65,000+ Students Appear on Day 1, Maths & Physics Prove Tough
The wait is finally over for thousands of engineering aspirants across Telangana. The TG EAPCET 2026 engineering stream examination got underway on Saturday, May 9, with students filing into 125 examination centres spread across the state for what turned out to be a challenging but largely smooth first day.
The morning session, which ran from 9 AM to 12 Noon, saw 32,540 students appear out of the 34,823 registered - a decent turnout for an exam of this scale. The afternoon batch followed from 3 PM to 6 PM, with 32,390 students sitting the paper out of 34,808 registered. Altogether, that is well over 65,000 students who faced the exam on day one alone. Students arriving for the afternoon session were allowed entry from 1:30 PM, and authorities made it clear that no one would be permitted to leave the hall before the exam concluded.
This year, a whopping 2,10,766 candidates have registered for the engineering stream - a number that reflects just how crucial this entrance test remains for students eyeing engineering seats in Telangana. The exam is scheduled to continue on May 10 and May 11 as well.
How Did the Paper Feel? Students Speak Out
Walk out of any exam centre on Saturday and you would have heard the same conversation - Mathematics and Physics were tough, Chemistry was a relief. That seemed to be the general consensus among students who appeared for the TG EAPCET 2026 engineering paper. Several students admitted they struggled to complete all questions within the allotted time, which is a concern given that speed and accuracy are equally important in competitive entrance exams.
Coaching experts who gathered student feedback pointed out something telling: problems in Mathematics and Physics that typically take around two minutes to solve were reportedly consuming nearly seven minutes during the exam. That kind of time pressure can unsettle even well-prepared students. For comparison, many students noted that the JEE Main paper felt more manageable than this year's EAPCET engineering section.
As for the source of questions, most were rooted in Telugu Akademi textbooks - the standard preparation material - though a handful of questions were entirely new and caught students off guard.
Instant Score Preview - A Welcome Change
One feature students genuinely appreciated this time around was the ability to view their preliminary scores on-screen immediately after completing the exam, based on the initial answer key. While these are not final scores, they give students a rough idea of where they stand. The official Eapcet website also hosts previous years' marks and rank data, which students can use to roughly estimate their rank band before the final results are declared.
It is worth noting that the final EAPCET rank will be calculated using normalised marks based on the confirmed answer key - so the on-screen score is an indicator, not a guarantee. That said, knowing your approximate score right after the exam does take some of the anxiety out of the waiting period.
The examination continues on May 10 and May 11. Students yet to appear are advised to go through their Telugu Akademi textbooks thoroughly, manage their time carefully during the paper, and not let a tough Mathematics section shake their confidence - because if day one is anything to go by, speed will matter just as much as preparation.