40 percent more taken PMET 2012

Punjab MET has seen a 40 per cent increase in the number of applicants this time as compared with last year. For PMET-2011, as many as 8,759 students sat for the exam. The number rose to 11,647 this year. Last year, 2,194 students cleared the medical entrance test. This time, 4,144 students were declared successful.

To clear the test, students in the general category need to score at least 50 per cent marks and those in the SC/BC category 40 per cent marks, according to an official of Baba Farid University of Health Sciences (BFUHS).

The university conducted the PMET-2012 on May 20 to fill 1,070 MBBS and 1,190 BDS seats in various medical colleges in Punjab.

As many as 3,362 students in the general category, 515 in the SC category and 267 in the BC category cleared the test.

 Punjab has nine medical colleges and 14 dental colleges. Last year less than 25 per cent candidates passed the test. Whereas this year the pass percentage has reached more than 35 per cent.

Though the number of seats in the state’s medical colleges has increased since last year from 770 to 1,070 for MBBS and 1,090 for BDS, this increase is comparatively less than that in the state’s engineering colleges..

The All-India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has decided not to approve new engineering colleges from the academic year 2013-14.