Candidates to get more questions to choose from

NEW DELHI: The union government on Tuesday announced a change in pattern for medical and engineering entrance exams and offered students 20% more questions to choose from during the exams. Almost 3 million aspirants sit for JEE and NEET exams every year. The union education ministry on Tuesday said that both the national eligibility cum entrance (NEET) test for admission to medical colleges, and the Joint Entrance Exam (JEE Main) for admission to top engineering schools, will have 20% more questions to choose from in 2021.

“The exact pattern for NEET (UG) 2021 is yet to be announced. However, due to reduction of syllabus by some boards across the country, the NEET (UG) 2021 question paper will also have options on the lines of JEE (Main),” the union education ministry said in a statement.

“The syllabus for JEE (Main 2021) to remain same as the previous year. But students will be given the choice to answer 75 questions (25 questions each in physics, chemistry & mathematics) out of 90 questions (30 questions each in physics, chemistry & mathematics),” the ministry said.

In a separate decision, the ministry waived of the 75%-mark eligibility criteria in class 12 exams for students seeking admission to central technical and engineering schools via JEE (Main).

IITS have already decided to relax this criterion for admission. Centrally funded technical Institutions (CFTIS) include National

Institutes of Technology (NITS), Indian Institutes of Information Technology (IITS) and Schools of Planning and Architecture (SPAS) etc.

“Considering the decision taken for IIT JEE (Advanced) and in line with the decision taken for the last academic year, the ministry of education has decided to waive off the 75% marks (in class 12 exam) eligibility criteria under Joint Entrance Examination (Main) for the next academic year 2021-2022 in respect of NITS, IIITS, SPAS and other CFTIS, whose admissions are based on JEE (Main),” the ministry said.