Only Mathayom-6 students to take GAT/PAT from 2010

UPCT chairman Pirom Kamolratanakul said the council's meeting yesterday had also approved a proposal by the Admission Forum that the 2011-2012 admission should comprise the accumulative grade-point average (GPAX), the Ordinary National Educational Test (O-Net), the General Aptitude Test (GAT) and the Professional Aptitude Test (PAT).

Although the weighting of each component is yet to be decided, the GAT/PAT scores - valid for two years - should contribute at least 10 per cent, he said.

Instead of being held in three rounds per year, the UPCT agreed that Mathayom-6 students would take the GAT/PAT exams only twice per year - in March and October - starting from 2010.

The exclusion of Mathayom-5 GAT/PAT test-takers is due to the students' very low scores in the past two rounds, he added.

While the GAT exam will still take three hours, the PAT test period will be reduced from three hours to two.

The UPCT's next meeting, scheduled at Mahidol University on August 31 to vote for a new president, will decide whether to separate the PAT2 Science exam into three subjects: PAT2.1 Chemistry, PAT2.2 Biology and PAT2.3 Physics.

The outcome of the meeting should be published on www.cuas.pr.th so that the council can get opinions from all sides, Pirom said.