New Delhi, Jun 30 (IANS): A few Delhi University colleges released their second cut-off lists Sunday, with a reduction in marks required for admission to the science courses.

Lady Shri Ram College for Women (LSR), Ramjas College and Hans Raj College announced their second cut-off lists for admission to the new four-year Bachelors degree programmes.

The slash in the cut-off for honours in Botany, Physics, Chemistry and Zoology was, on average, two to four percent in these colleges. In Hans Raj College, for Botany, the second cut-off is 86 percent; it was earlier 92 percent.

V.K. Kawatra, principal, Hans Raj College, told IANS: "With the introduction of the bachelors of technology (BTech) courses in Delhi University, many students opt for that as they get an engineering degree, so there has been a slash in the cut-off for science courses."

Although students seeking to study science courses have found relief in the second cut-off list, their counterparts in the humanities stream have no such luck. The decrease in the second cut-off list is a mere 0.25 to 1 percent, on average, for humanities courses.

To study Philosophy at LSR, a student would still require to have scored over 91 percent in Class 12, lower by four percent from the earlier cut-off. For Political Science at Ramjas College, a student is required to have a score of at least 92 percent, lesser by two percent from the cut-off announced earlier.

"The colleges pressed a panic button and set a very high cut-off, following the alarmingly high figures (large numbers of applicants with high scores) from the university. However, the second and the third cut-off lists will give real figures of the percentages secured by students," V.K. Kawatra said.

For students interested in studying Economics, the average cut-off still remains 97 percent.

Already, admission to Political Science and Psychology in LSR and English Literature and Mathematics in Ramjas College has been closed for candidates in the general category.

Other colleges of DU are expected to release their second cut-off lists July 1.

The university introduced the four-year undergraduate programme this academic session. Under the new programme, students will be required to study 11 foundation courses in the first two years, and those seeking vocational education will take the courses along with those seeking to pursue academic disciplines.