How the Changes Introduced in JEE Main Exam Pattern Are Beneficial to JEE Aspirants?

One of the trending topics these days on social media platforms is “Whether JEE Main 2020 Exam will be conducted or not”. Admit it or not, the current situation across the country due to pandemic COVID-19 has kept us thinking about the postponed and delayed prominent examinations such as CBBSE Board, JEE Main, and NEET. JEE Main Exam is one most important engineering entrance examination which lakhs of students have kept their eyes on and have been preparing for a long time just to be able to get through the entrance exam for admission to prominent engineering institutions across the country. There are various engineering institutes which grant admission to students based on their performance in JEE Main Exam.

Being one of the toughest exams, JEE Main has left many students awestruck at it as the paper pattern has gone through various changes resulting into ease of difficulty level of the examination. Qualifying JEE Main examination is a gateway to get admission to IITs, NITs, IIITs, and CFTIs which are considered and undoubtedly are the premier institutes of the country. Before starting with what brought you here i.e. the important facts and pros and cons of JEE Main Exam, let me take you deeper into what is JEE Main and what makes it one of the most sought after entrance examination of India.

What is JEE Main?

JEE Main, shortened for Joint Entrance Examination Main, is a national level engineering entrance examination for admission to undergraduate level programs offered by various notable institutes. The examination is conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA) which is also the conducting body of NEET Exam. These prominent institutes primarily include Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), National Institutes of Technology (NITs), Indian Institutes of Information Technology (IIITs) and Centrally Funded Technical Institutes (CFTIs). The Joint Entrance Examination is concluded through two papers i.e. JEE Main and JEE Advanced.

Candidates seeking admission to or willing to pursue their career in the field of engineering from any of the IITs, NITs, and CFTIs must ensure that they qualify JEE Main and JEE Advanced examination. After students take JEE Main, they will be required to clear the cut off score in order to appear in JEE Advanced examination. They will be considered eligible to write JEE Advanced only if they qualify JEE Main Exam. The number of candidates applying and then appearing in the exam lies between 1.2 to 1.5 million. Candidates who qualify JEE Advanced exam will be able to take admission to the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs).

Score is Not Only Accepted in India

Another aspect of JEE which is not known to all its aspirants is there is a specific procedure in order to accept foreign students. But the score that you manage to obtain in JEE might get you admission to foreign universities. Yes, as amazing it may sound, but there are some popular foreign universities that grant admission to students based on their performance in JEE.

• This might sound interesting to those candidates who do not get admission to their favorite IITs or NITs. You would be happy to know that you can now also apply for foreign universities as well without doing anything additional to your preparation.
• The objective of framing the question paper of JEE in the way it already is, is to altogether refine students' perspective. So, a mere involvement in the examination would only expose students to various opportunities they have been seeking.

Changes Announced in JEE Main by NTA

The examination conducting authority i.e. the National Testing Agency (NTA) has introduced a few new changes in the JEE Main 2020 Examination pattern. These changes have been announced this year itself. NTA even issued an official notice on its official website stating the various changes introduced in exam pattern of JEE Main exam. There used to be two papers in JEE Main for B. Tech and B. Arch, but from this year onward, NTA will also conduct a separate paper, Paper 3, for B. Planning program. The drastic changes introduced in JEE Main this year are as below:

Paper 1 Question Paper of B. Tech/B. E.

• The question paper of JEE Main for B. Tech/B. E. used to consist of 90 questions which has now been reduced to 75 in order to ease the difficulty level of the exam to some extent.
• There will be 75 questions contributing to a total of 300 marks with 25 questions from each subject i.e. Physics, Chemistry, and Mathematics.

Paper 2 Question Paper of B. Arch

The question paper of B. Arch paper will from now consist of a total of 77 questions. These 77 questions are divided in three sections i.e. Section 1, Section 2, and Section 3 for Mathematics, Aptitude Test, and Drawing Test respectively. The questions contribute to a total of 400 marks.

Paper 3 Question Paper of B. Planning

• This paper has been introduced this year itself for program B. Planning. This question paper will consist of 100 question contributing to a total of 400 marks. The question paper will be divided in three sections namely Mathematics, Aptitude, and Planning.
• Another new aspect introduced this year is Numerical Value Answer based questions. These questions have been introduced by the NTA this year. Besides, these type of questions will be introduced in all the 3 papers of JEE Main.

Pros and Cons of New Exam Pattern of JEE Main

Now that JEE Main Exam is nearing and the National Testing Agency (NTA) being the conducting authority of JEE Main has introduced several changes in the examination pattern, aspirants of JEE Main must familiarize themselves with these changes in order to score well.

Since there are some changes that the National Testing Agency has introduced in exam pattern of JEE Main, there are not many changes that you should be scared of. The changes primarily include decrease in number of questions and increase in total marks. It also increased the need of accuracy one should maintain while answering the questions correctly.

Below, I have mentioned the primary pros and cons of changed exam pattern that you would witness during the examination:

Pros

• Now that the number of questions for JEE Main (B. Tech/B. E.) has been decreased to 75 from 90, the time to attempt these questions still remain the same. Candidates will be given 3 hours to complete the paper.
• NTA has introduced Numerical Value Based type questions from this year and there is no negative marking for it.
• These 75 questions will be divided in three sections namely Physics, Chemistry, and Mathematics with 20 questions of Multiple Choice Type and 5 Numerical Valued Based questions in all three sections respectively.
• Total marks for 75 questions would be 300 marks which used to be 360 for 90 questions.

Cons

• Now that the number of questions has been reduced to 75, it only increases the intensity of competition. Either students will be facing tougher questions or the difficulty level of the exam would increase.
• Answers provided by the students will be strongly analyzed by experts just to assure fair checking of answer sheets.
• Though the numerical valued based type questions do not have negative marking, yet there are chances it becomes difficult to solve these questions. As the solution to numerical value based questions would be lengthy and consuming more time than expected, the chances of getting decimal values are higher.
• This would only make it hard to guess the answer to given questions.

However, mentors and experts analyze these changes should not affect students' preparation for JEE Main Examination as these changes are only to ease the procedure of taking the examination.

The table given below describes the peculiar differences between the old and new pattern of JEE Main:

Marking Scheme of JEE Mainz

One of the most important aspects of JEE Main is to know the marking scheme of the exam. Aspirants of JEE Main must understand the marking scheme of JEE Main exam correctly. Candidates will be awarded with 4 marks for every correct answer. 1 mark will be deducted as penalty for each incorrect answer.

• No negative marking is there for numerical value answer based questions and questions that students do not attempt.
• The drawing test conducted in B. Arch paper will consist of 2 questions for 50 marks each.