RAWALPINDI, Sept 5 University of Health Sciences is introducing self-scoring system in the entrance test for medical colleges in Punjab being held on September 27 to ensure complete transparency in the evaluation of answer scripts of the candidates.“The UHS is introducing the unique system of self-scoring, under which a candidate would be able to confirm by himself/herself that he/she has been fairly assessed in the medical colleges' entrance examination,” said Vice Chancellor University of Health Sciences Prof. Malik Hussain Mubbashar while speaking at an orientation seminar about the examination at Rawalpindi Medical College.

UHS conducts the entrance tests for public and private medical and dental colleges in the province and prepares the merit list of the selected candidates. The university was entrusted this responsibility last year by the provincial government after a large number of complaints against the previous system.

Prof Malik said the university ever since taking over the responsibility of conducting entry tests has made untiring efforts for ensuring fairness and transparency during the process.

Explaining the features of the self-scoring system, Mr Malik said, the candidates would be given a double-sheeted, pre-printed, bar-coded answer script. The upper sheet would be coloured, whereas the carbonized lower sheet would be black and white and both sheets would be stapled.

The upper coloured sheet is to be returned to invigilation staff at the end of the test, while the candidate shall keep the lower, black and white sheet, which would be a copy of the original answer script filled by the candidate and can be later used by him/her for self evaluation of the responses against a key containing the correct replies to be released by the university shortly after the exam.

“The students would in this way be able to calculate their marks much before the official result is declared and would also remove any doubts about the fairness of the evaluation system,” Prof Malik told the students, who had turned up in large numbers to learn about the testing system.

Moreover, the university would be using five different sets of questions in the examination each having different colour. The students would be assigned questionnaires in such a way that no two students sitting next to each other would have same question paper. This system was introduced last year to rule out chance of cheating within the exam hall.

The examination would simultaneously be held in 12 cities of the province - Rahim Yar Khan, Bahawalpur, Multan, D.G.Khan, Lahore, Faisalabad, Sahiwal, Gujrat, Gujranwala, Sargodha, Wah Cantt, Rawalpindi.

Students are required to pass the entrance tests scoring at least 40 per cent of 1100 marks exam having 220 multiple choice questions.

“There will be negative marking in the entrance test. Each correct answer carries five marks, while for each wrong answer one mark will be deducted from the total score,” explained the vice chancellor.

The marks obtained in the test constitutes 30 per cent of the weightage in the final merit list, whereas the marks secured by a candidate in the intermediate make the remaining 70 per cent of the final tally for the merit.