You may be able to take MHTCET online in 2019

Engineering, pharmacy, agriculture aspirants can choose the exam date

MUMBAI: Starting next year, entrance test for undergraduate courses in engineering, pharmacy and agriculture in Maharashtra will go online.

Aspirants will be able to choose from a set of days to appear for the examination, according to their convenience.

The state admission regulating authority has formed a committee to explore the state’s ability to conduct Maharashtra Common Entrance Test (MHTCET) online.

“The state government had asked us to conduct MHT-CET online last year. But it wasn’t possible at the eleventh hour. This year, we have planned to do it. A final decision will be taken on Thursday after studying the feasibility,” said Anand Rayate, commissioner of CET cell and chairman of the committee.

While the state conducts the entrance tests for law, management and other courses online, MHT-CET has always been offline due to the large number of students. Around 4.36 lakh students took the test this year.

The exam will be conducted over four to eight days. “While registering for the test, students can choose a day. If they miss it due to any reason, they will be accommodated on another day,” said a member of the committee.

Officials said changing the exam format will reduce the manpower required to conduct the test. “The state doesn’t have adequate manpower to conduct the exam,” said the committee member. Instead of one question paper, students will get a random This year, around 4.36 lakh students appeared for MHT-CET, 14% more than last year’s 3.82 lakh students. However, only 4.19 lakh students appeared for the examination.

For the first time, agriculture aspirants also registered for the MHT-CET as the state decided that admissions to seven undergraduate courses will be done on the basis of aspirants' scores in the state and national entrance tests, including MHT-CET.

In 2016-17, almost 45% of the engineering seats across the

EXAM CENTRES INCREASED

2016-2017 2017-2018

1,110 1,260

Only 299 and 138 seats were vacant in pharmacy and agricultural courses respectively. This year, MHT-CET aspirants had to focus on Class 11 and 12 syllabus of the Maharashtra State Education Board for the exam in 2018. Until now, the exam focused only on Class 12 syllabus. Around 20% of questions will be from Class 11 curriculum. set of questions picked by the software from a bank of 5,000 questions. The online exam will also allow faster declaration of results, said officials.

From January 1, students will be able to take mock tests at the computer centres designated by the state. Counselling centres will be set up in junior colleges. “It’s important that students get acquainted with the online format,” said the member.

Students have welcomed the change. “There is a possibility of making mistakes in pen-and-paper exam. Hopefully, that won’t happen in a computer-based test. Choosing a day for exam is convenient,” said Shaad Ansari, a Class 12 student who plans to appear for the exam next year.