Students in scoot mode due to small ComedK-CLAT time gap

It was a tough weekend for several students who have cleared PU as they wrote both Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) and Consortium of Medical, Engineering and Dental Colleges of Karnataka (ComedK) on the same day.

Sunday saw a rush at centres around the city where the exams were conducted. Several students had to run from one exam to the other, as there were just a few hours' gap, with ComedK having started first.

Meanwhile, the number of candidates appearing for the ComedK undergraduate exam (UGET) 2018 for admission to engineering courses has registered an increase. It received an additional 5,700 applications more than last year. The exam was held in 291 centers across India, including 108 in the state.

Madhuri, a computer science engineering aspirant from Bengaluru, said, "The exam was easy. However, Maths was lengthy." A number of questions were repeated from previous years. In Karnataka, out of 25,405 students who had registered, 21,889 attended the exam.

"We can only be relieved that there was a time gap between the exams. Last year, many missed the chance to write one of these as both were in the morning session," said a candidate appearing for both ComedK and CLAT. ComedK sources said the demand to get seats through them has increased over years.

This year, CLAT was conducted by the National University of Advanced Legal studies, Kerala. The exam saw several glitches. Students at a centre in Kengeri claimed that due to technical glitches in the computer, the exam timings had to be extended from 5 pm to 8 pm.

Parents of one of the students from Hubballi who appeared for CLAT in Bengaluru said there was frequent shutdown of computers during the exam and students had an opportunity to discuss answers to multiple-choice questions. "This also means students get extra time to think over the answers. It is unfair for other candidates," said the parent. The university could not be reached for comments.

BASE student Sharadhi G R, who appeared for ComedK exam, said, "Chemistry was the easiest of all. Numericals were less and I felt one question had a typo error where the formula of the compound given was wrong. Physics was also easy. Mathematics was moderate."