‘National Testing Service exam will not be out-of-course’

* NTS director Haroonul Rasheed says no tuition centres associated with the service

By Adnan Lodhi

LAHORE: The examination of the National Testing Service (NTS) will not be out of the syllabus and student should not be confused about it, said NTS Director Dr Haroonul Rasheel on Saturday.

Following the decision of the Punjab University (PU) to give choice to public universities to select students through the NTS or not, a number of private academies have begun NTS preparation classes. Students, however, told Daily Times that they were confused whether the test would be from the given syllabus outline or out of the syllabus.

The PU has declared NTS entry test compulsory for admission in BA/BSc Honours admissions for the coming academic session. After the PU’s decision, several academies like the KIPS academy and the Rana academy are offering preparations for the NTS. On the other side, the NTS Islamabad director has warned students that they had no link with academies and the course line would be followed for the testing, while academies are guaranteeing the passing of the NTS on the other. Students are confused because academies have developed different courses for the NTS test.

Intermediate student Muddasir, who is preparing for the NTS test, told Daily Times that he had appeared two times in the test but what he learnt at his academy was different than what he actually had in the examination. He said that at the academy they were focusing on mathematics, chemistry and physics but the 75 percent of the paper comprised of English literature and mathematics. Amir Alyas, a student of another academy, told Daily Times that according to the NTS a candidate had to obtain 50 percent marks for success. He said that according to the NTS, the subject of English contained 75 percent and rest of 25 comprised on mathematics. He said the academy teacher had confused students as he was focusing on physics and chemistry.

Another student Naveed Ahmed told Daily Times that he had joined various academies to prepare for the testing. He said the course outline of academies was different from each other.

The KIPS administration officer told Daily Times that the course of NTS was not specific and that it was changing with every test. He said students should have command over science subjects along with mathematics and English. He said that it was the reason they were focusing on these subjects. He said more than 80 percent of KIPS students had passed the NTS test last year. He said about 60,000 students from Punjab had appeared in the test last time and the ratio of successful candidates was not satisfactory.

The NTS Islamabad director said that teachers of various universities decided in a meeting the selected course of the NTS. He said the paper would be in two parts and would cover national and international issues. He said the teachers responsible for preparing the test were instructed to keep in mind the level of students. He said private academies were mistaken that the paper would be out of the course. He said the NTS had recommended the course in a book that was easily available in the market, adding that the paper would not be out of the course. He said that it was needed to make the NTS simpler and convenient for students. He said it would be batter for students to go through course books along with studying at academies.

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