New DelhiEveryone knows that it is tough to crack the qualifying test for the prestigious Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), but the figures released by the body that oversees the entrance exams suggest some numbers.
In the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) Advance 2021, out of 114 questions, more than 90 percent of the 75 candidates answered incorrectly. There were six questions to which less than 2% of the students could answer correctly.
These numbers come from the data released by the Joint Implementation Committee of JEE Advanced 2021 based on the analysis of previous year’s Maths, Chemistry and Physics papers. The analysis consisted of both Paper 1 and Paper 2, each of which tests aptitude in Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry.
JEE Advanced is considered to be one of the toughest undergraduate entrance exams in the world. To be eligible to appear in it, students must first score top marks in JEE Mains, which is an entrance exam for admission to various undergraduate programs in engineering and architecture.
As per the data shared by the committee, out of around 9 lakh students who appeared for JEE Mains last year, 1,41,699 were eventually able to appear for JEE Advanced. Of these, 41,862 or about 29 per cent of the students eventually qualified for a seat in an IIT. But ultimately only 16,296 or about 12 per cent were offered seats.
According to some IIT professors whom ThePrint spoke to, the data points to the difficulty level of the papers being higher than the aptitude of the candidates in these subjects. He also emphasized that the competitive examination is based on the process of elimination rather than selection.
“The level of competition is so high that we cannot have simple questions. We should have such a pattern that only the best students can solve them. There are a limited number of students we can select, so the questions should be accordingly,” said Shalabh (he does not use last names), an IIT Kanpur professor who was involved in setting up question papers for JEE Advanced. were involved. last.
Shalabh, however, said that despite his rigor, the questions were all related to concepts taught in the “basic” school curriculum prescribed by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and other boards. “Students whose basics are clear should be able to answer questions,” he said.
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‘The question papers should be tough’
Overall, the data shows that 15 questions were left without attempt by more than 60 per cent of the candidates.
Out of these 15 questions, 10 questions were from Mathematics. One Multiple Choice Question (MCQ) in Mathematics was unanswered by 72.72 per cent of the students, which translates to 1,03,049 students. Only 6.72 percent of those who attempted this question were able to answer correctly.
Less than 10 percent of the candidates answered 22 maths questions correctly. The same went for 20 questions in Chemistry and 12 questions in Physics. For two questions in Chemistry, less than 1 percent of the candidates were able to write the correct answer.
Another question of chemistry also found the students stunned. Overall, 1,04307 students (73.61 per cent) did not attempt an answer. Of those who attempted it, only 2.16 percent were able to answer correctly.
Another professor at IIT-Kanpur, Manindra Agrawal, said, “The number of students we have to select from the given lot, the question papers should be tough.”
Amid criticism over the pressure of these exams, IIT representatives have maintained a similar line. For example, in a 2018 interviewFormer IIT Delhi director V. Ramgopal Rao had insisted that the exam was “difficult and complicated” as it was “designed to reject candidates, not select them”.
(Edited by Aswari Singh)
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