JEE Main to be conducted 4 times a year from 2021: Govt

The Union government on Wednesday said it will conduct the marquee Joint Entrance Examination (Main), or JEE Main, four times a year from 2021 in 13 languages including English, just days after it said that a proposal is being evaluated for conducting it more than twice.

The first of the four attempts allowed in JEE Main in 2021 will be conducted between 23 February and 26 February and there will be no negative marking for optional questions this time, Union education minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ said.

“We have examined the suggestions received from students and various quarters, and it has been decided that JEE-Mains will be held in four sessions in February, March, April and May,” Pokhriyal said.

JEE Main will be conducted in English, Hindi and 11 other languages, instead of just English and Hindi as is the practice now, to give opportunities to students from regional language backgrounds, the minister said.

The regional languages will include Tamil, Telugu, Gujarati, Marathi, Odia, Bengali and Assamese.

The new format will help reduce the chances of JEE Main clashing with other competitive examinations or board examinations, the minister said.

“The move will ensure that students do not miss out on opportunities due to clash of exams or due to the COVID-19 situation at present,” the minister said.

The education ministry had on 10 December said it is exploring the possibility of holding JEE Main three or four times a year. The syllabus will be the same as the previous year. The ministry on Wednesday said students will be given the choice of answering 75 questions (25 each in physics, chemistry and mathematics) out of 90 questions (30 each in physics, chemistry and mathematics).

The top performers of JEE Main, around 150,000 of the candidates, are shortlisted for giving JEE Advanced, the second leg of the JEE entrance system, which opens the door for admission to the Indian Institutes of Technology. JEE Main results are also used for admission into engineering colleges in several states and some of the top centrally-funded engineering and tech schools.

A candidate has the option to apply for one session (February) or more than one session, March, April, May 2021 together and pay the examination fee accordingly.

“However, if a candidate appears in more than one session then his or her best of scores in 2021 will be considered for preparation of merit list or ranking. The question paper will contain 90 questions, in which the candidate will have to attempt a total of 75 questions. In the new paper pattern, there will be no negative marking in the 15 alternative questions,” Pokhriyal said. “The candidates have to attempt 75 questions out of 90, or 25 questions out of 30 in each section of chemistry, physics and maths,” he said.