Coimbatore: To prevent irregularities, the Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission (TNPSC) brought in several changes in the OMR sheets of the Group-1 examination that was conducted across the state on Sunday.
Speaking to reporters, TNPSC chairman K Balachandran said they have introduced an additional option ‘E’ for all the questions. “If the candidates feel that the question itself is wrong or if they don’t know the answer for the question, then they can choose the option ‘E’ so that all 200 questions would be answered at the end of the exam,” he said.
“Besides, the candidates were instructed to count the number of questions for which they had selected the option A, B, C, D and E each at the end of the exam and enter it in the OMR sheet. The hall supervisor will have to verify and sign it. If there is a mismatch in the numbers, five marks would be deducted for that particular candidate,” he said.
“Unlike the previous years when the candidates will enter their details on the top of the OMR sheet, this year, they entered their details in the side of the sheet and it was separated at the hall itself. The candidates will also have to put their thumb impression on the OMR sheet. This will prevent irregularities after the OMR sheets are submitted,” the chairman said. The candidates were given 15 minutes extra time to do these things, he added.
The candidates were told to use only black ballpoint pen and question papers with different serial numbers were given to the candidates sitting close by.
About 2.56 lakh candidates had enrolled for the examination in the state and of which, 1.61lakh had downloaded the hall tickets as on Friday. The examination took place at 856 centres across the state.
In Coimbatore, out of 11,888 applied candidates, 5,109 candidates took the exam at 40 centres. In Tirupur, 2,064 of 4,501 registered candidates wrote the exam across 16 centres.
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the candidates were allowed inside the hall only after screening their temperature and providing them hand sanitizers.