Are you ready for AIEEE 2012?

By Soma Chaturvedi

The All India Engineering Entrance Examination will see 13 lakh students competing this year to secure a seat to undergraduate engineering or architecture programs from around 28,000 and 1,000 seats available this year for the respective courses offered by NITs, IIITs, deemed universities, and some other state-funded institutes.

Those taking the test offline will do so on 29th April while the online version allows for some extra time as your exam date falls between 7th and 25th May.

No change in question pattern

While AIEEE is now moving online in 22 cities, the question paper pattern hasn't changed from the last year. BE or B.Tech courses will have a single question paper of three hours duration on Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics on the level of Class 10th and 12th. Physics, Chemistry and Maths sections will carry equal weightage. The objective question paper will offer multiple answers (4 options) and students will have to pick the one correct answer for each question.

The online format not only allows for easier evaluation but also makes it convenient for students to simply click on their answer options on the screen instead of having to keep track of darkening the right circles in the paper-based format. While the marking will happen online, examinees will be provided with paper for working out the answers. From next year, CBSE the examination board for this exam is planning to make AIEEE entirely online, just like the CAT exams.

Success Mantra

"Long term training is the only option when more than 10 Lakh students compete for about 35,000 seats," says Ajay Antony, national course director, IIT-JEE Training, T.I.M.E.

What can you do to ensure maximum mileage from your preparation? Experts advise solving model exam papers under strict timelines emulating exam conditions to condition yourself to perform better at the grand finale. It's equally important to spend time evaluating your responses with the help of the answer key to recognise typical mistakes and work to enhance your strong areas.

You could take the help of your teacher, parents or even a good study pal to save time with the evaluation part to know your score. In the meantime, you can continue to solve more model papers and then cumulatively refer to the mistakes made in each attempt. As time is at a premium, do not waste it trying to work on the weak areas from scratch at this point but try to revise and maximise what you have already learnt. Speed and accuracy is the combination key to scoring high in such competitive exams. So the effort must be to practice the fastest method of arriving at the answer.

Apart from this, it's very important to say focused yet relaxed. Ensure that you maintain mental as well as physical fitness. So you also need to eat well and sleep well to be the best prepared on the day of the exam. See this interesting discussion on AIEEE

So, just make the most of your time and talent, and you will make it to the career of your dreams.

Other interesting reads:

- Get set for AIEEE 2012, to be held on April 29th

- Get to know more engineering exams