Back to square one for Delhi University candidates?

NEW DELHI: There are several undergraduate aspirants who have scored 100 percentile or a perfect score of 200 in normalised scores in the Common University Entrance Test. Many of these students also scored above 95% in their Class XII board examinations.
While CUET was seen as a measure obviating the sky-high cutoffs, teachers and students felt things appeared to be "back to square one", with no reduction in stress for candidates. With the test throwing up a large number of high scorers, including those with 100 percentiles in various subjects, school principals were certain many courses would see tough competition for admission.
Sudha Acharya, principal, ITL Public School, said, "A large number of students scored 100 in English in CUET, which wasn't the case in Class XII boards. How has the exam reduced competition? If this was expected, the board results themselves could have formed the base for university admission. CUET has also delayed the admission process by over three months. How have these reduced stress for students?"
Acharya added, "Several students are wondering what difference CUET made. In fact, they had to sit for the tests at distant centres and faced harassment because of cancelled and postponed exams. Also, the creative expression and writing skills of students are going begging."
Sarah Bhagat, who scored 98% in her Class XII boards, hit a perfect 200 in English in CUET, while the normalised marks in psychology and business studies were 189 and 186, respectively. Having performed well in both the examinations, Bhagat concluded that the board results should have been considered for university admissions.
"While many students performed better in CUET, many others worked hard for the board examinations too. We were panic stricken because CUET was like appearing for an extended board examination," said Bhagat. "Many of my friends actually gave up the idea of going to DU once CUET was announced. Now if I don't make it to DU, I will be heartbroken."
Mayank Mudgal, who scored 96.5% in Class XII and got a good CUET score, also said, "I cannot see any difference for students who performed well in boards and CUET. In fact, CUET took up a lot of our time. The counselling process is yet to begin."