Panel to monitor difficulty level of new test

NEW DELHI: Appearing for the engineering exam on Wednesday? Do not get jittery. The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has set up an expert committee to prepare the question paper for the engineering test rescheduled for May 11. The panel will ensure that the difficulty level of the exam paper is at par with the May 1 test, say CBSC sources.Of the 11.18 lakh candidates who had registered for the All India Engineering/ Architecture Entrance (AIEEE) exam, 32,400 could not write the test because of a paper leak. Though it was postponed by three hours many could not take the test as either their centres were booked for another entrance test or they were appearing for the Armed Force Medical Exam (AFMC) scheduled the same afternoon.Now both section ofstudents - those who appeared and those who did not, are of the opinion that itis unfair to have two tests. "Those students who will appear on May 11 aregetting an undue advantage. While we sat for the exam in utter chaos, thesestudents are getting 10 days extra for preparation. Moreover, they know thetrend of the questions,'' said Pinky Bhatt, who appeared for the test on Sunday.The candidates are of the opinion it's going to get tougher. "Ourpreparation has gone haywire. The tempo is lost and the waiting time isextremely difficult,'' said Nikunj Malik, who will appear for the exam on May11.But dispelling all fears, CBSE chairman, Viet Joshi said that theboard will ensure a level playing field to all candidates. "The difficulty levelwill be affected. Moreover, we have set up an expert committee to look into thematter just for this reason, so that no sections of the candidates enjoy anyadvantage. What happened is extremely unfortunate, but our contingency plans arein place which is why we managed to conducted the exam for nearly 11 lakhcandidates that very day. Had there be no clash in schedule with any otherexams, the test would have been over smoothly,'' said Joshi.