JEE Main 2020 result at jeemain.nic.in (Express Photo by Kamleshwar Singh/JEE Main)Twenty four candidates scored 100 percentile in the Joint Entrance Examination (Main) this year, with the largest number of toppers coming from Telangana. Among the remaining toppers, five are from Delhi, four from Rajasthan, three from Andhra Pradesh, two from Haryana, and one each from Gujarat and Maharashtra.
Last year, too, the same number of candidates were ranked first. However, the best performance was registered by two states — Telangana and Rajasthan. Four candidates from each state had scored 100 percentile in 2019.
The National Testing Agency (NTA) announced the results late Friday night, in less than a week after the entrance test finished. Since 2019, JEE (Main) is being conducted twice a year. The first cycle was held in January. The second cycle of the entrance test this year was delayed because of the pandemic. It was finally held in 12 shifts over six days from September 1 to 6.
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The results announced Friday night reflect the best performance of candidates who appeared for the test in January and September.
Attendance in the second cycle seems to have suffered because of the pandemic. It fell by 20 percentage points over the first test held in January. While 94.32 per cent of registered students appeared for the exam held in January 2020, attendance fell to 74 per cent for the exam held earlier this month. Out of 8.58 lakh unique applicants, 6.35 lakh appeared for the engineering entrance test in September.
The conduct of the JEE (Main) was mired in controversy with some students demanding that the examination be put off, given the rising COVID cases in the country. The entrance test had already been postponed twice before.
Despite student protests, the government went ahead with the examination, arguing that careers cannot be put on hold indefinitely. The Supreme Court had also dismissed a plea for postponement, arguing that the “career of the students cannot be put in jeopardy”. It is the first national entrance test to be held amidst the pandemic. Next is NEET on September 16.
JEE (Main) is the qualifying exam for appearing for the JEE (Advanced). The top 2.5 lakh candidates of JEE (Main) can appear for JEE (Advanced) which is the entrance test for admission to the 23 IITs.