Students sweat over CET, JEE Advanced proximity

PUNE: Students who have qualified for the Joint Entrance Exam (JEE) Advanced examination are crying foul over the date of Maharashtra Common Entrance Test (MH-CET) conducted by the state government for admission to engineering, pharmacy, architecture, hotel management and other courses on May 10.


The JEE Main result was announced on April 30, and over 1,000 students from Pune qualified for the next-level of examination.
These students will get just 10 days to prepare for one of the toughest entrance exams for JEE advanced scheduled on May 20. The students have demanded that the state government conduct the MH-CET in April so that there isa wide enough gap between the important tests.

Aniket Prabhu, a student who cleared the JEE Main exam and qualified for the Advanced exam, said, “The higher secondary certificate (HSC, Std XII) exams usually get over only by mid-March. It is possible for the state government to conduct the state CET in April. By the end of April, JEE Main results are announced so students can plan well for these entrance tests.”

Durgesh Mangeshkar, director of IITian’s Prashikshan Kendra (IIT-P) said, if the government wants more students from the state to get admission in the IITs, then the time gap between MH-CET and JEE Advanced must be kept as long as possible.

In Andhra Pradesh, the state CET was conducted on April 22 (results were announced on May 2).

In Karnataka, the state exam was conducted around April 20.

This provides a substantial amount of time for students to focus on the JEE Advanced.

“However, students in Maharashtra cannot focus singularly on JEE Advanced as the MH-CET is on May 10. JEE aspirants in Maharashtra consider CET as a back-up option and hence cannot ignore it. Under pressure, I have seen bright students giving up on JEE Advanced exam and focusing only on MH-CET due to this dilemma triggered by the clustered dates of CET and JEE Advanced.”

Experts felt that to display a good performance in the national test, the current system is avoidable. Mangeshkar said, “Rajasthan government has decided to scrap its state CET this year and is taking admission on the basis of JEE Main. This is why Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan produce so many ranks in JEE Advanced. Their government has ensured the academic atmosphere is conducive to JEE aspirants unlike in Maharashtra.”

However, once the Union government implements the one nation, one entrance exam policy for engineering admissions, all these issues will be solved in one stroke, experts said.