AFTER an entire year, the university concerned is required to prepare just 200 questions for the Medical and Dental Colleges Admission Test (MDCAT).

It has at its disposal all the required resources, and students are supposed to pay Rs8,000 in fee for the test that is almost half the annual fee in government medical colleges.

However, it is a pity that, year after year, the relevant institute shows its incapability to conduct the test in a fair manner, and fails to meet students’ expectations.

This year, a couple of questions were out of the relevant syllabus. I came across the answer to one question in the anatomy textbook of MBBS, but not in any of the intermediate-level textbooks.

Why did the institute fail to recognise that it was conducting an entrance test for admission to MBBS, not an MBBS professional exam?

Besides, even after awarding grace marks against six questions, at least five more questions in the test paper had two ‘correct’ answers. Can any reasonable multiple-choice question (MCQ) have more than one correct answers? No, it cannot.

Such gross negligence on the part of the institute concerned has put the future of over 20,000 students at stake. When the competition is up to four decimal places, can the students afford to lose a couple of marks only because of the negligence of the testing authority?

Why is it that the institute fails to realise the gravity of the situation? Why does it repeat the mistakes year after year?

I have seen the transition from a test fee of only a couple of hundred rupees to Rs8,000 presently. The issues, however, have been similar throughout.

Probably, the diligent students as well as their parents should lose hope and focus on pursuing some other career path, or else they will continue to suffer. The authorities are not likely to change anytime soon.

Muhammad Majid Shafi
Islamabad

Published in Dawn, October 10th, 2024