Students preparing for the newcommon engineering test scheduled for 2013, find themselves struggling to adjust to the new format, under which the earlier neglected board exams are now being given 40% weightage. Apart from other colleges, the Joint Entrance Exam (JEE) is now the sole gateway to the prestigious IITs, for which aspirants start preparing at least two years in advance.
Prince Saluja, a student of Guru Nanak High School and Junior College, has been preparing for the IITs since last year. "I will be appearing for the exam next year and suddenly I am faced with a total change in the pattern. For the last one year, my focus has been on cracking the competitive exam with board exam studies on the back burner. However, with a 40% weightage to the boards in the JEE, I have to now shift gears midway and am afraid that there is not enough time left," said Saluja.
Nisha Kothari owns a coaching centre in the city and feels students have no choice but to change their study approach. "Time management will be the key and students will have to refocus on their board exams as there is no choice. Though at my centre, students are prepared for state board simultaneously, hence it does not become a huge problem, but now that effort has to be greater," said Kothari.
She adds that students who top the popular AIEEE too, score an average of 75%-80% in their board exams, which gives an indication on where their focus is.
Parents too are a worried lot as they apprehend the changes will jeopardize their wards' chances in JEE 2013. Akshay Naik (name changed), said, "My son shifted to the state board in Std XI and took admission at a city college where attendance is not mandatory. He uses that time in studying at the coaching class and practice for the JEE, but now I have to start his tuitions for the state board exam as well. The government has turned every kid who will appear for Std XII next year into guinea pigs for its academic experiment."
Abhishek Bansal, from whose coaching centre this year's city IIT topper came, feels that rural students would lose out in a big way. "By the time the information percolates everywhere, too much time would have been lost. Also in city, one can get access to good tutors who can help with their preparations but that is going to be an uphill task for the rural folks," said Bansal.
Union HRD minister Kapil Sibal will meet state education ministers on June 5 to further discuss the implementation of the JEE.
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