Apprehension about DU CATE amongst students

Ahead of admissions to the various courses at Delhi University (DU), students and their parents appeared most anxious about the Common Aptitude Test for English (CATE) at the Open Day interaction held in Delhi on Monday. Aspiring students and parents participated at the University event held at the < ?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />S.G.T.B. Khalsa College here on Monday. It was one of nine 'Open Day' events planned over the coming week that will end June 3. The maximum inquiries among students were regarding the CATE that will be held for the first time this year.  Twelve colleges namely – Delhi College of Arts and Commerce (DCAC), Hindu College, IP College for Women, Kamla Nehru College, Maharaja Agrasen College, Ram Lal Anand College (evening), Satyawati College (evening), Shivaji College, Shyam Lal College, Swami Shraddanand College, Zakir Hussain College (morning and evening) – will rely on how students perform in the CATE during admission.

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Several students seemed confused about the procedure.  'Students have numerous queries, the most frequent ones are regarding CATE. They want to know how to apply for the course and what would be asked in the entrance examination,' Smriti Anand, a varsity student counselor incharge of the Open Day interactions, told sources. Students applying for the English Honours course in these colleges will have to buy a separate form from the English Department of the Arts Faculty Building, North Campus, and the regular admission form will not suffice. Students were apprehensive about what the test would be like. 'I don't know what they will ask in the entrance examination,' told Ravneet Kaur, an English Honours aspirant.  According to Vij, the test will have a simple format – with three types of questions, namely unseen passages, essay writing and objective type questions. Ranjeet Narang, whose daughter wanted to apply for English, was confused and hassled with the multiple application procedures.