JEE Main 2019 January exam to be held on weekends & weekdays? Students confused

NTA announced JEE Main 2019 exam dates and shifts for the January exam recently. In a notification released earlier, NTA, the exam conducting authority, stated that JEE Main 2019 exam will be held on weekends - Saturday and Sunday - between January 6 and 20. However, JEE Main exam 2019 dates released on October 6 revealed a contradicting picture. The exam will reportedly be held on January 7 (Tuesday), January 9 (Wednesday), 10 (Thursday), 11 (Friday) and 12 (Saturday). Shiksha reached out JEE Main 2019 aspirants who confirmed the same.

Speaking to Shiksha, Rahul Mishra, a worried engineering aspirant, shared, "I will be taking the exam on January 10. I was already in a state of dilemma with JEE Main being conducted in the same period as the board practical exams. Weekdays - generally - for an engineering aspirant are packed with school and tuitions. Not that it's much of a trouble but it would have been easier for us students if the JEE Main exam was conducted only on weekends. Think about the students travelling from far off places".

Vivek Jain, father of a JEE aspirant, said, "We were expecting the exam to be held on any of the weekends as stated by NTA in their last notification. Guess that's not the case. My son will be appearing for JEE Main on January 11 which is a weekday. I am sure other students too have been allotted exam dates on weekdays. I do not know why this happened but the agency is contradicting its own release".

It is also being said that one of the reasons behind NTA holding JEE Main 2019 exam on weekdays could be the lack of computers available with the exam centers to accommodate all students on weekends. More than 9.65 lakh engineering aspirants have registered for JEE Main 2019 January exam. The exam will be held across 264 test cities in India and 9 abroad.

Many JEE Main 2019 aspirants have been sharing their worry regarding this on various social media platforms. It remains to be seen whether the NTA shifts weekday exams to weekends for convenience of aspirants.

JEE Main 2019 Paper 2 for BArch admissions will be held on January 8 in two shifts. As per NTA's initial notification, Paper 2 was scheduled to be held in only one shift. Paper 1 of JEE Main 2019 will be held in two shifts. The first shift will be conducted from 9:30 am to 12:30 pm while the second shift will be from 2:30 pm to 5:30 pm.

While there was no slot booking in JEE Main 2019 exam, NTA allotted exam dates and shifts to JEE aspirants on a random basis. The agency did not consider the preference of students even though they had been given an option to choose a maximum of 4 exam centre cities. This is contrary to the process that CBSE, the earlier conducting body, followed.   

With NTA taking over CBSE (Central Board of Secondary Education) to conduct major completive entrance exams like JEE Main, NEET, UGC NET, CMAT and GPAT, few surprises are expected. For instance, NTA did not release the date & slot on October 5 as announced earlier.

Read: What's new in JEE Main 2019?

Currently, JEE Main 2019 correction window (for January session) is open of the official website of JEE Main/NTA. The last date to make any corrections in your JEE Main 2019 application form is October 14 till 11:50 pm. Except for exam cities, aspirants will be able to change host of other details like name, category, photo/image, language etc.

Read:  JEE Main 2019 correction in application form: Information you can edit

NTA will release JEE Main 2019 admit cards for the January exam on the official website from December 17, 2018. JEE Main 2019 April exam will be conducted from April 6 to 20. Check JEE Main 2019 important dates here.

Read more:

• JEE Main Paper 2 eligibility criteria revised for BArch admissions
• Council of Architecture revises eligibility norms for admission to BArch courses in India
• NTA offers video lectures by IIT faculty for JEE Main aspirants
• NTA introduces percentile system for JEE Main 2019 results