Nearly 12 lakh have registered for the exam across the country.
There were mixed reactions from students who appeared for the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) Mains Sunday, with many saying that physics paper was the toughest compared to the 2017 paper. Along with those from Tricity, students from Ambala, Patiala and Ludhiana also appeared for the pen-paper exam in 36 centres.
Nearly 12 lakh have registered for the exam across the country. This year, JEE is also being conducted online on April 15 and 16. Sarabjot Singh, who came from Ludhiana, said, “The paper was average. I’m not too confident as physics was quite tough.”
When asked why he did not opt for online mode, he said his brothers also appeared offline and so he wanted to do the same. Shivam Singh, a student from Patiala, said, “The paper was good. Mathematics was okay and chemistry was tough.” A government employee’s son, Shivam did not take any coaching and wants to pursue engineering.
Girls confident, hail IIT move
A student from Khanna in Ludhiana, Harsimran Kaur, said the 14 per cent reservation for women in IITs was a great move to bring girl students at par. “Engineering is a great option for girls, in my opinion. Few women make it to IITs as they aren’t motivated to do so,” she added.
Speaking about the exam, she said chemistry was easy, but mathematics and physics were tough. Sanya Vachher, a student of GMSSS, Modern Housing Colony Manimajra, said, “The paper was great and I’m hoping to make it to an IIT.”
She added that the 14 per cent reservation was a good move as few women opted for non-medical in the first place. “Even today, I noticed, only one-fourth of total candidates were girls and it’s the same at my coaching centre. I have a keen interest in maths and physics, so I want to pursue engineering,” she added.
Simarjit Kaur, a student from a boarding school in Patiala, said, “The drop-out rate of girls from Class 11 to 12 in the non-medical stream is quite high. Even schools don’t encourage girls to keep working hard. If they’re not good, my school asks them to leave. They only want the best.” She added that the paper was good, but she was not interested in engineering.
What experts say
Experts said chemistry and mathematics were moderate, but physics gave a tough time to aspirants. Physics expert Kunal Singh said, “With 14 questions from Class 11 and 16 questions from Class 12, the paper was balanced but definitely calculative, lengthy and computational with multiple topics in a single question beyond the school curricula.”
He added that this has made aspirants anxious. While three questions were repeated, seven were “reasonably moderate” to “easy” for serious JEE aspirants. “With scoring chemistry, moderate mathematics and challenging physics, apart from the increment in candidate eligibility for the advanced exam, there will be a plunge the cut-off to 80,” he added.
Mathematics expert Moksh Goyal said the section was comparatively moderate this year. “With 10 questions from Class 12 and 20 from Class 11, chances of a good score are comparatively lower for those who didn’t get much time after the boards to revise,” he added. Chemistry expert Anurag Agarwal said chemistry was the easiest and most scoring. The questions were a mix of theory and calculations that ensured students saved time for the other two sections.
“There were 14 questions from Class 12 and 16 from Class 11, of which 12 were from inorganic chemistry, eight from physical and 10 from organic. It was well distributed,” he added. The CBSE has used different sets of question papers on different dates. After clearing the JEE Mains and Advanced, candidates can get through in Bachelor of Technology (BTech), Bachelor of Engineering (BE) and Bachelor of Architecture (BArch) courses. The exam is held in two stages- JEE Main conducted by the CBSE and JEE Advanced that is held by different IITs. Results will be declared on April 30 and selected candidates will appear for JEE Advanced on May 20.