Telangana: Fewer but serious apply to take second Eamcet

Hyderabad: With two medical entrance tests lined up in the coming weeks — Eamcet on July 9 and NEET on July 24 — it seems most students have decided to give their best shot in one exam instead of taking on both tests. This is evident from the drop in the number of applicants for Eamcet-2.

While 1.03 lakh students had applied for Eamcet-1 held on May 15, only half that number (around 51,000) has registered for the upcoming Eamcet. Though June 7 was announced as the last date initially, it has now been extended by one more week in the hope that the numbers will increase.

When asked about the fewer registrations, Mr Papi Reddy, chairman of TSCHE (Telangana State Council for Higher Education) said that it was due to various factors. “In Eamcet-1, nearly 30,000 candidates did not qualify.

Naturally majority of them will not apply again. Also, the medical seats on offer are only 2,000, which is the convenor quota in all government and private medical colleges. So only students who have seriously prepared for a career in medicine will be writing the test,” he said.

He added that NEET (National Eligibility cum Entrance Test) was also a reason. “The two tests will be held with a gap of two weeks. So time is a factor. Students, who are not confident of cracking the top-2000 rank in Eamcet, have preferred NEET as a safer bet. The exam patterns are slightly different and hence students are targeting only one test,” the TSCHE chairman felt.

Also, AP Eamcet and medical entrance tests in some neighbouring states have been completed and the results too have been declared. Candidates who got better ranks will settle for admissions in such colleges instead of sitting for another entrance exam.

It may be mentioned here that Eamcet-1 was only for filling Agriculture, Veterinary, Pharma as well as Ayurvedic and Homeopathic seats in various colleges in Telangana state.

Applications from AP see a big drop
Telangana state’s Eamcet-2 has witnessed a marked drop in the number of registrations from students of Andhra Pradesh so far. While a big number of candidates made a beeline to write the first entrance test held on May 15, the response this time is lukewarm.

Nearly thirty thousand candidates applied for the first test while the number of registrations received from AP till June 8 is close to 16,500. Also the number of female candidates surpassed the number of male candidates. Out of the 52,483 candidates who applied for Eamcet-2, the number of male candidates is 17,192, while the female count is almost double at 35,291.

Usually female candidates appear in large numbers for the medical entrance test but interestingly this year men stood out as far as top-10 ranks in AP Eamcet and also TS Eamcet-1 were concerned, faculty from a coaching institute said.

Apart from these as many as 1,531 non-local students have also applied for Eamcet-2. The test is designed  to fill medical and dental seats in various colleges in Telangana state.