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IITs favour old test pattern

After experimenting with the single, multiple choice questions (MCQ)-based JEE test format for years, the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) propose to return to the old system of screening aspirants at two levels to weed out “unmanageable” candidates taking the exam every year. This year, 4.5 lakh candidates took JEE for 10,000 seats.

For the final entry to the technical institutes, aspirants who clear the first level of screening- comprising Class XII board exams and national aptitude test – would have to write an exam featuring long questions that demand reasoning ability from the students. This format would potentially prohibit the coaching industry, believes the IIT-JEE reform panel set up this February, to draft reforms for the entry to IITs and other technical institutes in India.

In the draft report (not final till vetted by IIT directors, IIT Council and the National Institute of Technology Council) submitted to the HRD ministry, the committee has proposed that the final exam for the entry to IITs should be in paper-pencil format instead of the optical response sheet pattern and questions should be such as demand long, reasoned answers. IITs, which shifted to fully objective type question banks in 2006, are finding it hard to cope with the results that fetch them coached students with meager intellect.

For short-listing students in initial screening, the panel backs 70 per cent weightage to Class XII boards and 30 per cent to the national aptitude test which will assess the student’s general knowledge, logic and communication skills. This on-line test would be allowed three times in a year. The candidate’s best score would be final.

Prof MS Ananth, Director, IIT Madras, and member, IIT-JEE reform panel, said today that the report submitted to the ministry was only a draft and would be presented before the IIT directors in July before it goes to IIT and NIT councils.

Meanwhile, Kapil Sibal told that the draft report recommendations were only indicative in nature and were not final. “We will have to take this to state education ministers. Also, wider debate is required on whether we need add-on exams.”

Related Topics:

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2. IITs: Panel wants XII, NAT scores to screen candidates
3. IITs want to make up, but don’t know how
4. Roadmap for IITs to fund themselves
5. 1 in 3 professor posts in IITs vacant

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