Students welcome JEE, NEET twice a year

BENGALURU: Starting December 2018, Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) Mains for admission into engineering colleges, and the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET), the gateway to medical and dental colleges across the country, is likely to be held twice.

The move which is expected to benefit lakhs of aspiring doctors and engineers will be put in practice after the official announcement of the same by the National Testing Agency (NTA), the new independent body formed to conduct national entrance tests in the country. While most students find the move beneficial, it has evoked a mixed reaction among experts.

Welcoming the move, Dr Sridhar G., MD, Deeksha said this would see better performance from aspiring candidates. “Two years of intense preparations boil down to a single day and the pressure on candidates to perform at their single opportunity is too much. A bad day for them would affect their entire future and hence another chance would see them putting their efforts in the right way,” he said.

The new agency should see to it that clear cut instructions are given and guidelines on how, when and how many times an individual candidate can take the exams should be released in a robust manner, he added.

Rajshekhar Ratrey, VP, Education Content, Toppr—.com, a personalised learning application said students would be relieved as pressure has been eased to focus on – the boards, then the entrance. “It isn’t clear yet if a student’s best score would be considered, if that is the case, it would give students a second chance to crack the exam, without dropping a year," he said.

Y.K. Jayaramappa, CEO, BASE, opposes the move saying it would pressurise first-time candidates expected to learn more in less time. 

“Also, fewer students will opt for December, as it will be picked mostly by repeaters. If the first test is to be December before the regular tests in May, it implies that the teaching schedule will also be reduced with the quality of academic delivery even at specialised coaching centres being affected,” he said.

“Instead, a second opportunity given in the following month (June) would make it easier for candidates to learn from experiences and qualify with a supplementary exam-like effect,” he said.

Swapna, an aspiring doctor, says, "Another opportunity for candidates like me will be a blessing and I'm sure I can perform way better than how I did earlier this year as I was suffering from unexpected health problems then," she said.