The Goa Common Entrance Test (known as GCET) is the state level entrance test conducted by the Directorate of Technical Education (DTE), Government of Goa. The test is conducted for admission in to various undergraduate professional degree courses.
The exam is conducted every year in the month of May (this year the exam will be held on May 10 and 11) for admission into private and government medical, engineering, pharmacy, dentistry Ayurveda, homeopathy, nursing and paramedical courses.
From this year Vrundavan Institute of Nursing Education, Colvale, Bardez and Gomantak Ayurveda Mahavidyalaya and Research Centre have joined this examination for admitting students in their institution.
In the state of Goa there is a single medical college (Goa Medical College) where the intake capacity is 150 students. For dentistry there is the state run Goa Dental College where the intake is 40 seats. The Pharmacy programme is currently imparted by the Goa College of Pharmacy (60 seats) and PES’s Rajaram and Tarabai Bandekar College of Pharmacy (60 seats).
At Shri Kamaxidevi Homeopathic Medical College and Hospital there are 50 Seats whereas for the Ayurveda College there are 60 seats. At the single college for architecture, the Goa College of Architecture there are 40 seats and a test called NATA is conducted.
The field of nursing too has two institutes affiliated to the exam. The government run nursing college has 100 seats while the Vrundavan Institute of Nursing Education offers 50 seats.
During the last few years, the government has started five paramedical courses namely Physiotherapy, occupational therapy, optometry medical imaging technology and anaesthesia technology at Goa Medical Courses. There are around 100 seats for these programmes in total.
For the branch of Engineering, Goa has five colleges namely Goa College of Engineering, Farmagudi, Padre Conceicao College of Engineering, Verna, Rayeshwar Institute of Technology, Shiroda, Don Bosco College of Engineering, Fatorda and Agnel Institute of Technology and Design, Assagao-Bardez which in total have around 1300 seats in the disciplines of Civil, Electrical and Electronics, Mechanical, Electronics and Telecommunication Computer Science, Information Technology and Mining Engineering.
The Goa common entrance test is conducted with the help of multiple choice questions in the subjects of Physics (75 Questions “ 75 Marks), Chemistry (75 “ Questions 75 Marks), Biology (75-Questions 75 Marks) and Mathematics (75 “ Questions 75 Marks). Two hours duration is allotted to each paper and there is no negative marking. Correct attempts will fetch one mark each to the applicants.
For MBBS/BDS courses, the candidates must have completed 17 years of age as on December 31 of the academic year, while for architecture courses, there is no age limit for admission and the qualifying age of all applicants should not exceed 27 years.
The cut off score is the minimum qualifying marks in entrance exam and it depends on various factors such as number of seats, number of applicants, etc. Candidates belonging to general category have to score a minimum of 50% marks together in Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Mathematics (if applicable). On the other hand, candidates belonging to Scheduled Caste/ Schedule tribe and other backward classes categories have to get a minimum of 40% marks taken together.
For applying in the examination, candidates should have passed/appearing class 12th or equivalent having Physics, Chemistry and Maths/ Biology/ Biotechnology as subjects and must belong to Goa state having valid domicile of 15 years in Goa.
However there are some seats reserved for centre and state personnel like ex-defence service personnel and non resident Indians (NRI) and one seat in each college is reserved for Kashmiri migrants.
Candidates should prepare as per the syllabus of Class 12th as prescribed by the Goa Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education. Don’t lose patience and be focused. Prepare well psychologically as every battle is first won in the mind. If your mind conceives that you can, you are certainly going to crack the exam.
