NATA second chance turns futile for aspirants

Discordant schedules of examination and admission process come as a blow

The introduction of a second chance to appear for the National Aptitude Test in Architecture (NATA) for admissions to the five-year Bachelor of Architecture (BArch) degree course has turned futile for many with most States going ahead with their allotment process after the declaration of the first examination results.

The discordant schedules of the qualifying examination and the admission process have come as a blow for architecture aspirants who have pinned their hopes on the second examination.

The Council of Architecture (COA), the governing body that regulates architecture courses as well as the profession in the country, decided to conduct NATA twice this year for the benefit of students who were unable to appear for the first test or chose to improve their NATA score by reappearing in the second test.

While the move brought cheer to many students, especially among those who feared that the schedule of the qualifying test will clash with their Class 12 examinations, the lack of coordination among the COA and various agencies tasked with coordinating the allotment process has denied some of its benefits.

M.K. Sajeevan, an associate professor in the Kerala University of Fisheries and Ocean Studies (KUFOS), said his daughter’s lost an opportunity, despite the BArch. aspirant securing a NATA score of 142 out of 200 in the second test that was conducted in July. For the candidate, her performance in the second test came as a vindication of her drawing abilities following a technical glitch in the evaluation system during the first round of the NATA examination in April.

“My daughter was awarded only 12 marks out of 80 for drawing, while a minimum of 20 was required to qualify. We later found that a faulty scanner in the particular examination centre in Ernakulam had captured only a few lines from the entire drawing. In her second attempt, she secured 62 out of 80 for drawing alone. Going by the last-rank details of admissions in most colleges, her total score of 142 would have fetched her a seat in a prestigious institution. Sadly, her performance has proved worthless with most States, including Kerala, having completed three rounds of allotment for BArch courses,” he said.

The family now cling to the faint possibility of the Commissioner for Entrance Examinations (CEE) providing an opportunity to secure admission in a government-run college if there remained vacant seats.

Official sources said the CEE was left with no option but to consider the NATA scores of the first test in view of the time-frame of the admission process. “With the government pressing for steps to commence undergraduate courses by the first week of June next year, the chances of considering the second set of NATA scores in future also appeared to be bleak,” an official said.

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