Several students from the city who wrote the Joint Entrance Exam (JEE)-Advanced on Monday said it was tougher compared to the previous year.

The test is a gateway to courses in the Indian Institute of Technology, National Institute of Technology, and other centrally-funded institutions.

Candidates who are among the top 2.45 lakh in Paper-1 of JEE (Main) 2019 are eligible to take part in the test. JEE (Main) was conducted twice this year in two sessions (Paper 1 and 2).

Rakshit P., who appeared for the test, said the physics paper was very tough while the maths paper was lengthy. “The only respite was that chemistry was relatively easily,” he said.

Aspirants, who chose to attempt mathematics first, were stuck as they could not complete the physics and chemistry paper. Kevin Martin, who secured All India rank 2 in JEE Main-2019, felt paper 1 was tough compared to paper 2.

However, Mahesh Yadav, academic head, Allen Career Institute, South India, who analysed the JEE-Advanced 2019 paper, said that in paper-1, physics and chemistry were relatively easier compared to mathematics. In paper 2, physics and mathematics was tough, he added.