September 12, 2013, 1:23 pm
CBSE board, which conducts the JEEMains, is proposing two Main tests for 2014, one in February and one in April. The final decision on this will be taken at a meeting of the Joint Entrance Examination Apex body on September 17.
A senior CBSE official confirmed that such a proposal is afoot. "The logic is that candidates can take both the exams and the best score of the two will be considered for the JEE-Advanced. Students get a second chance," he said.
An additional test will add to the blitzkrieg of exams that students have to answer, and pile up preparation pressure on them. The board exams for the state board, CBSE as well as ICSE are conducted in February. Students of ICSE and state board will have to study separate portions of the CBSE syllabus to prepare for the first of the JEE Mains, also to be held in February.
The CBSE official said it would be ensured that the JEE-Main exam dates in February do not clash with the February board exams. But that does not ease studying pressure for students. It merely allows them to take both the exams.
The other possible fallout of a JEEMain in February is that preoccupation with it could affect a students’ board exam performance adversely. And this in turn will have an impact their chances of qualifying for IIT which has introduced a policy this year that successful candidates, even if they have cleared the JEE-Advanced, must be among the top-20 percentile scorers in the class XII exams of their respective boards.
While the JEE-Main exam qualifies students for engineering institutes like NITs and IIITs, IIT aspirants have to nail both the Main and the Advanced, and also do well in their class XII board exams.
