the 2023-24 academic session.

Coaching centres

Many students go to coaching centres to brush up on their domain knowledge and appear for time-bound mock tests as part of their CUET preparation. “

Students need to focus on CUET as it can define their academic lives for the next five years,” said Darshan Singh Rautela, who conducts coaching classes for DU aspirants.

Ojus Bakshe from Amity School, Noida, who is preparing for the competitive examination by himself, is tormented by the prospect of not being able to get into a college of his choice despite the excellent Board results, as happened to students last year.

“The multiple-choice questions and the pattern of the test make CUET way more difficult than the Board exams”, he said.

Like last year, DU this year too plans to conduct its admission process through a Common Seat Allocation System (CSAS) portal, which will likely be launched by the month-end, a university official said.