IIT-JEE paper easier than expected: students

‘Physics section was tougher than Mathematics and Chemistry’

Anxiety writ large on their faces, many students, waiting to write the Joint Entrance Examination (Main) for admission to the Indian Institutes of Technology, spent the last few minutes cramming. This was the scene at the 16 examination centres in the city on Sunday.

Mangalore joined the list of 81 cities, including Doha, Dubai, Riyadh and Muscat, where the examination was held ‘offline’. A total of more than 8,000 students wrote the examination in the city.

Coordinators at FIITJEE, a coaching centre, said that though the paper was easy on the whole, the Physics section was tougher than the Mathematics and Chemistry sections.

Students

The Hindu spoke to said that thepaper was easier than expected and that the three hours was sufficient to write it. However, many if them expressed the fear that an easy paper would translate into higher cut-off marks.

Online exam

The online exam will commence on Monday in 29 cities, including Colombo, Kathmandu and Singapore.

Owing to uncertainty over the online test, many chose to write the examination offline.

Muni Krishna and his daughter Meghashree came from Chickballapur to write the examination. Similarly, students also came from other places such as Belgaum and Kasaragod in Kerala.

A considerable number of students did not produce a copy of the II PU hall ticket before writing the examination.

“Perhaps, owing to lack of awareness or anxiety, many students did not bring the copy of the hall ticket. This is important this year as 40 per cent of the total marks will include the percentage obtained in the II PU examination,” said Dayanand Kateel, manager, Sharada Vidyalaya, where 480 students wrote the examination.

Needed for clarification

However, these students were allowed to write the examination. “The Central Board for School Education (CBSE) has already collected the information from the State boards, but needed the ticket number to clarify. This was only a precaution, and those who could not produce it were allowed to write [the exam]. We have asked them to scan [the ticket] and upload it on the JEE website at the earliest,” said Darnia Arun, Assistant Secretary (Legal), CBSE.

Students such as Riya Desai from Belgaum had, however, complied.

She said that she was reminded twice by SMS in the last two days to bring the hall ticket.