A student fills in an application for a review of her O-Net and A-Net scores at Khon Kaen University’s Admissions Centre.

The deadline for university applications has been extended two days until Tuesday, the Office of Higher Education Commission (OHEC) announced yesterday.

OHEC secretary-general Pavich Thongroj made the announcement after a teleconference with representatives of all universities across the country.

The extension comes after the fiasco in determining O-Net (Ordinary National Educational Test) and A-Net (Advanced National Educational Test) scores. Previously, the deadline was this Sunday.

The O-Net and A-Net scores are very important this year because they are now the main university-admission criteria.

However, score announcements have been set back several times and plagued by a spate of errors. This has left thousands of students frantically trying to verify their scores.

Many students found they got the unlikely score of zero, while others got suspiciously low scores. More than 340,000 students sat the O-Net/A-Net tests this year.

Pavich insisted yesterday the problems found in the score announcements were manageable.

Many faculties of various universities were set to announce a list of successful applicants based on the scores officially released, he said. However, the universities have promised to admit those students who find out "late" that their result passes the minimum needed to win acceptance at a favoured faculty.

Aside from A-Net/O-Net scores, some faculties will also consider students' grades from schools and speciality test scores.

Nine medical schools are set to announce a list of successful applicants tomorrow.

Pavich believed all score problems would be solved by May 20, in time for the announcement of successful applicants from the central admission system, scheduled for May 24. "The beginning of the new semester will not be affected," he said.

Education Minister Chaturon Chaisang said the authorities would use the lessons learned from this year's admission-system problems to help improve the system next year.

Assistant Professor Tawatchai Ngarmsantiwong, a lecturer from King Mongkut's Institute of Technology in North Bangkok, complained that the National Institute of Education Testing Service (NIETS) director Prateep Chankong refused to let him check whether NIETS had tested the system before actual use.

"I want to check how reliable the system is," Tawatchai said. The lecturer said he felt there was "something wrong" as soon as he read a report that the system used in this year's O-Net/A-Net cost more than Bt10 million.