IIT-Jee papers trigger anxiety

As many as 68,500 examinees took the test in the IIT Madras Zone, which includes Karnataka where examination centres were spread around Bangalore, Mysore and Mangalore.

Experts said questions in the traditionally easier Paper 1 were different in nature from previous years and demanded speed more than conceptual understanding. For the examinees, the first session (Paper 1) in particular, according to experts, was excruciatingly long with 84 questions compared to 60-odd in previous years. Each section of Paper 1 contained 28 questions, six more than last year.

Professor T N Suresh, a Mathematics expert at BASE with years of experience in coaching IIT aspirants, said this year’s paper was comparatively longer than last year.

“The Maths portion was very lengthy and contained questions which were more a test of speed and competitional ability than concepts,” he said, adding although students knew the answers, they could not attempt the questions because of time constraints.

But experts also said the Chemistry and Physics parts of the IIT-JEE test were relatively easier. For U S Aithal, a Chemistry professor, questions from these two science disciplines were “easy to moderately easy” with emphasis on analytical reasoning.

However, Paper 1 of Physics was similar to the Maths paper — lengthy and speed oriented — but Paper 2 tested examinees for high conceptual clarity.

Another BASE professor, Balakrishna Hegde said although Physics Paper 2 was of a higher level, questions were more predictable.“The morning session was long so most of my students complained about not being able to finish on time. On the other hand most students were happy with Paper 2 because at least they could attempt most of the questions,” Hegde said. Students too complained about the length of each section in Paper 1.

Results and schedule

The results of will be announced on May 26. Candidates will be provided online counselling and will be asked to list their preferences for different IITs. Seats will be allocated in the order of rank and preference. The process starts on May 27 and will continue till June 9. Counselling for SC/ST/PD/DS candidates will be on June 9 and 10, and for OBC candidates on June 10 and 12.