32% candidates who cleared JEE-Main skip JEE-Advanced 2018

A senior professor from IIT-Bombay said the number of students opting for JEE-Adv has fallen over the years

mumbai Updated: May 08, 2018 23:49 IST

Several students prefer state-held Common Entrance Test (CET) for a seat in engineering institutes closer to home rather than compete for a seat at an IIT in another state. (Pic for representation/HT )

More than 32% students, who were eligible to appear for Joint Entrance Examination-Advanced (JEE-Adv) this year, have decided to skip the test. Registrations for JEE-Adv concluded on Tuesday evening.

While 2.31 lakh JEE-Main candidates were eligible for Advanced exam, only 1.60 lakh applicants registered for the test. Last year, 1.71 lakh out of 2.20 eligible candidates had registered for JEE-Adv — gateway for admissions to premier Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs).

A senior professor from IIT-Bombay said the number of students opting for JEE-Adv has fallen over the years. “Many students are content with their JEE-Main score and choose to study in National Institutes of Technology (NITs) instead of going through the gruelling process of getting through an IIT and a course of their choice,” said the professor.

In 2017, 23% eligible students opted out of JEE-Adv race, while the number stood at 21% in 2016.

“Several candidates from general category, whose rank is beyond 40,000 in JEE-Main don’t apply for JEE-Adv because they have less than 10,000 seats to aim for. Maximum seats in IITs go to students from the reserved categories so it doesn’t make sense for candidates with lower ranks to appear for JEE-Adv,” said Vinay Kumar from Rao IIT Academy, a city-based coaching Institute.

He added several students also prefer state-held Common Entrance Test (CET) for a seat in engineering institutes closer to home rather than compete for a seat at an IIT in another state. There are 66,000 seats available in 23 IITs across India this year.

As per figures shared by JEE organising chairperson’s office, on Tuesday, once again maximum number of students registering for JEE-Adv are from the reserved categories. Out of 1.60 lakh applicants, 97,866 are from Scheduled Tribe (ST) and Other Backward Classes (OBC), while the rest (62,850) are from general category.

“Registration number may increase marginally by Wednesday, as it is the last day for students to finish the fee payment process,” said an official.