Frantic students were yesterday left desperately trying to contact Chulalongkorn University (CU) staff after their names did not appear on the lists of students accepted for direct admission.

They said their scores had been high enough for direct admission, but their names were not listed among successful candidates.

"I rushed to CU immediately after I saw the lists. But there's no one here because of the long weekend," said Siriwit Srisupon.

He said his scores opened the way for him to enter CU's Commerce and Accountancy Faculty's statistics programme, but his name did not appear on a list of applicants eligible for interview.

CU announced the list of applicants eligible for interview through the direct-admission system late on Thursday night.

A short announcement also suggested that students embroiled in the exam troubles could claim their seats later if their scores were high enough.

The list was compiled from available O-Net and A-Net scores released on April 30.

Each faculty has a different weighting formula for the O-Net (Ordinary National Educational Test) and A-Net (Advanced National Educational Test) scores, some include secondary-school grades and sometimes more specific criteria.

"I just resolved problems about my scores on May 2 and my updated scores are higher than the minimum scores accepted by CU's Commerce and Accountancy Faculty's business administration programme," Thanapat Tohpreeda said at the university yesterday.

Errors have plagued all three attempts by the government to announce this year's O-Net and A-Net scores.

Authorities, embarrassed by the repeated failure of their new system in its first year, now say the problems are manageable, and want complaints lodged on a case-by-case basis.

Thanapat said his final score was 6,827 out of a possible 10,000.

"I'll be spared a lot of stress if I could get a seat through the direct-admission system instead of having to wait until the announcement of central-admission system results [which will take another two weeks]," he said.

CU vice president Dr Veerasak Udomkijdecha said students must contact CU's Office of Academic Affairs by May 29 if their scores are higher than the minimum scores accepted and their names do not figure on the list.

"Don't worry! We admit students fairly and transparently," he said.

However, he said students should understand that acceptance was not solely based on O-Net or A-Net scores.

Meanwhile, the number of students registering at centres to report O-Net and A-Net failings slowed yesterday. Centre officials at CU and Kasetsart University said most students were now only coming to check their final scores were correct.

Puangchompoo Prasert

The Nation