JEE Main 2023: Why are candidates demanding rollback of Class 12 criteria?

Siddhi’s mother added that her daughter feels hopeless since the notification has been released. “Siddhi was getting local colleges with her 2022 marks but she has had a childhood dream of getting admission in IIT, NIT or IIIT, so she fought against the family and decided to take another shot. Now, she is feeling helpless because of the tight timeline and the added eligibility criteria. If this was to be introduced, the NTA should have informed students months in advance,” said Siddhi’s mother.

Suddhanshu Shardul from Patna, who is attempting JEE Main for the second time, echoes a similar sentiment. “My counselling concluded in mid October, and I got only two months to prepare again. Revision plays a very important role in JEE Main exams, and two months is simply not enough time,” he told indianexpress.com.

To raise this issue, the India Wide Parents Association has written to the Prime Minister to reschedule JEE Main and relax the 75 per cent eligibility criteria.

“Many students prepare more for JEE Main, rather than Class 12 exams. Bringing old criteria is unfair to those students. Also, there are some students who are good in the PCM but may lack knowledge for other subjects such as English. Their Class 12 score suffers because of that. When other competitive exams have 50 per cent eligibility test, then why can we not follow the same in JEE Main?,” asked Anubha Shrivastava Sahai on behalf of India Wide Parents Association.

It's a humble Request to @DG_NTA .
Students are facing huge mental stress. They couldn't get enough time to prepare, as the session was delayed.

Kindly Reschedule the dates, and conduct #jeemains2023 Session-1 in April. #jeemainsinapril #JEEMain2023inApril #JEE2023 pic.twitter.com/ZFEU6h7OOd

— All India Student's Union ( AISU ) (@Official_AISU) December 16, 2022

She added that the 75 per cent eligibility criteria is unfair for those aspirants who took a drop year and were hoping to clear the exam in 2023. “This eligibility criteria was not there last year, so students prepared accordingly. How will they appear for the exam now? They may miss their chance this year, because of this addition of eligibility criteria. The government should either reduce it or remove it,” Sahai added.

“This puts a lot of mental pressure on these young minds. Our country is already struggling with depression and mental health issues among these students some have even taken extreme step and committed suicide,” India Wide Parents Association letter read.

Suddhanshu’s younger brother, Siddharth Shardul, is a Class 12 student of Bihar Board who is now planning to drop the January attempt.

“The JEE Main 2023 session 1 exams are concluding on January 31 and my Bihar board exams are beginning from February 1, so I will now have to miss the January exams and appear in the April session,” he told indianexpress.com.

Most students are worried that their pre-board will clash with the JEE Main.

Please conduct JEE Mains Exam in April 2023 as students will have very less time to prepare for it if it is conducted in January 2023 because of board exams and practicals.#JEEMains #JEEMain2023 #jeemainsinapril #JEE2023 #jeemains2023

— Shaurya (@Shaurya17813628) December 19, 2022

A CBSE student said that they have the pressure of completing project files in schools and are also preparing for practical exams and pre-boards, which will be conducted in January. “My practical exams will be conducted in the third week of January and my friends have told me that the ISC practical exams are also from January 25. Now, I am not sure whether I should complete my project, prepare for pre-board and practical exams, or prepare for JEE Main,” said Vaibhav Khare, a science student from Lucknow.

While most states have announced their exam schedule, CBSE has not released the date sheet.

Students are complaining that the NTA released the entrance exam schedule quite late, because of which they did not get enough time to prepare. “We had been reading reports that the JEE Main 2023 session 1 will be conducted in January but we were also hearing contradictory reports that it will be held only in April. There was no clarity from the NTA, and that has now made us worried. We have to re-plan our schedule,” said Mohit Kalkop, a Class 12 student from Karnataka.

While students are panicking and are asking the NTA to postpone the exams, JEE tutors believe that students should now “get on with the schedule and prepare”.

“Bihar Board students are complaining as their exams are beginning from February 1 and they have got a tight schedule. If NTA would have released the exam dates in November, students would have got enough time to plan their JEE Main 2023 preparation. For the first time, NTA has set ‘reserve dates’ which is mainly for the situations of technical snags etc… but can be utilised for exam clashes as well,” said Prashant Jain, who teaches JEE students in Unacademy, Kota.

Jain advised students to plan their time table. “I would advise students to get on with the schedule and prepare. It is impractical for the NTA to change the JEE Main 2023 dates. Therefore, aspirants need to pull up their socks and prepare. They should not forget to solve previous year question papers,” he added.

School principals are also advising students to start preparing and revising for JEE, rather than hoping for postponement of exams. “JEE preparation is not done in a month, students have been preparing for at least two years. I would suggest they have trust in themselves, not lose their confidence and keep revising. This is the time to concentrate on studies, rather than getting distracted,” said DK Srivastav, principal of Kendriya Vidyalaya, IIM-Lucknow. He also reminded aspirants that “there is a second chance in April. So if they are unsure about the January session, they will appear in session 2”.

Meanwhile, some teachers also believe that it would be best to plan competitive exams according to board exam schedules. “I think it would be better to schedule such competitive exams after the board exams. In such a situation of a probable crash, students might be able to skip pre-boards exams as an exception, but not practical exams. So, it is better that NTA, in future, schedules all entrance and competitive exams after the conclusion of board exams,” said Pravesh Khare, school principal, KV SGPGI Lucknow.

Indianexpress.com reached out to UGC Chief, M Jagadesh Kumar, and NTA Chief, Vineet Joshi for a comment, but their comments are awaited.