‘Paper was easy, technical glitches consumed a lot of time’

LUCKNOW: Technical glitches added to the woes of the candidates who took the Combined Law Admission Test (CLAT)-208 held at 15 centers in the city last Sunday. Some candidates also complained about the illegible format of the question paper, however, a majority of them found it easy.

Around 3,260 CLAT aspirants appeared for the online examination held at 15 centers in the city for admission to undergraduate and postgraduate law courses in 19 national law universities.

Complaining about the technical glitch, candidates said the problems began soon after the online entrance test began.

“Paper took lot of time to open. I think there was some problem with its format or some technical snag about which even the staffers at the examination centers were clueless,” said a candidate, Radhika Kumari.

Another candidate, Manjot Singh said the paper was easy but the technical snags consumed a lot of time. “The paper was not much difficult, but the screen went blank several times,” he said. The snag only added to the confusion as students were already baffled by the introduction of a new interface just days before the exam, said Amitendra Kumar, mentor, Career Launcher.

AROUND 3,260 CLAT ASPIRANTS APPEARED FOR THE ONLINE EXAMINATION HELD AT 15 CENTERS IN THE CITY

“The new interface had already hampered their preparation strategy and the technical issues they faced during the paper left many of them in lurch,” added Kumar. At a few locations in Lucknow, when the exam started, the questions on the screen appeared in an encrypted manner, leading to chaos. At one other center, the exam started a few minutes late.

At other locations across the country, similar problems were faced. At many centers, the exam couldn’t start on time. As reported by a Twitter user from Jaipur, the exam started 10 minutes late at his center.

Another user reported change of three computers due to technical glitches, which led to loss of precious time and momentum, Kumar said. Social media platforms were flooded with complaints from students and parents alike, demanding a retest.

Sanjay Singh, officiating vice-chancellor, Dr Ram Manohar Lohia National Law University (DRMLNLU), accepted that there were some technical glitches as many candidates complained that the paper was not opening in correct format. “Some candidates complained that their time got wasted. However, it all got managed,” said Singh.

The demo test of 20 minutes, which was to be conducted before the exam to help students get familiar with the interface, didn’t take place at a few locations or was just 10-minutes long at most locations.

Students had mixed reactions about the paper. While some of them found the paper to be easy, others reported it to be difficult, especially the mathematics section. The cutoff this year is expected to drop, as compared to that of last year. The results are expected to be declared on May 31.