Students appearing for the Combined Aptitude Test for English (CATE) on June 9 can now download their admit cards from the university’s website — www.du.ac.in. This year, the English department received 9,250 applications for the entrance test conducted for admission to the BA (honours) course in 17 colleges. DU has also uploaded the list of colleges on its website from where admit cards can be collected in person.
Facts:
- • CATE colleges: 17
- • Number of seats: 500-600 for general category
- • Last date: May 31, 2010
- • CATE test: June 9, 2010
- • Declaration of CATE score: June 21, 2010
- • Declaration of first cut-off list: June 22, 2010
Eight more colleges, including LSR and Miranda, to conduct CATE to select English undergrads.
A total of 47 colleges offer English (Honours) in DU.
CATE Syllabus:
There is no defined syllabus for CATE. We have a culture in our country to have a set syllabi for an entrance exam. Students are in the habit of rote-learning during their preparation. However, CATE as an exam will try to evaluate students on their aptitude for literature. Of course, some parts of the test will evaluate students on their knowledge but a larger section will consist of evaluating aptitude. Students do not need.
CATE Application Form:
Students need to get a demand draft of Rs 300 from the State Bank of India in favour of ‘Registrar, Delhi University’ to procure the form. It is a one-time payment, they don’t need to give any fee at the time of submission of the form.
FAQS
How many colleges are participating in Common Aptitude Test in English?
17 colleges will admit students in English (hons) through CATE. Among them six — Lady Shri Ram College, Miranda House, Bharti College, Shaheed Bhagat Singh College and Deshbandhu College — have joined the test this year. CATE will have comprehensive questions and questions with multiple choices. Unlike previous years when the forms were only available at Arts Faculty, this time the forms will be sold in all colleges that are part of the test
What is eligibility criteria?
Any student with minimum 60% aggregate with at least 60% marks in English will be eligible
On filling up of forms
Do we need to submit the common admission form in person?
Admission form does not require any signature or a photograph of the candidate. Anyone can submit it between May 28 and June 11
Do we need to attach a copy of the marksheet with the admission form?
Documents are not required with the form. Original certificates and marksheets will be required at the time of admission
Is there any age bar for admission? Are compartmental candidates eligible for admission?
There is no age bar for admission to DU. Candidates with compartment in one subject can apply. If successful, these candidates will be given provisional admission and will be required to clear their compartmental exam
Do we need to apply for hostel at the time of submission of admission forms?
A separate form of the college has to be submitted for a hostel seat. Admission to a college does not ensure a seat in the hostel
Is there any deduction of marks if the student comes from a different state or a board other than CBSE?
DU does not deduct marks of students coming from outside Delhi
Are there any scholarships available for students?
The department of science and technology offers scholarship of about Rs 5,000 per month to the candidates who were among the top one percent in class X or XII board results and to those whose names appeared in the IIT-JEE extended list The scholarship is available only to those who are applying for BSc (hons) in physics, chemistry, zoology & botany
After its success last year, Delhi University’s (DU) common entrance lest for English (Honours) has now found more takers among affiliated colleges.
Apart from the institutions from last year (Ramlal Anand evening has pulled out this time), another eight haw decided to join Combined Aptitude Test for English (CATE).
The department of English will be ready with the final list of new participating colleges by April 15.
Sought after colleges such as Lady Shri Ram College and Miranda House are among the new participants. A total of 47 coleges offer English (Honours) in DU. CATE provides students an opportunity to secure admission in English (Honours) at some of the best colleges irrespective of one’s Class XII performance.
The participating colleges give 70 per cent weight-age to CATE score and 30 percent to Boards Performance.
This, consequently, had led to a huge rush of applicants in the examination’s first year itself.
“Colleges, especially Hindu College, Shivaji College and IP College, were very happy with students who came in through CATE. Many had read the texts in the syllabus already. It was unprecedented,” said Sumanyu Sathpathy, head, English Department, DU.
“CBSE marks do not reflect one’s interest in literature. We are keen on admitting students through CATE.” said Saswati Sengupta, teacher-in-charge. English, Miranda House.
Unlike last year, the sale of forms and registration process will be decentralised.
“All 19 colleges associated with the examination will be selling common CATE forms t his year, which will be an OMR (Optical Mark reader) form,” added Sathpathy.
OMR sheets require students to mark their choices by coloring circles on the sheet which are scanned and read by a computer. The evaluation process too will see changes. “This time, examinees will mark their correct choices for MCQs on an OMR sheet. We will evaluate subject answers of only those candidates who meet the MCQ cut-off.” added Sathpathy.
The CATE-2010 information bulletin states that “most teachers of English in colleges have come to believe that a candidate’s performance in the Class XII examinations is not necessarily indicative of his/her aptitude for studying literature in English”.
Though entrance tests were conducted by some colleges for admission to the B.A. English (Honours) course, the university administration felt that too many individual tests put a great deal of pressure on students.
Twelve colleges of the university began using CATE last year. More than 8,000 forms were sold and more than 6,000 students sat for the test. Most of the participating colleges are also believed to have experienced an improved student intake.
The colleges will also function as centres for sale and receipt of CATE application forms which will be available from May 20 to 31.
Since nearly 10,000 candidates are expected, some colleges which are not accepting CATE would also function as examination centres. There are 23 examination centres in all. The examination will be conducted on June 9 from 10 a.m. to 11-30 a.m. The results will be declared on the university website on June 19 and the first cut-off list would be declared soon after.
Students wanting to appear for CATE should have a minimum percentage of 60 per cent marks in English (Core, Elective, Functional) in the Class XII Board examination and a minimum of 60 per cent marks in the best four subjects aggregate.
CATE would test a student’s aptitude for taking up English Honours as a course of study and aims to evaluate language, grammar and writing skills. The paper would consist of two parts. While the first part will have multiple choice questions, the second part will consist of descriptive type questions.
While students will have to attempt both sections of the paper, only the scripts of students who qualify in the first part will have evaluation of their responses for the second part. There is no negative marking.
The final score will be determined by taking into consideration the best-of-four-subjects score of the student in the Class XII examinations and the CATE examination on a 30:70 basis.
The participating colleges will make their admissions to the course based on cut-offs points declared by them after the CATE scores are announced.
Students in the categories of Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes, physically handicapped, foreign students and those seeking admission through the sports or ECA quota do not have to appear for CATE. Such students will be admitted according to the relevant university rules.
Colleges not using CATE cannot conduct separate tests to admit students and will have to use Class XII marks as the criterion for admission.
Colleges which are not affiliated with CATE will have to admit students on the basis on their Class XII Board marks.
The participating colleges give 70% weightage CATE score and 30% to Board performance
Participating Colleges
New Colleges:
- Lady Shri Ram
- Miranda House
- Shaheed Bhagat Singh
- Deshbandhu
- Shyama Prasad Mukheriee
Old Colleges
- Delhi College of Arts and Commerce
- Kamla Nehru
- Hindu
- Indraprastha
- Maharaja Agrasen
- Shyamlal
- Shivaji
- Zakir Hussain
- Zakir Hussain(E)
- Swami Shraddhanand
- Satyawati (E)
Important Figures
- Number of seats last year : 450 (approx)
- Number of Application last year: 10,000
Important Dates
- Form sales this year: LAST WEEK OF MAY (tentative)
- Last date for submission: JUNE 6 (tentative)
- Date of examination: JUNE 9 (tentative)
