Confusion about the online admission process came to the fore on the first day of Patna University's common entrance test (Pucet) for undergraduate courses, which commenced on Thursday.

Many candidates had registered only with Patna University's website but had not applied for different colleges or vice-versa.

Amit Kumar Raj, a Class XII student from Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya, Bhagalpur, looked worried when he reached B.N. College centre for his admission test. Other candidates informed him that he had to register on the websites of both the university as well as the colleges of his choice.

A cyber café owner had filled up Amit's Pucet admission form. "As Patna University had introduced online application process from this year, many students are confused," Amit said: Amit's was not an isolated case. His friend Raj Shekhar from the same school had committed the same mistake. Both Amit and Raj later approached B.N. College principal Rajkishore Prasad. They were asked to apply at colleges of their choice after paying Rs 300 each for the admission form.

As per admission guidelines, a student applying for different courses in Patna University colleges has to first register at the Patna University website. A registration number gets generated on doing so. The second step is to apply for different undergraduate courses in different colleges. Students have to visit websites of different colleges and apply using the university registration number.

B.N. College principal Rajkishore Prasad said: "As many candidates faltered while filling up the Pucet admission forms, the university administration has relaxed norms and allowed students to apply for respective colleges even after the test." As per new guidelines, candidates who have not applied either on the Patna University website or for respective colleges can do so till June 25. The initial deadline was from May 20 to June 13. The extended lifeline is not for those who have not applied at either place.

The varsity administration introduced the concept of online application this year but received just 15,929 applications, against around 30,000 applications received when the process was offline last year.

For many candidates who had applied correctly the entrance test went hassle-free. On Thursday, the varsity conducted entrance test for an undergraduate course in arts. "The test was easy. There were 100 objective-type questions, including 40 questions from general knowledge and 60 from the subject the candidate has applied for," said Shreshtha Bose, a Class XII student from DAV BSEB outside her examination centre, Magadh Mahila College.

The entrance will continue till June 25, while the results will be declared in the first week of July. The admission process will start in mid-July while classes will commence from first week of August.