The asking rate was steep — 100 in 120 minutes. Googlies stumped a few. Others took them in stride in the maiden entrance test for admission to a Patna University college.

Tricky questions in the general knowledge and mental aptitude section of the test on Monday checked intelligence quotient of the students aspiring to study in Magadh Mahila College. (See Graphics)

The question “who can dissolve Rajya Sabha” foxed several aspirants because nobody can. The upper House of Parliament cannot be dissolved.

The entrance test paper had two sections — the core subject in which a student was seeking admission and the general knowledge and mental aptitude. The subject section had 60 questions carrying one-mark each. Most of them were based on the Plus Two syllabus.

The other section included 40 questions, each worth a mark. The answers had to be marked on OMR (optical mark recognition) sheets.

Unlike the cryptic general knowledge and mental aptitude, the subject section test was a cakewalk for most. It was like batting on a flat track against a placid attack.

Pragati, a Class XII passout from St Joseph’s Covent who took the test, said: “Majority of the questions were from the Class XII-level. Students who followed intermediate syllabus closely and kept an eye on the current developments have a fair chance of cracking the test.”

Aditi Goswami, a passout from DAV, BSEB, echoed Pragati. “As I have applied for English honours, I read my Plus Two language and literature books before the exam. Most of the questions in the subject section were common.”

The students taking the test were in a state of flux over the mode of admission to the Patna University colleges till chancellor Devanand Konwar gave the varsity the permission to conduct the exam last Wednesday. Hailing the introduction of the entrance test, Pragati said: “All major universities should follow the same pattern for admission.”

N.K. Singh, a businessman whose daughter appeared in the entrance test, differed. “If the entrance test is the sole criterion for selection of students in the exam, what is the advantage of securing good marks in the Class XII examination?” he asked.

Magadh Mahila College was the first Patna University-affiliated institution to conduct the entrance exam. Dolly Sinha, the principal of the college, said: “The entrance test passed off peacefully without any untoward incident.”

The college received 1,577 applications for admission to its humanities courses. Of them, 1,404 turned up for the test. In the science stream, there were 1,183 applicants. As many as 1,041 among them appeared for the test.

The college has 254 seats in the science stream and 450 in the humanities.