Over 18,000 candidates from Telangana who tested their luck at JEE Advanced, which was held online for the first time, felt that the paper was tougher than last year.
The exam was held in two sessions, with paper-I held from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. and paper-II from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. Unlike last year, where the paper was held offline, students could not take the question paper and the copy of their responses home. No errors in the questions have been reported so far.
Paper-I had three parts - physics, chemistry and mathematics. In section one, there were six questions worth four marks for all correct options chosen and three marks if three correct options are chosen. There were no negtive marks if questions go unanswered. In the second section, there were 8 ‘Integer Type’ questions and answers ranged from 0 to 9. Three marks will be awarded for the correct response and zero marks in all other cases. In section three, three marks will be given only for the correct answer and minus one in all other cases.
The paper had 54 questions in total, but marks were reduced from 183 last year to 180 this year, according to Venkata Ramana from T.I.M.E. Hyderabad.
Students said the overall level of paper was moderate, but not easy. Some students have reported that maths was easy and physics relatively difficult. Chemistry was reportedly moderately difficult. Paper-II also had 54 questions worth 180 marks. Section one of the paper had six questions with four options, in which one or more than one options were correct. Marking scheme in this section was plus 4 in case all options are correct, plus 1 for each correct response, 0 marks for no response and minus 2 in all other cases. Maximum marks for this section was 24.
Section two had 8 questions with correct response being a numerical value. The marking scheme was plus three for the correct response and zero marks in all other cases. Maximum marks for this section was also 24. Section three has four questions. Marking scheme in the section was plus 3 if the correct option was marked, zero marks if none of the options were marked and minus 1 in all other cases. Maximum marks for this section was 12.
Overall, students felt mathematics section was difficult compared to physics and chemistry and compared to Paper-1, students reported Paper-II was relatively tough. Equal weightage was given to Class XI and Class XII, according to Ramesh Batlish, expert at FIITJEE.
