Several unanswered questions are haunting aspirants to the prestigious Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) this year with the two-tier entrance system being adopted for admissions, apart from the new mandatory “top 20 percentile” norm.
Students are eyeing more marks in the Intermediate Board examination so as to figure among the top 20 percentile, which is mandatory for eligibility for IIT admissions.
No clarity
But Intermediate first-year students, whose results were released recently, are in a dilemma whether to appear for the improvement of certain papers, since there is no clarity on whether the improved marks will be considered for the final score or only the marks scored in the first attempt.
Stiff competition
Going by last year’s score calculations, State students must score above 85 per cent. Everyone wants to improve to figure in the top 20 percentile.
“JEE-Advanced officials should clarify immediately since the last date for applying for the Improvement Exam is May 3,” says Vijaya, whose son has scored 67 in Mathematics and wants to improve.
Improved marks
However, M. Srikanth, Director, Delta IIT Academy feels students can appear for improvement as the Board of Intermediate Education (BIE) takes into cognisance the improved marks for the final scores.
“The JEE-Advanced officials will have to consider BIE marks for the final calculation.
“They will not know if students have improved their marks by taking the exam a second time. It is nowhere mentioned in the mark-sheet,” Dr. Srikanth says. Efforts to reach JEE officials for clarity did not fructify.
Questions galore
Meanwhile, implementation of reservations for the top 1.5 lakh to be chosen for the Joint Entrance Examination - Advanced is also throwing up several questions.
Among the top 1.5 lakh students to be chosen from JEE (Main) about 40,500 candidates would be from the Other Backward Community categories, apart from around 22,500 Scheduled Caste candidates and 11,250 Scheduled Tribe candidates as per their reserved quota.
False reservation claims
Aspirants feel that some students tend to submit false caste certificates initially. And if they do get selected to the top 1.5 lakh based on their claims and withdraw them later, genuine candidates would suffer.
Caste certificates
Last year, nearly 800 Backward Community students withdrew their caste certificates from among the 4,800-odd who qualified in the category.
In most cases, students had to withdraw as their caste was not in the Other Backward Community Central list though it was recognised in the State government list.
Though caste certificates are verified at the time of admission, aspirants feel caste certificates should be submitted before the exam as the selection process was different this year.
Moreover, fake creamy layer certificates also may affect the chances of many.
