96 per cent candidates appear for JEE-Advanced amid strict COVID-19 precautions

NEW DELHI: At least 96 per cent of the candidates, who had registered for JEE-Advanced, appeared for the examination on Sunday amid strict precautions in view of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)-Delhi, which conducted the exam.

A total of 1.6 lakh candidates had registered for the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE)-Advanced after qualifying the JEE-Main. "Out of total registered candidates, 96 per cent appeared for the exam. The number of exam centres were increased from 600 last year to 1,000, and the number of exam cities were also increased from 164 to 222," an IIT-Delhi official said.

The Joint Entrance Exam (JEE)-Main for admission to engineering colleges was conducted from September 1 to 6, amid stringent precautions and social distancing measures in view of the pandemic.

Staggered entry and exit of candidates, use of sanitisers at gates, distribution of masks and social distancing as candidates queued up, were followed at examinations centres across the country.

While a total of 8.58 lakh candidates had registered for the JEE-Main exam, 2.5 lakh of the candidates were eligible to appear for JEE-Advanced, which is conducted for admission to the 23 IITs in the country.

Through JEE-Advanced, admission will be given to under-graduate engineering programmes in the IITs. The result of the JEE-Advanced will be declared on October 5.