CHENNAI: Realising that preparing merit list for engineering admissions this year would be extremely tough due to the significant rise in pass percentage and top scorers in Class 12, the Higher Education Department has swung into action and released new norms for the admissions.
As per the latest amendment to the Tamil Nadu Admission in Engineering Institutions Rules, 2007, if more than one candidate have scored the same marks in the common merit list, the inter-se-merit shall be determined in adherence to a certain criteria.
Top most preference would be given to percentage of marks scored by the student in mathematics, followed by physics, the optional subject, and the percentage of total marks in the qualifying examination to arrive at an inter-se-merit list.
If two candidates have the same scores even after this calculation, their Class 10 marks will be taken into consideration. But if that also did not help, then the age-wise senior candidate will be given preference in the merit list.
In the worst-case scenario, if the candidates were also born on the same day, the random numbers assigned to the applicants would be used to determine seniority in the merit list, the department said in a notification.
Welcoming the decision, engineering college authorities said that a lot of confusion will now be avoided while preparing the merit list. Almost 100 percentage pass was recorded in both Tamil Nadu board and CBSE Class 12 results. Adding to it, there was a significant rise in the number of top scorers also.
“This time every decimal point counts and it will decide the fate of students. The new norms will definitely help in preparation of merit list,” said S Sreedharan, principal of a private engineering college.
Every year, Class 12 marks are used to determine the merit list for engineering admission. This year, however, since Class 12 examinations were not held due Covid-19, the students were awarded score based on their Class 12, Class 11 and Class 10 marks.
Meanwhile, admission counselling for seats in arts and science colleges has commenced.