Difficulty level of JEE Mains like past years: CBSE

MUMBAI: Students appearing for the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) Main in April will be able to able to access their e-admit cards on www.jeemain.nic.in.

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), which is conducting the exam, said in a statement that the level of difficulty of the JEE-Mains exam in 2018 will remain similar to the previous few years.

“Subject experts (who prepared question papers) have certified that the syllabus of mathematics, physics and chemistry has been covered in each question set by dividing the syllabus of each subject into appropriate number of units and choosing equal number of questions from each unit,” said the statement.

The note informs all candidates that in every question paper set, each subject carries the same percentage of easy, medium, and difficult questions. “This is done to ensure that difficulty level of each question paper set is as per the practice followed in the previous few years.” CBSE uses different sets of question papers for different shifts on different dates of exam.

HT has written about growing concern over the decreasing numbers of students applying for engineering courses in the past few years, with registrations to JEE-Main figures falling for the fifth consecutive year.

Around 1.14 million candidates registered for the exam this year, almost 51,000 less compared to candidates registered in 2017. The figure stood at 1.2 million in 2016 and 1.30 million in 2015. Registrations had increased from 1.28 million in 2013 to 1.35 million in 2014.

“Candidates need to make sure they reach the exam centre well within time. No candidate will be allowed to enter the examination hall after the time of last entry — 9.30am for Paper 1, 2pm for Paper 2, and 2.30pm for second shift of Paper 1,” added an official from CBSE.

JEE-Main will be conducted in the pen and paper mode at different centres located in 112 cities in India and abroad on April 8, whereas the computer-based examination will be conducted in 258 cities across India on April 15 and 16 this year.