11,000 appear for CATE, some find it tough

Updated on: Tuesday, June 07, 2011

Around 11,000 aspirants were subjected to a comprehensive literary examination as they june 6th wrote Delhi University's common entrance test for entry to the popular English (honours) course through which 21 colleges will admit students.

While, the examination conducted across 25 centres went out smoothly, some students felt the questions posed were a tougher than previous years.

A little less than 11,000 students appeared for the test this year against the last year's figure of 9,000 and the examinees were competing for 1,000 seats in the University.

Some students coming out of test centres said they found the analytical section of the paper a little hard, especially the essay section. They were asked to write on globalisation and its impact on culture.

"Yes, the feedback which we got from some students was that they found the questions tougher. But what they call tougher was meant to test their  backgrounding in literary and cultural areas," said Sumanyu Satpathy, Head of Department of English.

He said the Combined Aptitude Test for English (CATE) was not only meant to test the background they attained from schooling, but also to know whether they actually have interest and some understanding of literature.

"Given that the number of applicants has increased, it is also meant to raise the bar," he said.

The paper was in two segments the first consisted of multiple choice questions and the second paper subjective type.

The department will now evaluate the first segment of the examination papers to shortlist 6,000 candidates whose second paper will be checked.

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