Islamabad: In a recent press release, Pakistan Medical Commission (PMC) clarified in detail the reasons behind the Medical and Dental College Admission Test (MDCAT) postponement. Many applicants also found discrepancies within the initial MDCAT result which was later rectified by PMC and released on the official website.
The official notification read, "After PMC released the National MDCAT result on 16th December 2020, we received numerous complaints from students that they had erroneously been marked ‘absent’. Some students also complained that their names and roll numbers did not match."
The notification further added, "To thoroughly investigate the complaints and to ensure that no student was deprived of the correct result, the result was taken offline for reconciliation. The MDCAT result is a computer-generated result. Hence, any investigation required it to be taken offline and reverified in its entirety through physical verification of students’ admit cards and examination answer sheets. Therefore, the examination team carried out a detailed scrutiny and verification process over the last 30 hours."
According to PMC notification, "The verified result is now available online again and students may check their result now. There is a very small minority of students whose result is missing because neither their name nor their roll number could be matched. Therefore, these students will be notified next week and asked to appear for verification."
The official document mentioned, "In the interest of transparency, PMC would still like to elaborate on why the errors occurred in the first place. The issue arose primarily due to an anomaly in the computer generation of the result. Many students had inadvertently written the incorrect or incomplete roll number or name on their answer sheets. The computer machines, when checking the paper, identified all results that either had a non-existent roll number or a duplicate roll no. All such results were taken out of the final list by the operating system automatically and such anomalies were marked absent by the system. In some cases, the wrong roll number written by a student belonged to a student who was actually absent and the computer sought to rectify the irregularity by inputting the name of the student in the database against the incorrect roll number. This showed up as a mismatched name against the correct roll number."
The press release by PMC said, "Utilization of technology is crucial to processing such a large volume of exam results in a timely manner. However, even the best technological solutions have some margin of error. That error has been rectified by human intervention i.e physical verification of each answer paper and matching it with student admit cards. As mentioned above, any result that could not be reconciled even after physical verification because neither the student’s name nor roll number could be matched has been withheld. Students who are unable to see their result online now will be contacted next week and issued a notice to clarify."
"Many students also inquired about the marks that were to be added to all students’ results to make up for the questions identified as problematic during the Post Exam Analysis. PMC has re-checked and can confirm that 14 marks have been added to the result of each student who took the exam on the 29th of November 2020. Moreover, 7 marks have been added to the result of each student who took the exam on the 13th of December 2020. These marks have been added in lieu of scoring full marks in the questions deemed problematic and removed by PMC after the exam. Therefore, absolutely no student has been put at a disadvantage."
According to PMC notification, " In order to ensure utmost fairness and relieve any anxiety students may have about the accuracy of the marking, PMC has allowed every student to seek a recount of their exam script free of cost. Forms for a recount appeal are available online and can be submitted till the 21st of December 2020."
According to PMC notification, " In addition, students who find out that their identity information (name, date of birth, gender or any other aspect) is not exactly the same as on their CNIC, may also appeal for correction by submitting an online form. This correction will also be done free of cost after verifying the student’s CNIC record."
The notification read, "PMC apologizes for the delay. However, it was essential to ensure that no student is put at a disadvantage or is deprived of their correct result. It is pertinent to note that less than 2% of the total number of students who took the exam faced these difficulties and submitted complaints to PMC. However, no matter how small that number was, the complaints were of grave concern to the PMC. In fact, we believe even a single complaint is one too many and we strive to ensure a fair, seamless process for 100% of the students who take the exam in the future. PMC has no false pride and does not deem it necessary to conceal any errors; the institution’s sole concern is ensuring transparency of the system and satisfaction of the students."
-DN Report