December 11, 2020.
TED NewsDesk, New Delhi: In welcome news for engineering hopefuls, the government has decided to increase the number of attempts for JEE- Main from two to four from the coming year on Thursday. This news was conferred by the Education Minister, Ramesh Pokhriyal, who indicated the possibility of the increase in attempts, which was later confirmed by officials.
To make the stressful exam a bit less so, the JEE-Main will take place in a duration of three to four days in different phases in February, March, April and May. The candidates will be able to sit for all the exams and their best result out of the four exams will be counted for their All India Ranking. Before the pandemic, the exam used to take place in January and April.
In further relaxation for the students, it will not be compulsory to attempt all the question instead, there would be a choice for them to choose from. The students will be given an option to attempt 75 questions out of 90, or 25 from a total of 30 questions in each part of Chemistry, Physics and Mathematics.
Since many states have cut off portions of their syllabus for classes XI and XII and many have not, the JEE-Main will have to formulate question papers that will include both. One of the officials, on the condition of anonymity, said, “Kerala, for instance, hasn’t cut its high school syllabus, while CBSE has. So the JEE-Main has to cover both. Hence the decision made to ask candidates to attempt 75 out of 90 questions.”
Pokhriyal also made it clear that NEET, the entrance test for admission in medical courses across India, will not be cancelled. Although the exam date has not been yet been finalised, the NTA (National Testing Agency) is working on the exam date and mode- whether it will be conducted online or offline, or both. For the purpose, it is in consultation with the Ministry of Health.
Pokhriyal did not give a concrete answer on the exam schedule for the CBSE Board exams for classes X and XII for the year 2021. He said that the schedule will be finalised keeping in view the situation of the Coronavirus next. He also added that 30 per cent of the syllabus for next year’s Board exams has already been cut off, hence there will be no more reduction of the syllabus.
The increase in the number of attempts for JEE-Main comes as a huge relief for those who are preparing to attempt it next year. It will give them more opportunities to clear it and the stress due to the exam will also be reduced.
Source: The Indian Express
