Tamil Nadu: Class X, XII marks to decide tie-breaker for engineering students

CHENNAI: As Class XII scores are high this year, the state government introduced additional criteria — percentage of total marks in Class XII and X exams — to break ties in the engineering rank list. The number of students scoring more than 551 out of 600 marks in Class XII rose 16 times under the Covid induced weightage system followed by the state board.
As of Monday evening, 1,69,897 students have registered for engineering counselling and 1,30,812 students have uploaded their certificates and paid the fees. The number of registrations increased by 6% compared to last year and the number of eligible candidates increased by 16% as only 1.12 lakh students paid their fees and uploaded their certificates last year. The last date to apply for engineering counselling is Tuesday.
To reduce ties, the school education department awarded marks with two decimal points. And the higher education department amended the Tamil Nadu Admission in Engineering Institutions Rules, 2007, so that: "In cases where more than one student have got the same marks in the common merit list, the inter-se-merit among such candidates shall be determined in the order of priority as specified: marks in mathematics, physics, optional subject, total marks in qualifying examination, total marks in X standard examination, date of birth, random number assigned."
Under the earlier system, date of birth and 10-digit random number assigned to each candidate played a major role in breaking the tie. “To decide the ranks based on the students' own merit, the two new criteria have been introduced. It would ensure that very few students' ranks will be decided by date of birth and random number this year,” officials from higher education department said.
Last year, the random number was used for 791 candidates to break ties during the ranking for 1,12,406 eligible candidates.
"It's going to be a very close finish as CBSE results were given without decimal points. Introduction of the two new criteria is a welcome move," said career consultant Jayaprakash Gandhi.