LAHORE, Dec 29: The test for admission to seven medical and dental colleges was held peacefully in five cities of the province on Sunday.

A number of candidates told Dawn after taking the test at the University of Engineering and Technology (UET) here that the test was quite easy and balanced. They also said that the invigilators were cooperative and wasted no time in answering their queries about the papers.

The students also said that there was no cheating as the UET had given papers of different colours to them.

A Government College graduate claimed that some 10 of 60 multiple-choice questions (MCQs) in the chemistry paper were out of course.

According to reports received by the organizers in UET, the test started at the scheduled time at 9am in all the five cities.

UET convener (admissions) Prof Dr Khaliqur Rehman said that no complaint was received from any centre. He said that five to 10 per cent of the candidates were absent.

He said the UET had adopted extraordinary measures to ensure secrecy and transparent checking of answer-sheets. The organizers had also arranged to photocopy all answer-books for reference. The photocopies would prove useful if any answer-sheet was misplaced or tampered with.

He said the university’s senior faculty would mark the answer-sheets both manually and on computers.

As many as 8,896 candidates had applied for the entry test. Some 4,379 candidates were supposed to appear at the UET centre in Lahore, 1,940 candidates in Rawalpindi, 1,255 in Multan, 900 in Faisalabad and 422 in Bahawalpur.

It may be mentioned here that there were 220 MCQs — 70 for the subject of biology, 60 each for physics and chemistry and 30 for English. Each question will carry five marks and each wrong answer minus one mark.

The Punjab Medical and Dental Colleges Admission Board says the results will be declared on Jan 18.