Indian Institute of Technology Joint Entrance Examination

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The Indian Institute of Technology Joint Entrance Examination (popularly known as IIT-JEE or just JEE) is an annual college entrance examination in India. A total of nine colleges use JEE as a sole criterion for admission to their undergraduate programs. The nine colleges include the seven Indian Institutes of Technology, IT-BHU Varanasi, and ISM Dhanbad. This year onwards, newly established institutions such as Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research (IISERs) at Kolkata, Pune & Mohali and Indian Institute of Space Technology (IIST) are also admitting students through the JEE (Extended Merit List) It is conducted by the various IITs by a policy of rotation. It is one of the toughest engineering entrance exams in the world with a success rate of around 1 in 36. Candidates who successfully pass the IIT-JEE can apply for admission to the BArch (Bachelor of Architecture), BDes (Bachelor of Design), BTech (Bachelor of Technology), Dual Degree (Integrated Bachelor of Technology and Masters of Technology) and Integrated MSc (Master of Sciences) courses in the various institutes. Achieving entrance into an IIT is often considered the pinnacle of achievement for a student of the sciences, and the IITs/IT-BHU/ISM attract most of the brightest students of the nation.

Of the 311,258 candidates who appeared in the examination conducted on April 13, 2008, 8,652 candidates have been declared qualified to seek admission, giving a selectivity of 1 in 36 overall, and 1 in 45 for the 6,872 seats in IITs.

1 Current examination format
2 History
3 Seats
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] Current examination format

JEE-2008 was conducted on April 13, 2008 retaining the same pattern as JEE-2007 containing Paper-I & Paper-II (Source-exams india; http://examsindia.cyc.in/ JEE-2007 had two papers of three hours duration each. The two papers each contained maths, physics and chemistry sections (in previous years, there were separate maths, physics and chemistry papers, each of two hours' duration). The syllabus of the examination is based on topics covered by the CBSE Board Examination (AISSCE) and the ISC Board Examination , though all topics of the AISSCE and the ISC are not included in the JEE syllabus. The pattern of questions in JEE is deliberately variable so as to minimize the chance of students getting selected by cramming up the probable questions. Currently, the examination has objective type question paper for all the subjects and uses machine readable Optical mark recognition answer sheets.

Given the importance attached to the JEE by students all over India, the IITs follow a rigorous procedure when conducting it every year. The exam is set by the JEE Committee (consisting of a group of faculty members drawn from the admitting colleges) under the tightest security. Multiple sets of question papers are framed and the set that is to actually be used on the day of the exam is known to only about five individuals. In the past, the JEE has been noted for originality in its questions.

[edit] History

The JEE has evolved considerably from its initial pattern approximately 50 years back. Initially, there were 4 subjects in JEE, the English language paper being the additional subject. During the period from 2000 to 2005, the JEE also had a screening test in addition to the JEE main examination in order to reduce the load on the JEE main examination by screening only about 20,000 top candidates. In 1997, the JEE was conducted twice after the question paper was leaked in some centres.

In September 2005, an analysis group comprising of directors of all the IITs announced major reforms in JEE, implemented from 2006 onwards. The new test consists of a single objective test, replacing the earlier two-test system. The candidates belonging to the general category must secure a minimum of 60% marks in aggregate in the qualifying examination of the XII^th standard organized by various educational boards of India. Candidates belonging to Scheduled Caste (SC), Scheduled Tribe (ST) and Physically Disabled (PD) categories must secure a minimum of 60% (source-http://examsindia.googlepages.com )in aggregate in the Qualifying Examination.^[1]

[edit] Seats

The number of students taking this examination has increased substantially each year with the JEE-2008 registering about 311,258 candidates. The number of seats available in total is 8,652, indicating a selectivity of about 1 in 36. The break-up of seats for 2005 and 2006 is: ^[2]

Institute	Intake (2005)	Intake (2006)	Intake (2007)
IIT Bombay	574	574	574
IIT Delhi	553	553	553
IIT Guwahati	302	365	365
IIT Kanpur	555	555	541
IIT Kharagpur	779	895	874
IIT Madras	550	520	540
IIT Roorkee	577	616	746
Total (IIT's)	3890	4078	4193
IT-BHU	643	708	686
ISM Dhanbad	402	658	658
TOTAL	4935	5444	5537

The age limit for appearing in IIT-JEE is 25 years. For candidates belonging to SC, ST and PD categories, the relaxed age limit is 30 years. Also, starting 2007, a candidate can take the JEE two times at the most. This has been done mainly to reduce stress on students and discourage the concept of "cram schools" — where students are made to memorize all types of possible exam questions. Furthermore, from 2007 on, students who are selected for admission to an IIT cannot attempt the examination again in the future. From this year 2008 six new IIT will be opened with almost 120 seats each increasing the no.of seats by over 700.