KEAM 2010 from today to Thursday

The Entrance Examinations for admission to Professional Degree Courses, Kerala 2010, starts on 19th April, 2010, Monday with Paper I, Physics and Chemistry of the Engineering Entrance Examination being held that day. Paper II, Mathematics of the Engineering Entrance Examination will be held on 20.4.2010 (Tuesday). Both the Examinations will be from 10 am o 12.30 pm. The Medical Entrance Examinations, 2010 will be held on 21st and 22nd April, 2010. Paper I, Chemistry and Physics of the Medical Entrance will be held on 21st April (Wednesday) and Paper II, Biology on 22nd April, 2010 (Thursday). Both Papers will be from 10 am to 12.30 pm.

Number of questions: Each paper will have 120 objective type questions. Paper I of Engineering will have 72 questions form Physics and 48 questions from Chemistry. Paper I of Medical will have 72 questions form Chemistry and 48 questions from Physics. There will be 5 alternatives to each question, from which the candidate will have to choose the most appropriate answer and darken the circle containing the letter corresponding to the most appropriate answer in the OMR Answer sheet, using blue or black ball point pen.

Marks: Each correct answer would fetch 4 marks while a wrong answer recorded will result in the loss of one mark.

To figure in rank list: A candidate will have to attend both papers of an Entrance Examination in order to figure in the Rank list. In addition, a candidate will also have to score 10 marks in each paper to figure in the rank list. This stipulation on minimum marks is not applicable to SC/ST candidates. There are additional stipulations on marks for being considered for admission to MBBS/BDS Courses.

Items to be carried into the Hall: Candidates should see that they carry the Admit card of the Entrance Examination with them while entering the examination hall. They should also carry with them sufficient number of ball point pens (with black or blue ink refill), for use in the examination hall. A hard board or a clip board can also be taken to the examination hall. No other item is permitted into the examination hall. Ensure that these materials are kept ready before moving to the examination hall.

Timings: Candidates should ensure that they reach the examination venue sufficiently early. Entry into the examination hall starts at 9.30 am. So candidates should ensure that they reach the venue at least by 9 am, find out the hall allotted and relax before entering the hall at 9.30 am. Although the time limit for entry into examination hall is 10.30, candidates should not think of using this facility as it will bring down the time available for answering the paper. No extra time other than that allotted will be given to those reporting late for the examination.

Code of Question Booklet and Answer Sheet: Candidates should ensure that they receive Question Booklet and Answer Sheet they are eligible for which should be identical also. Use of time: Candidates should judiciously use the available time. A candidate will have to attend 120 questions in 150 minutes which means, a candidate will get about 75 seconds to read a question, find the most appropriate answer from among the 5 alternatives given, mark the circle containing the letter corresponding to the most appropriate answer in the OMR answer sheet, as directed. Spending more than 75 seconds in relation to a question will result in the loss of time available for another question, which should be avoided as far as possible.

Attending questions: It is always desirable to attempt simple and direct questions in the first round of answering. This will certainly raise the confidence of the candidate. Glancing through the questions initially, spending the least possible time, will help the candidate to identify the simple questions. Any time saved on such questions can be utilised for answering those questions which need more time to find the answer.

Caution while skipping questions: While skipping questions, utmost care should be taken in recording the answers. It should be ensured that the question number against which the answer is being marked is the same as that given in the question paper. For example, while marking the answer of question with number 47, the candidate should ensure that the answer is marked against Question number 47 itself in the answer sheet. In case the candidate is answering question 47 after answering question 45 and leaving question 46 to be answered later, there is always the possibility of marking answer of question 47 against question 46 in the answer sheet.

When to mark answer: Mark the answer only after ensuring that the one selected by the candidate is the most appropriate one as per the knowledge of the candidate. It may be noted that the answers are being marked using ball point pen and hence, change of a marked answer is not possible. If that is attempted, the machine will not recognise it as a blank circle, but will identify it only as a circle with an answer. So, this should be avoided.

Align the Duplicate answer sheet: Candidates should ensure that the duplicate copy of the OMR answer sheet is in alignment with the original answer sheet so that the entries made in the original sheet are carried over as such to the duplicate also. The duplicate will be detached from the original by the invigilator, at the end of the examination.

Number of questions to be answered: The number of questions to be answered to get a good rank? This is a question that must be haunting the entrance aspirants. It is difficult to answer this question. The aim of all candidates should be to answer correctly, the maximum number of questions and at the same time, not to mark those answers the candidate is not sure about. If a candidate answers 95 questions in all in a paper and finds that 55 of them are correct and 40 are wrong, the candidate would be scoring 180 marks. (55 x 4 = 220 Less 40 for wrong answers, which comes to 180). However, a candidate attempting just 60 questions of which 55 are correct, would score 215 marks (55 x 4 = 220 less 5 for wrong answers). So it is not the number of questions answered that matter, but the number of correctly answered and wrongly answered questions that matter.

Criteria for ranking: Ranking will be based solely on the total marks scored in the two papers of the concerned Entrance Examination. Maximum marks for each Entrance is 960 (2 papers each with a maximum of 480 marks).