Hyderabad: Intermediate theory examinations will start from the same day (March 2) in both Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.
This is not a coincidence but authorities have deliberately locked the same dates to avoid last year’s criticism of exams being conducted one after the other by both states and common questions being asked.
While the Telangana Intermediate Board had held its 2015 exams from March 9, AP commenced it two days later. With the Science syllabus being the same in both states, almost 30 per cent of questions in the long and short answers category in Telangana were repeated in Andhra Pradesh.
This happened despite the exam papers being prepared by different people and printed at different locations in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.
According to a senior official from the Telangana Intermediate Board, his counterparts in AP had to give explanations to seniors over this fiasco. Even parents, students and lecturers had questioned the methodology of paper preparation or the lack of it, he said.
“Initially March 11 was finalised by the neighbouring state. However, Telangana finalised March 2 as the starting date due to demand from stakeholders in view of the national entrance tests,” the official, who did not wish to be named, told DC.
