IIT's to reduce syllabus and change exam pattern

New Delhi: The Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT's) are in an idea to reduce the exam syllabus and changing the entrance exam format for the coming JEE Advanced.

This among other proposals will be set for discussion at the review meeting of Joint Admission's Board (JAB). The meeting is scheduled to be held in the coming week and the final decision will only be taken after the meeting.

This year, the IIT-Delhi is conducting the JEE Advanced examination. Speaking on it, V Ramagopal Rao confirmed, "The proposal on the format of exam, syllabus, social distancing norms are up for discussion in the review meeting next week. The decisions will be taken after JAB's nod and would be for the JEE Advance 2020."

IIT's are also considering doing away with the board exam requirement for the entrance exam for the year. This is being done as several boards including CBSE and CISCE have decided not to go ahead with pending board exams and plan their own assessment schemes.

As per rules, it is mandatory for a candidate to have at least 75 per cent marks in boards or be in the top 20 percentile of the class 12 exams.

After the CBSE had decided to cut their syllabus by 30%, it is being speculated that this might have a cascading effect on NEET and JEE entrance exams for medical and engineering, respectively. The entrance exams are based on the syllabus on CBSE class 11 and 12 formats.

Some of the trainers said that even in normal circumstances, students have to refer to extra study material beyond the prescribed CBSE syllabus for JEE Main and NEET, and the syllabus reduction might not be effective unless the exam pattern is also changed.

If JEE Advanced reduces its syllabus, it is likely that JEE Main will also follow a reduction. For JEE Main there are also high chances that the January 2021 attempt too gets postponed if the schools do not re-open timely. However, an official confirmation on this is awaited from the exam conducting body, National Testing Agency (NTA).