2nd Round of Nationwide University Exam Commences

The second round of Iran’s formerly annual nationwide university exam, locally known as Konkour, began on Wednesday morning with over 480,000 students competing in the mathematics and human sciences disciplines. 
The two-day marathon held by the National Organization of Educational Testing is set to end by Thursday evening with tests dedicated to foreign languages and biological sciences, IRNA reported. 
A total of 1.119 million students have signed up for the second round of the exam, with an overwhelmingly female participation rate of 61%. 
Pupils are not allowed to carry electronic devices to exam centers to prevent cheating. Authorities have been trying to stop the widespread cheating that occurs during the tests for some time now, even through blocking the internet in areas where there are exam centers for the duration of the test. 
The preliminary results are expected to come out in mid-to-late August and final results will be out by mid-September so that students can begin attending university classes by the end of September. 
Iran transformed the format of the nationwide exam this year, holding it twice a year to give pupils a fairer chance of competing for top-tier universities and to relieve the severe stress students would experience in the annual format. 
It used to only be held in late June once a year. Other changes have also been made to the now biannual exam by the order of the Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution. 
These include the omission of general courses such as Arabic and Persian literature from the exam and the extension of the test result’s validation period to two years. 
Over the next few years, student records during their final school year will progressively play a more important role in their final Konkour results.