Watch JEE Main 2013 : First day – First show online!
Madiha Jawed, Shiksha.com
April 7, 2013 - saw the much awaited JEE Main 2013 make its debut across 78 cities in India and four centres abroad namely, Bahrain, Dubai, Riyadh and Muscat.
JEE Main 2013 (Online) – First Day, First Show
Though the first JEE Mains began on April 7 (Sunday) with the offline exam, the online version of the exam follows. Being conducted online for the first time, the new exam has already created a buzz among parents and students. While some parents are annoyed about no time being given to students for preparation, there are others who are happy about the exam being conducted online this year.
“My ward did not get any time to prepare for the JEE Main online exam as the board exams concluded just a few days back. In fact, I asked my daughter to take the online exam for the same reason,” said Z.Khan, waiting outside a JEE exam centre in Noida.
Another parent of a JEE candidate said, “There were no offline centres in Noida and that is why my son had to opt for the online exam. Moreover, the other exams that he has been preparing for will also be conducted in the online mode, so this one hardly makes a difference.”
One of the centres in Noida had around 250 candidates registered for the exam. While some students were reappearing for the exam, some took the exam just to get an idea and there was a student who came all the way from Singapore to take the exam. There were also some medical aspirants who were not interested in engineering but appeared only to give it a shot.
Sudhir, husband of a JEE candidate from a rural area is not really happy with the introduction of the online system. He said, “The online system introduced will only be beneficial for students of urban areas. It would not really be a success for students in the rural areas. Moreover, for taking an online exam, one should have a proper centre.”
Before leaving for the exam, Priya Joshi, a JEE aspirant said, “I am a bit nervous but confident enough to take the online paper.” When asked why did she opt for the online mode, she replied, “Firstly, it’s completely new and secondly, I want to experience and experiment”.
Day 1 of JEE Main 2013 (Online exam)
The JEE Main (online exam) for B.Tech courses was divided over three sections – Physics, Chemistry and Maths. While most of the students informed that the Chemistry paper was the easiest, others said they found the Maths paper to be tricky.
Apeksha, a student of Amity International School, Noida, is happy with the exam. She said, “I could solve 70 out of 90 questions and found the Chemistry part to be the easiest. However, Physics was a bit tricky.” On asking about any glitches in the paper considering the exam is being conducted online for the first time, she replied, “In my case, there were no glitches as such but the candidate sitting next to me faced a lot of problems. His computer was regularly switching off and on.”
Sankalp, a student of Victoria Junior College, Singapore opted for the online exam as he found it to be more comfortable. He shared, “My exam was neither bad, nor good but I wished that I took the exam after April 20, 2013.” Being able to solve 80 out of 90 questions, he found no surprises as such in the paper.
When asked on how difficult was it to prepare for JEE as he had completed his 12th from Singapore, Sankalp said, “I had only been preparing for the exam for the last two months. After coming back to India, I had to buy CBSE books to prepare for the exam. It also gave me an idea about the type of questions that are supposed to come in the exam. However, I took no coaching classes as such.”
Anoop Aprajit said, “I opted for the online exam as I think that less mistakes would be committed here. In the offline mode, there are a lot of mistakes committed due to the ball-pen thing.” For him the paper was good with Maths being a bit tough. However, he faced problems in the online paper as the server paused from time to time.
When asked about his preparation strategy, he said, “Preparing for JEE and boards together was not my funda. I had prepared for my board exams way earlier, while for JEE, I utilised the time for my board exams to prepare for the online exam.”
Anoop wasn’t happy with the very idea of introducing JEE. He said, “The government introduced JEE to reduce the tension of the students, but the tension for us has actually increased. We now have to prepare for the exams – boards and JEE – together which was not the case earlier. Moreover, JEE Mains is a step for being selected for JEE Advanced, which will be an added tension for us.
However, some other students, found the new system absolutely fine as for them the JEE pattern is a repetition of the CBSE syllabus.
In fact, some of the parents too feel that this step taken by the HRD Ministry will be beneficial for the students. One of the parents said, “Students will now have two targets – JEE and Boards!”
[This page has been updated! Below is the first story on JEE (Offline)]
JEE Main (Offline) – First Day, First Show on April 7, 2013
Conducted by the CBSE, the first slot for JEE Main (9:30 am to 12:30 pm) was booked for B.Tech aspirants, while the second slot for B.Arch courses was held from 2 pm to 5 pm.
The exam saw mixed reactions from parents and students both. On asking about the pressure of this new exam, one of the parents at a Faridabad centre said, “I was tensed for the board exams as it adds more weightage to my son’s career but JEE is just another entrance exam for which he can appear next year as well." While for some parents the JEE exam was at par with the Board exams.
Students informed that the exam started and ended at the stated time and there was no delay as such. Click here for JEE Question Paper pattern based on expert analysis.
Being conducted in two modes – offline and online, some students preferred taking the online exam for the sole reason of getting some more time to prepare. Sankalp Chandra, who took the exam at Ryan International School, KIIT, Gurgaon said, “I would have preferred taking the online exam if only I knew that I could take the exam a little later to prepare more.” However, for Sankalp the exam was easy and had no surprises as such. He found the paper to be lengthy and some of the questions for mathematics and physics familiar.
A parent of a JEE aspirant said, “Students do not have much info about the online mode and didn't have much experience as no mock tests were conducted. Thus, I suggested my ward to go for the traditional offline mode.”
Part 1 for B.Tech courses
Some students found the exam a bit difficult, but for some it was just another “board exam”. Harsh Barua, who opted to take both the papers – B.Tech and B.Arch said, “Since it was the first JEE exam, the paper altogether was a surprise.” He found the paper quite easy as he was able to attempt 60% of the questions. He informed that students had the liberty to attempt any section of the question paper first. He also observed, “The syllabus was similar to Boards but JEE had more tricky and concept-based questions.”
A student who wishes to be anonymous said, “The Chemistry paper was quite easy while maths and physics were at par, but less easier than chemistry. There were a total of 90 questions – 30 questions each in all the three sections – with equal weightage given to all of them.”
Aditya Mishra, a student of Father Agnel School , Noida said, “ I found the exam to be easy but a little tricky. However, there was a change in the marking scheme this year. Last year, for every correct answer, +4 was scored while -1 was deducted for every wrong answer. But this year, one gets +4 for every right answer and -0.25 (1/4th mark) will be deducted for every wrong answer.” He informed to have attempted around 60 to 65% questions and the only restriction was the time.
Students at the centres in Faridabad and Gurgaon had varied reactions to the new JEE. For some, the traditional AIEEE was better as it had nothing to do with CBSE unlike JEE, which would consider 40% marks of Board exams. But now with the introduction of the Joint Entrance Exam (JEE), students have to strike a balance between JEE and Borad exam preparations. IIT aspirants have to be as serious about scoring well in the boards to make it to the JEE Advance merit list to compete for entry into the IITs. On the other hand, there are students who consider JEE a better option as it did away with most of the other engineering entrance exams and gave students only two clear targets – JEE and Boards!
Talking of how difficult it was to prepare for both JEE and boards together, Sankalp Chandra said, “I was not even thinking about JEE while preparing for my Boards.” However, it was a different game plan for Aditya, who had to manage both school and coaching together. He informed, “I often carried my study material to school as JEE had high level questions as compared to CBSE.”
The second JEE session for B.Arch entrance was on at the time of filing this story. Now also check out How was JEE Main 2013 exam for architecture aspirants?
Stay tuned for latest updates on JEE! Also check out 'Related Articles' below...
