Appearing for JEE Main? Check 6 Major Changes Introduced by NTA

• Humanities and Commerce background students with Mathematics are now eligible to apply for B.Plan programme.
• Paper II will be conducted separately for B.Arch and B.Plan candidates.
• Number of Questions in Paper I are reduced from 90 to 75 with 25 questions in Mathematics, Chemistry and Physics each.
• Drawing test to be replaced with Section on Planning in Paper II for B.Plan.

In the last two years a lot of changes have happened in JEE Main Exam. National Testing Agency (NTA) became the conducting body, and for the first time since 2013 when JEE Main was introduced the exam was held twice in 2019. Adding to these changes NTA has revamped JEE Main structure for this year. For the first time in two decades separate 3 hour paper for B.E/B.Tech, B.Arch and B.Plan will be conducted. Previously only two papers were conducted, Paper I for B.E/B.Tech and a combined  Paper II for B.Arch/B.Plan.

Official website of JEE Main which was jeemain.nic.in is shifted to NTA Portal jeemain.nta.nic.in. Candidates have to login to the new address for the ongoing process.

The changed exam pattern of Joint Entrance Exam was released along with the official brochure. Paper I will be conducted in online mode for 300 marks while Paper II for B.Arch will be held partly online (Mathematics and Aptitude test) and partly offline (drawing test) for 400 marks. B.Plan will be conducted separately from this year in online mode for 400 marks.

• New type of Numerical Based Questions are introduced which will not carry any negative marking.
• Mathematics and Aptitude test will remain common for B.Plan and B.Arch.
• Number of questions in drawing are reduced from three to two while B.Plan will have questions on Planning instead of Drawing.
• Talking about JEE Advanced 2020, number of candidates shortlisted based on their performance in JEE Main will be 2.5 lakh (including all categories) which is 10,000 more candidates than last year.

Number of attempts which a candidate can avail in JEE Main is limited to three in consecutive years. Hence candidates who are aspiring to clear JEE Main 2020 have to make sure they are well aware of the changes. The modifications in overall exam pattern are expected to have implication on the candidates. A glimpse of the changes are mentioned below :

Changes in JEE Main Eligibility Criteria

As separate papers for B.Plan and B.Arch will be held, there has been a slight modulation in Eligibility Criteria of JEE Main.  For B.E/B.Tech it is required that candidates pass their qualifying examination with Physics and Mathematics as compulsory subjects with  Chemistry/Biotechnology/Biology/ Technical Vocational as one of the subjects. For B. Arch, it is essential to have passed qualifying examination with Physics, Mathematics, and Chemistry. But for B. Plan, candidates who have passed 12^th /qualifying exam in any stream with Mathematics as a subject.

No Age Limit to appear in JEE Main

NTA has scrapped the age limit for appearing in JEE Main 2020. Candidates passing Class 12th/equivalent examination in 2018, 2019 or appearing in 2020 irrespective of their age are eligible to appear for the exam. Number of attempts available are three, though appearing for both the sessions in the same year will be treated as a single attempt only.

Three Separate Papers for B.E/B.Tech; B.Arch and B.Plan

JEE Main 2020 will have three papers: Paper I for B.E/B.Tech., Paper II for B.Arch and Paper II for B.Plan. Candidates have the liberty to appear for any one, two or all three papers as per their choice. School of Planning and Architecture (SPA) and Institute of Town Planners India recommended changes in Joint Entrance exam to NTA. 

Objective behind the changes is to encourage students from Non-Science with Mathematics background to apply for  B.Plan programme. It is a step forward to open the exam to a large number of aspirants from different fields. Candidates taking admission to B.Plan course will not have to read Physics and Chemistry which are compulsory domain for BE/B.Tech students in their first year.

Less Numbers of Questions in Engineering Question Paper

The number of questions for  B.E/B.Tech papers are reduced from 90 to 75. Total marks for the paper will be 300 and equal weightage to all three sections-Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry will be assigned. Though the number of questions have been reduced, the duration of the exam will remain unchanged that it 3 Hours which is a relief to the candidates.

There are changes in section wise number of questions as well, candidates appearing for Paper I in B.E/B.Tech have to attempt 25 questions from next year unlike 30 questions in Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry each. Out of these 25 questions in each section, 20 will be MCQ and 5 long form questions on numerical problem.

Numeric Type Questions Introduced in B.E/BTech Paper I

5 numeric based questions in each section- Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry will be asked. These are long form questions where candidates will not be provided options to choose  from rather they have to write down the answers. There have been slight changes in the Marking Scheme as well. In case of numerical value questions there will be no negative marking whereas for each incorrect answer in MCQs 1 mark will be deducted.

Exam Pattern of B.Plan and B.Arch Revised

With seperate papers being conducted for Architecture and Planning, the exam pattern for both the papers are revised. Detailed exam pattern and key differences between the two papers is tabulated below:

Changes Introduced in JEE Advanced

IIT Delhi will be conducting JEE Advanced 2020 under guidance of Joint Admission Board. 

Examination timing of JEE Advanced Paper 2 have changed. The first paper will begin from 9.00 a.m. to 12 noon (IST) and the Second paper will take place from 2.30 p.m. to 5.30 p.m. (IST). Prof Siddharth Pandey, Organizing Chairman, JEE (Advanced) 2020 said, “Paper 2 that used to start at 2 p.m. earlier, is now scheduled to start at 2:30 p.m. It will allow students, especially the PwD candidates, more time between the two papers.”

JEE Advanced will be conducted in the USA with a center in San Francisco. The move is to encourage cultural diversity and benefit from large alumni network in the USA. Earlier beside India, JEE Advanced was also conducted in Dubai, Dhaka, Addis Ababa, Kathmandu, Singapore and Colombo. But Colombo and Addis Ababa centers will be discontinued from next year due to lack of candidates.

Implications of Changes Introduced by NTA

Considering the changes this year in exam structure,  the difficulty level of the exam is expected to go up next year. As the number of questions have reduced and there is no change in the duration of exam the difficulty level of questions in Paper 1 for B.E/B.Tech are supposed to increase. Numerical type questions will be cutting edge this year. No negative marking is allotted to such questions, thus it can be a tough nut to crack.

As per latest data released by NTA, total registrations for January session of JEE Main dipped to 9.34 lakh as compared to 9.41 last year. The exam will again be held in two phases and in online format. First phase will be conducted in January. While the second phase will be conducted in April. The exam is conducted over numerous days to reduce cheating and manipulation. Candidates can appear in both the session and submit their best score for consideration.