HYDERABAD: With most of the engineering aspirants in the state taking the online version of the All India Engineering Entrance Examination (AIEEE) 2012, it is destination Warangal for a majority of students from the city. The offline test for AIEEE on April 29 will be held in only three cities in the state - Guntur, Warangal and Tirupati, and has students and parents in the twin cities fuming.
“A large number of students attend coaching in the city and Hyderabad is centrally connected to most of the other cities. Now we have to plan a trip to Warangal, stay overnight and hope to return on the day of the examination which ends at 5 pm,” says E Venuprasad who will be accompanying his son to the examination.
Though the students have the option of taking the test online in Hyderabad on four dates – May 07, 12, 19 and 26 – most of them do not want to risk the computer-based test for a better shot at cracking the examination.
“We have been advised by our faculty to appear for the offline test if we want to do well. In an online test, once we move on to the next question, we cannot go back to previous questions we have missed. There is no scope for revision of the paper and of 60 students from my class, only five have opted for the online test,” says Ashna Joshi, a student of Sri Chaitanya Junior Kalasala.
The choice for AIEEE is clear as far as teachers are concerned. “If the student wants to make a serious attempt, it is advisable to go in for the offline test. We have asked all the promising students to go in for the offline examination as it will improve their chances. You never know if the students will get to work out the problems on paper before answering them at the online test centres,” says V Gopal, a Physics lecturer at a private junior college.
Students and teachers rooting for the offline examination has left little choice for parents but to make the necessary trip. “We will cover the distance by road with our family friends, whose son will be appearing for the examination as well. It might be difficult to get a reservation for bus or train and by traveling on our own we have a safe margin to arrive in time for the test and to find out the centre. To give her a fair chance at it, we agreed to my daughter’s wish to take the offline test,” says N Sumathi, mother of Shruthi who is scheduled to take the test.