New Delhi: Alarm for Class 12 board exams, which lived rent-free in the minds of students, has now been replaced by the rush to enroll in expensive crash courses to prepare for the Common Universities Entrance Exams (CUT).
Introduced in 2021, CUT is a single-window entrance exam for admission to undergraduate programs offered in any of the 45 University Grants Commission-funded central universities across the count Jitendra Kumar, the product head of CUT at Career Launcher, says the chain of nationwide coaching institutions gets at least 200 calls every day which are inquiries about CUT courses. A “few thousand” students have already enrolled in the crash courses which cost anywhere between Rs 35,000 to Rs 70,000, he adds.
“I am getting requests from parents to withdraw their wards from the school. They say since Class 12 marks will now only hold 40 percent weightage, they want to enroll their students in open schools and have them focus on CUT coaching instead,” said Sudra chary, chairperson of the National Progressive School Conference (NPSC), an association of 122 Delhi schools.
Government school students, on the other hand, are worried that the inability to afford CUT crash courses may affect their chances of getting admission into a good central university for their undergraduate courses. Coaching centers launched crash courses for students appearing for the CUT this year within days of the UGC’s announcement in March about the change in the admission process for undergraduate courses in central universities. At Career Launcher, there are three types of CUT crash courses: online, offline, and pre-recorded video lectures. While these courses cover 14 domain subjects ranging from science, humanities, and commerce, students can also opt for a ‘customized package’ with subjects of their choice.
We have started crash courses for students appearing this year, a year-long course for students appearing in 2023, and another batch for students appearing in 2024, Jitendra Kumar, product head of CUT at Career Launcher, told The Print.
Akash, the nationwide chain that offers coaching classes for MEET\LEE aspirants, is now offering a 24-day crash course for CUT covering only science. “Our test series courses will start from 6 June, wherein students will take 14 tests. This can be availed online and offline,” said Anurag Tiwari, national academic director (Medical) at Akash+BYJU’S. So far, 100 students have enrolled in CUT courses at Akash, which cost anywhere between Rs 20,000 to 30,000. More enrollments are expected once Class 12 exams end.
Even Ramanujan College, affiliated with the Delhi University, launched a CUT crash course, charging Rs 12,000 per student. A decision it later withdrew.
“We had to pull down the coaching session because several professors from other colleges raised objections to it. However, we had the best intentions at heart and wanted to give students training at affordable prices, as compared to private coaching centers,” said S.P. Aggarwal, principal of Ramanujan College.
CUT pattern
The National Testing Agency (NSA), which will conduct the CUT, has said that questions for the entrance exam will be from Class 12 NC ERT textbooks.
The CUT paper will be divided into three parts.
The first section will be a language test, for which students will have the option to choose one of 13 languages — Assamese, Bengali, English, etc. Questions will be based on reading comprehension, verbal ability, and grammar, among others.
For the second section, students will be required to answer questions on one to four domain-specific subjects, such as accounting, bookkeeping, history, economics, or geography.
The third part will have two subsections, with the first involving a general test for vocational and open eligibility programs, where students will be tested on their general knowledge, awareness of current affairs, general mental ability, and logical and analytical reasoning. The second sub-part will be an additional language test, for which students will be tested on their knowledge of one of 13 languages.
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