The Indian Institute of Technology Joint Entrance Examination (popularly known as IIT-JEE or just JEE) is an annual college entrance examination in India. It is used as a sole criterion for the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) as well as other institutes.
The exam is conducted by the various IITs by a policy of rotation. It has a very low admission rate, about 1 in 50 in 2011.
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The JEE has evolved considerably from its initial pattern approximately 45 years back. Initially, there were 4 subjects in JEE, the English language paper being the additional subject. During the period from 2000 to 2005, the JEE also had a screening test in addition to the JEE main examination in order to reduce the load on the JEE main examination by screening only about 20,000 top candidates since more than 450,000 students appear for the JEE each year. In 1997, the JEE was conducted twice after the question paper was leaked in some centers.
In September 2005, an analysis group of directors of all the IITs announced major reforms in JEE, implemented from 2006 onwards. The new test consists of a single objective test, replacing the earlier two-test system. The candidates belonging to the general category must secure a minimum of 60% marks in aggregate in the qualifying examination of the XIIth standard organized by various educational boards of India. Candidates belonging to Scheduled Caste (SC), Scheduled Tribe (ST) and Physically Disabled (PD) categories must secure a minimum of 55% in aggregate in the Qualifying Examination.
In 2008, the director and the dean of IIT Madras called for revamping JEE, saying that the coaching institutes were "enabling many among the less-than-best students to crack the test and keeping girls from qualifying." They expressed concern that the present system did not allow for the 12 years of schooling to have a bearing on admissions into IITs.[1]
Each year IIT-JEE is conducted by any one of the IITs in a round robin fashion. In 2009, it was conducted by IIT-G. The IIT-JEE 2010, was conducted on April 11, 2010, by IIT Madras. Results were released on May 26, 2010. A total of over 410,000 candidates have registered for the exam. The IIT-JEE 2011 was conducted by IIT-K on April 10, 2011 and its results were announced on May 25, 2011.[2] The IIT-JEE 2012 will be conducted by IIT-D on April 8, 2012.
In 2010 the Ministry of Human Resource Development announced plans to replace JEE with a common entrance test for all government engineering colleges, by 2013.[3]
A total of seventeen colleges use JEE as a sole criterion for admission to their undergraduate programs, namely the 16 Indian Institutes of Technology, (including Institute of Technology, Banaras Hindu University) and the Indian School of Mines. In addition, the Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research, Indian Maritime University and Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Petroleum Technology are also admitting students through the JEE (Extended Merit List). The Indian Institute of Science also uses JEE scores as one of the possible admission criteria.
Candidates who qualify in the IIT-JEE can apply for admission to the BArch (Bachelor of Architecture), BDes (Bachelor of Design), BTech (Bachelor of Technology), Dual Degree (Integrated Bachelor of Technology and Master of Technology), Integrated MSc (Master of Sciences) and Integrated MSc(Tech) (Master of Sciences and Technology) courses in the various institutes.
The current pattern, which has been followed since 2006, consists of two objective type papers each containing maths, physics and chemistry sections. The syllabus of the examination is predominantly based on topics covered by the CBSE Board Examination (AISSCE) and the ISC Board Examination. The pattern of questions in JEE is deliberately variable so as to minimize the chance of students getting selected by cramming up the probable questions. As it is objective type questions, Optical mark recognition answer sheets has been adopted since 2006. In previous years, there were separate maths, physics and chemistry papers, each of two hours' duration that contained both subjective and objective Questions. The current pattern is adopted so as to reduce the students' stress. .
Given the importance attached to the JEE by students all over India, the IITs follow a rigorous procedure when conducting it every year. The exam is set by the JEE Committee (consisting of a group of faculty members drawn from the admitting colleges) under the tightest security. Multiple sets of question papers are framed and the set that is to actually be used on the day of the exam is known to only about five individuals. The JEE has been noted for originality in its questions.
The number of students taking this examination has increased substantially each year with over 485,000 showing up for IIT-JEE 2011, which was held on 10 April 2011 at 1051 centers in 131 cities across India, and was organized by IIT Kanpur, 30,000 more than in 2010, a rise of 6.5%.[2]
The availability of seats in recent years is as given in table below:
| Institute | Intake (2003) | Intake (2007) | Intake (2008) | Intake (2009) | Intake (2010) | Intake (2011)[4] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| IIT Bombay | 600 | 574 | 648 | 746 | 880 | 880 |
| IIT Delhi | 552 | 553 | 626 | 721 | 851 | 851 |
| IIT Guwahati | 350 | 365 | 435 | 498 | 588 | 615 |
| IIT Kanpur | 456 | 541 | 608 | 702 | 827 | 827 |
| IIT Kharagpur | 659 | 874 | 988 | 1138 | 1341 | 1341 |
| IIT Madras | 554 | 540 | 612 | 713 | 838 | 838 |
| IIT Roorkee | 546 | 746 | 884 | 1013 | 1155 | 1155 |
| IIT Bhubaneshwar | 120 | 120 | 120 | 120 | ||
| IIT Gandhinagar | 120 | 120 | 120 | 120 | ||
| IIT Hyderabad | 120 | 120 | 120 | 140 | ||
| IIT Patna | 120 | 120 | 120 | 120 | ||
| IIT Rajasthan | 120 | 120 | 120 | 160 | ||
| IIT Ropar | 120 | 120 | 120 | 120 | ||
| IIT Indore | 120 | 120 | 120 | |||
| IIT Mandi | 120 | 120 | 120 | |||
| IT-BHU (Varanasi) | 568 | 686 | 766 | 881 | 1057 | 1057 |
| ISM Dhanbad | 444 | 658 | 705 | 923 | 1012 | 1034 |
| Total | 4583 | 5537 | 6992 | 8295 | 9509 | 9618 |
| Attendance | ~485,000[2] |
The age limit for appearing in IIT-JEE is 25 years. For candidates belonging to SC, ST and PD categories, the relaxed age limit is 30 years. Also, starting 2007, a candidate can take the JEE two times at the most. This has been done mainly to reduce stress on students and discourage the concept of "cram schools". Furthermore, from 2007 on, students who are selected for admission to an IIT cannot attempt the examination again in the future. From 2008 six new IITs have been opened with 120 seats each increasing the total number of seats to almost 7000. For 2009, admissions have been made to two more IITs, namely IIT Indore and IIT Mandi (Himachal Pradesh) taking the seat count to almost 8300. As of 2011, with additional courses in several old and new IITs, the total seat count has crossed 9600.