The KEAM entrance examination for engineering and pharmacy courses will be held online next year onwards. The government has approved a proposal submitted by the Commissioner for Entrance Examinations (CEE) to replace the offline examination with a computer-based test.
The examination will be held twice a year — tentatively, in January and May — to enable candidates to improve their scores. It is also bound to considerably bring down the number of repeaters in the long run.
CEE K. Inbasekar told The Hindu the highest score from the two attempts would be considered as the final score while compiling the rank list. A mock test would also be held prior to the two sessions for the benefit of the candidates.
He said the computer-based test would significantly reduce the time for preparing the results compared to the OMR (optical mark recognition)-based test currently in use.
The examination would also cease to comprise two papers. The single-paper test would have a pattern similar to the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) – Main examinations. It would be a combination of the existing Paper 1 (Physics and Chemistry) and Paper 2 (Mathematics) and comprise 30 questions each (20 multiple-choice questions and 10 having numerical value answers) and carry a total of 300 marks. Candidates would be able to choose any five from among the 10 questions having numerical value answers.
The examination would be held in multiple batches, considering the availability of centres equipped to facilitate the online examination. Over 1.02 lakh students appeared for the examination this year.
Mr. Inbasekar said tenders would be soon invited from the six service providers who had submitted Expression of Interest. A competent agency would be selected on the basis of quality-cum-cost based selection method within a month.
