Glitches mar architecture aptitude test

One instance of impersonation, technical glitches and allegations of lack of Covid-19 safety protocols at some of the examination centres marked the online National Aptitude Test in Architecture (NATA), which was held across the country on Saturday.
The Council of Architecture (CoA) said action had been taken against the case of impersonation and it was looking into the technical glitches. It claimed that all standard operating procedures were in place and that there was no breach of Covid-19 safety measures across the 218 exam centres.
Keeping in mind the pandemic, the CoA also gave an option to the aspirants to take online tests from home this year. A total of 30,000 candidates had registered for the NATA. The online aptitude test is conducted for admission to five-year B Arch degree programmes offered by 465 higher education institutes.
Some aspirants and parents raised questions on social media on the credibility and sanctity of the exam taken from home.
Raj Oberoi, registrar, CoA, said one candidate had been found impersonating. “Action was taken immediately. Any kind of unfair means is unacceptable,” Oberoi said.
Many students took to social media highlighting the technical glitches. Shushti Desai, an aspirant, wrote, “Yesterday I appeared for the NATA exam and I faced many problems. My question was automatically skipped and the server was hanging. I want @CouncilofArchi1 to look into this matter and get us updated about the action which will be taken.”
Other issues highlighted by the aspirants include time running out even before the completion of exams, questions where options were not visible and server crash, among others. At one of the examination centres at Trivedi College in Aligarh, candidates could not take all the questions due to a power cut soon after the test began. A group of agitated parents later lodged a complaint with the local police station accusing authorities of negligence.
Oberoi admitted that there were technical glitches faced by some candidates. “Less than 1% of the candidates faced technical issues and that is being looked into by the committee,” Oberoi added.
The council conducts the NATA twice in a year. The second test is scheduled to be held on September 12.