It is widely said that this will be the last year during which the entrance examination will be conducted by the Armed Forces Medical Services. The examination for the year is scheduled to be conducted on May 6. An announcement was made by Lt Gen H L Kakria, Director General of Armed Forces Medical Services. From 2013 a common entrance test called the will be conducted for medical admission across the country. This entrance examination National Eligibility Entrance Test (NEET) will be held. The same will be conducted by the CBSE. The students who wish to secure admission in Armed Forces Medical College will have to indicate their preference while filling the list of interested colleges.

The National Eligibility Entrance Test (NEET)

The MBBS course is scheduled to start in August and the admission process will be carried out online. The AFMC was not for taking part in National Eligibility Entrance Test (NEET) as it had its own requirements as far as selecting students are concerned. There are different set of criteria for admitting students in the armed forces. But the AFMC sources say that even though common entrance test will be conducted by CBSE, the AFMC will have a say in choosing the students who makes it through the National Eligibility Entrance Test (NEET). The AFMC will have their own aptitude test for the students who clear the common entrance test and will select the students based on the performance in the aptitude test.

NEET from 2013

Earlier it was decided by the central government that the common entrance examination will be held in 2012, but it was recently decided that the first common test will be conducted in 2013. The NEET was supposed to be conducted on 2012 based on the directive given by the Supreme Court of India. There are about 42,000 MBBS seats in the country. In the case of PG, there are about 20,600 seats in the country. This includes seats from both the private and government medical colleges.

Common syllabus to be prepared by NCERT

The National Eligibility Entrance Test will be conducted based on a common syllabus in the case of undergraduate courses. The syllabus will be prepared by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT).

Advantages and disadvantages

There are advantages and disadvantages for the common entrance test.

Do not have to take multiple tests: A common entrance test such as NEET will put an end to the number of different entrance examinations conducted by different states and even by different medical colleges. This will reduce the tension and stress suffered by students due to the different tests that they have to take to secure an admission of their choice.

Saves energy, time and money: More over a single test will help students to save time, energy and money they have to spend in taking different test travelling across and preparing for different examinations. They students even have to spend time and money for applying for these examinations and such expenses can be saved with the introduction of a single test across the country.

Improved quality: The common entrance exam is considered to improve the quality of the medical education standards in the country. The Medical Council of India has developed the test and its standards in such a way that admission will be strictly based on the merit of the students and such standards are placed in the case of management quota too.

More transparent: The number of students who face problems with multiple examinations is increasing every year. And every year there are lot many students who approach the court as justice is denied to them by the college authorities and even by the governments in giving admissions.  There is much bias in giving admission to students and the criterion in most of the cases is the amount of money or other influences. There are also complaints regarding the conduct of the exams and the questions that are put in the entrance question papers. So NEET will offer solution to these problems and the effort put in by the Medical council of India is really appreciable.

Increases tension and stress in students: Since the exam has made a common platform for the medical entrance, it has made the environment more competitive. This might increase the pressure on the minds of the students who wish to take the exam to secure a medical admission. More over there are rules and regulations set by different state governments which might be in direct opposition to those of the NEET.

Ignored management quota: Another issue with the NEET is that it has completely ignored the provision of management quota. This has resulted in a hole in the system which will not be good for the objective behind the NEET. The issue of management quota should have been considered along with the merit based system which makes no compromise in the case of quality.

Less chance of getting admitted: Another problem associated with a single entrance test is the reduced probability of getting admission in a college of the student’s choice. A recent survey has found that a student takes on an average ten entrance exam and finally secures an admission in any of the medical college of his or her own choice. But in the case of a single entrance test, the student does not have a second chance if he or she cannot perform well in the NEET. So the student has only one chance to secure a medical seat in a year.

More over since the exam is for medical seats across the country, and is based on merit, the probability of error is still there and the magnitude of error will be known only after it is put to practice.

Let us hope that the government will consider removing confusions and the chances of error that might creep in before it is conducted for the first time.