Technical glitches mess up NATA results for 3rd time

CHENNAI: Technical glitches have marred the results of the National Aptitude Test in Architecture (NATA) 2018 for the third time, forcing hundreds of candidates from Tamil Nadu to apply for reviewing their scores, which costs 750.

The candidates - who complained that their drawing papers were not evaluated properly - have been asked to seek a review before July 13. Nearly 40% of candidates from Tamil Nadu (3,364 of 5,623) did not clear the test for admissions to B Arch courses, according to results released by the Council of Architecture (CoA) on June 7. Though the pass percentage was better than last year's, hundreds of B.Arch seats will remain vacant this year too. Unlike several states, Joint Entrance Exam (JEE) scores are not considered an equivalent of NATA. To ensure that seats do not remain vacant, the state conducted the Tamil Nadu Aptitude Test in Architecture (TANATA) last year for those who failed NATA. "More TN students have cleared NATA this year, thereby eliminating the need to conduct TANATA," a top official from the state higher education department told TOI.

According to CoA data, the state has nearly 4,000 seats offered by 98 architecture colleges, 55 of which are affiliated to Anna University. "But only a handful have obtained CoA's recognition. We are not sure if all these colleges will be available for this year's B.Arch counselling by Anna University," said G Kamalavannan, director of Colorcubes, a private NATA training institute. Review process will also delay the counselling. Many aspirants, who keep engineering as a backup, might prefer to sit for engineering counselling, Kamalavannan added. The results were first out on May 16, but was revised on May 23 after allegations of wrong answer keys.

This was again changed in a couple of days. Though CoA initially announced that final results, containing scores of both papers, will be released on June 1, they were out only on June 7, claimed students.