Tag: JEE-NEET Exams

A Medical Seat Aspirant from Kanpur

‘No Water, Unsanitised Toilets, NEET Exam Was Terrible’

By LokMarg

Hasnat Fatma, 19, a medical seat aspirant from Kanpur, says her NEET exam centre left much to be desired. The candidates had a harrowing time in un-sanitised environs with little food or water.

Medicine is an ever-growing, ever-evolving field and the Covid-19 pandemic has shown us how important it is to have state of the art medical resources for our society. But sadly the well-being of students, who will be the frontline workers tomorrow, isn’t being given the required attention. This is the impression I got from the way the recently-held NEET exam was conducted.

I took the medical entrance exam (NEET) on September 13. If you ask my personal opinion, I would have preferred the exam be postponed, for most of us are just about adjusting to the changes the pandemic has brought in its wake. Most students hadn’t been able to study properly. I am a gap year student (I passed Class 12 last year) and this was my second attempt at NEET. The difference in the way the exams were conducted this year and the last couldn’t have been more stark.

Last year, we could choose any time slot and take the 3 hour long exam. This year, we were asked to report at a scheduled time, 11 am in my case. I had expected the exam to begin maximum at around 11:30 or even 12, after the requisite precautions like temperature checks etc. But would you believe it, our exam started only at 2 pm?

ALSO READ: ‘I Am Happy, Govt Decided To Hold JEE’

We were ushered inside at 11 am and made to wait till 2 pm. Clearly, the organisers weren’t up to the mark at the exam centre. I had left home at around 7:30 am with my brother because we knew traffic would be heavy and had reached the venue at 10:30.

There were no social distancing measures at the main gate. We were told that there would be around 100 students only at this centre, to ensure distancing norms, but there were nearly 250-300 students. We were asked to wear masks provided by the centre, but they were all of the same size. While many boys were uncomfortable with the undersized masks, several others, particularly those wearing spectacles, suffered from foggy glasses.

Fatma feels authorities should prepare well for holding an important exam like NEET

None of us was allowed to take our water bottles inside, nor were we provided any water at the centre. There was no food available too. So from 11 am to 5 pm, when the exam finally got over, there was little for us to eat or drink. A person can still carry on without food for six hours, but without water! Isn’t that going to compromise our health?

ALSO READ: ‘Choked Washroom, Smelly Linen. Quarantine Was Jail’

The invigilators must have realised it when at the fag end of the exams, many students complained of dehydration. The students were then allowed to go to the water cooler, throwing social distancing and sanitising norms to the wind. Leave alone the precious moments lost at the long queue. The washrooms also weren’t being sanitized after use.

Most students had come using personal modes of transport because of the fear of Covid-19. But no proper parking arrangements were made. Those family members accompanying the aspirants had a terrible time too. To cut the long story short, it was one of the toughest days of my life, possibly the worst 12 hours I ever spent. I sincerely wish that exams of this scale and importance were better organized.

JEE Main

‘I Am Happy, Govt Decided To Hold JEE Main’

By LokMarg

Shreya Vyas (18), an aspiring architect, narrates her anxiety before taking JEE Main and the unprecedented safety measure at her examination centre in Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh

When the pandemic first broke out, no one had anticipated that it would last so long and things would change so much. But nearly six months into the pandemic, we students have made peace with the fact that we will have to move ahead with the uncertainty.

I wish to study architecture post high school and though there is a National Aptitude Test in Architecture (NATA), one needs to rank well in Joint Entrance Exam (JEE) Main for admission into a reputed college. This year, I appeared for my Class 12 Board exams just before the lockdown was announced. First, our results were postponed and later there was much confusion about holding of JEE Main. I am glad the government decided in favour of holding JEE-NEET.

I took JEE on September 1. Coronavirus made it different this year. I live near the Cantonment Area in Bareilly (Uttar Pradesh) and my exam centre was quite far. Earlier, vehicles would be allowed right up to the gate of an exam centre but due to contraction fear this year, we had to walk to the centre from quite a distance.

ALSO READ: ‘Online Classes Totally Drain Parents’

There was also heavy police deployment to ensure social distancing measures. A temperature check was done right at the gate before allowing us inside. We were asked to take off our masks and replace them with new masks at the exam centre.

From the main gate of the campus to the exam hall, we had to sanitise our hands three times. Even the pen we used for the exams were provided by the centre. The exam halls had also been thoroughly sanitised.

I believe we need to be cautious but not be scared. Having taken all prescribed hygiene measures, I wasn’t scared about the pandemic as much as about faring well in the exams. While the preparation for the exams were stressful given the confusion before the exams, I heaved a sigh of relief at the end of my exams. I am passionate about architecture and thus had studied really well for the exams.

ALSO READ: ‘Covid Has Taught Us Valuable Lessons’

It is in the hands of our generation to rebuild our society ravaged by the pandemic. I believe that because of Covid-19, the field of architecture too will see major changes and we will have to adapt quickly to those changes. We may have to go back to the architecture of old times where natural light would flow in, where houses and offices were extensions of people’s personalities. The lockdown has taught us all the importance of our homes; how these four walls can either turn into a safe haven or a prison.

During lockdown Shreya painted wall of a relative’s house

I am now taking another exam on September 12 and I hope to get through a good college and follow my dreams. Thanks to my banker parents, my childhood was spent shuttling between cities/towns and thus the idea of one particular rooted space that I can call home appeals deeply to me. In my free time, I even painted one whole wall of a relative’s house by myself. That’s how much I love the idea of housing. Architects ‘build’ houses, people ‘build’ homes; together we ‘build’ societies.