Computer Worm Spoils Online Medical Entrance Test

The Directorate of Medical Education (DME), Chennai, India suspended the entrance tests decided to be held online for advanced medical courses on June 28, 2009 after the Directorate had been hit by a PC virus. The new schedule for the examinations would be declared shortly, the Directorate stated.

The committee for candidates' selection had called 500 students to appear for the MCh and DM entrance exams that (unlike before) were going to be conducted online. Wanting to familiarize the students with the new format, the committee distributed CDs that contained a test model on the online exam.

However, the trouble started immediately when the students went online at the examination center. It was 10am when many students writing the test couldn't open the CD because there was a virus, stated a qualified surgeon at the examination center.

According to him, the CD said that he had already written the test. More specifically, he had already answered to 120 questions but actually he had attempted only five. Consequently, the surgeon couldn't write the remaining questions' answers, he complained.

Another surgeon said that he requested for technical help and with great difficulty, they assisted him to login. Eventually around 11am, the committee declared that they were canceling the exam because of a virus attack.

Meanwhile, several other exam takers complained about problems even before it was possible to seek help. When the other student batches came to write the exam during the afternoon, they found the announcement about the exam's cancellation.

A medicinal practitioner who had also arrived to write the exam said that normally the exams were held at Anna University. But this time, they had to travel all the way to Chennai then to its suburbs, and all their labors had gone futile, he said.

A senior officer from the selection board stated that they opted for an online test so that they could declare the results immediately. However, since they couldn't get the professional services of the National Informatics Center, they had asked a private body to maneuver the online test but their software had gone haywire, the officer explained.

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» SPAMfighter News - 7/9/2009