In this second round of announcements, many students will still find a zero mark in some subjects because the NIETS remained unable to match many answer sheets to test takers.

"We will open a channel on our website where students can address their complaints. We will then contact the complainants," NIETS director Prateep Chankong said yesterday. He said the problematic answer sheets stemmed from test takers giving non-existent identification-card numbers.

Prateep said the NIETS had already doubled the bandwidth to access its website to allow students to view their scores online. When the NIETS announced the scores on April 1, most test takers spent hours trying unsuccessfully to view their scores because the website could not cope with the volume of visitors.

The April 1 scores also came with some errors because hundreds of students found they got the virtually impossible zero mark in some subjects.

This is the first year the O-Net (Ordinary National Educational Test) and A-Net (Advanced National Educa-tional Test) have been held and their scores are being announced online only.

This is also the first year the results will be used as admission criteria for higher education.

Following the apparent mistakes, the NIETS voided the scores announced on April 1 and promised to re-publish them today.

Ponpayu Salin-ampai, a student

from Samsen School who got a zero in O-Net science and A-Net mathematics, remained optimistic.

"I believe it should go smoothly this time," he said.

However, he said the NIETS had already advised him on what he should do if the new round of announcements also attributed him zero marks.

"If that happens, I am advised to submit my applications to my favourite universities and state clearly that I am still waiting for my scores. Then, the NIETS will cooperate closely with the Office of Higher Education Commission," he said.

Another student, who identified herself as "Ked", said she had accepted the new system could get mired with errors.

"My whole family was shocked to see I was given a zero for maths. My parents complained a lot, then my friends started complaining about their zero marks too. It was then clear there were problems with the announcement," Ked said.

In a related development, Assistant Professor Nanthana Sirisap, a deputy dean of Chulalongkorn University's Faculty of Medicine, said her faculty had already obtained the scores from the NIETS with an assurance from Prateep they would be the same as those published on the website.

Nanthana said her faculty should be able to announce the list of successful applicants today.