The competition to secure a coveted seat in one of the premier medical institutions in India is round the corner. With the entrance examination for the undergraduate medical courses in Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research (Jipmer) scheduled for June 4, nearly 1,89,662 students are preparing for the 200 undergraduate seats.
As the number of applicants continues to grow year after year, Jipmer Director S.C. Parija and Dean (Academic) R. P. Swaminathan during an interaction with The Hindu shared their insights into one of the most competitive examinations in India and the ways to crack it.
Jipmer Director stressed that the students must equally focus on English and reasoning as well since it contributes to the variation in ranking. “Students tend to concentrate more on preparing for physics, chemistry and biology than the English language paper. Though it constitutes only 20 marks, it is important to equally focus on English as well. If students score well in other subjects and lose out in English paper, their ranking would go down,” he said.
This year, nearly 1,89,662 students have applied for the Jipmer exam for 200 slots; 150 on the Puducherry campus and 50 on the Karaikal campus. Dr. Swaminathan said that the entrance examination would be held in 339 examination centres in 75 cities spread across India.
He added that the UG level entrance exam follows single best response system, which rules out negative marking. The question paper is framed by a committee consisting of experts from different parts of India.
“The level of difficulty of the exam is at par with 12th exams. The student must work really hard and have a strong understanding of the basics in order to ace the exam,” added Dr. Swaminathan.
Last year, 1,89,000 students applied for the entrance examination which was held in 175 cities.
Dr. Parija said the introduction of online tests was the reason for the drastic increase in the number of applicants since it could be accessed by students from throughout the country. He said the management was keen on not increasing the number of seats.
Hard work
Students went to coaching classes and referred to the books containing mock question papers that were not officially published by Jipmer.
Shwetha, an aspirant, said: “I have been working hard in the past month and have been referring to the books suggested by the coaching classes. I will give it my best shot.”
Along with the entrance test score, the student must have secured at least a 50% score in the 12th examination to qualify for the admission.
Jipmer was given the status of an Institution of National Importance by an Act of Parliament in July 2008 on the lines of All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, and Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh.
