KCET 2025 to have questions requiring application of mind

Bengaluru: The 2025 Karnataka Common Entrance Test will have “out-of-syllabus questions” and answering which require “application of mind.”  The new pattern comes close on the heels of the government facing flak from students and parents for out-of-syllabus questions in the 2024 KCET.

“KCET is a competitive examination for admission to professional courses. It’s not a board examination wherein we have to stick to the syllabus. Our bylaw allows us to incorporate questions which demand application of mind,” Higher Education Minister Dr M C Sudhakar said on
Saturday.

It may be recalled that following the 2024 exam fiasco, then executive director of the Karnataka Examinations Authority Ramya S had defended the question papers, pointing out that KCET bylaws allowed the authority to frame questions that required students to exercise their analytical skills.  

The minister said that the KEA would issue a set of guidelines for framing the question papers.  “We will make available all the details in the public domain ahead of KCET 2025. Stakeholders can submit any objections once these details are made public,” he said.

Responding to public outcry over the difficulties that students faced in the 2024 KCET, Sudhakar said, “Higher officials in the KEA were not aware of the rationalisation of NCERT syllabus in the PUC, and confusion ensued as a result. We will ensure that such mistakes do not recur. A delegation of PU college lecturers called on me recently and offered suggestions on how we can change the KCET pattern.”  

The minister said that a committee headed by retired IAS officer Narasimharaju had been formed to assess the structure of the KCET examination.