Similar questions in PG exam paper confound students

Similar questions in PG exam paper confound students

 RGUHS Alters One Question In 15 Minutes

 Farheen.Hussain@timesgroup.com

 Bengaluru : A repeat of questions in the final PG general surgery examination created confusion among candidates on Saturday. While Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences (RGUHS) claimed to have changed the question within 15 minutes of the goof up being flagged, students said the error robbed them of precious time. 

A student told STOI the third and fourth questions (‘unilateral hydrocephalus’ and ‘surgery for hydrocephalus’) were the same in their general surgery paper IV (QP code: 8284). 

“Both these questions required the same answer and many of us had even started writing it. Then the third question was changed. But we had already wasted our time and energy writing the answer,” he said. Another student said such an error at this level is not acceptable.

 “While the third question was about a brain condition, the next question was about s urgery for the same condition. The answer to both is almost the same. After the issue was raised, the third question was changed to a condition of the kidney. Our question is, how do they set the paper in such a negligent manner? Why do they add to our exam anxieties with these errors?” 

However, RGUHS registar Dr Ramakrishna Reddy clarified the two questions were not the same but only on the same topic. “We, however, changed the question within 15 minutes through online transmission. The third question was changed to ‘unilateral hydronephrosis’. 

It is a routine incident and there was no time wasted. In fact, it is more of a spelling correction,” he said, sharing screenshots of an email sent to the team about corrections in the said question paper. “We changed the question immediately to a different topic. There is no question about students writing the answers as we made the corrections within 15 minutes,” he said.  

In another faux pas, the PG anesthesiology paper I (QP code: 7291) was used as it is by Dr NTR University of Health Sciences in Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh. While the paper was held at RGUHS on May 7, the examination at Vijayawada University was on May 13. Both papers, with 10 essay-type questions for 100 marks, have the same questions. Both universities said it was an inadvertent error caused by the paper setter. 

While a source at Dr NTR University of Health Sciences said it was not a copy of the RGUHS question paper, RGUHS registrar Dr Ramakrishna Reddy said the  

The question paper used at NTR University was also used by RGUHS on May 7 agency that sets the question paper might have set it for the AP university as well.