Students not too keen on computer test for JEE Main

While Central Board for Secondary education (CBSE) has been championing the cause of online tests for the Joint Entrance Exam (JEE) Main, the students don’t seem too interested. It has been reported that a total of 13.56 lakh students from across the country have registered for the second edition of the Joint Entrance Exam (Main) to be held in April. But only 1.71 lakh have registered for the computer-based test, down from last year's 1.74 lakh, indicating widespread reluctance among students.

It was reported that the computer-based test, introduced by the CBSE, has seen the lowest registration in the four years since its inception. Scores in JEE (Main), along with Class XII marks, will determine a student's admission to centrally-funded technological institutions such as National Institutes of Technology (NITs) and other engineering colleges in the country. The top 1.5 lakh students will be eligible to appear for JEE (Advanced) for admission to Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs).

It can be recalled that the central board had decided to introduce the computer-based test along with the paper-pen test in 2011. The number of computer-based test-takers though had gone up from 4,900 in the first year to 1.96 lakh in the second; for the last two years, the number has remained constant at around 1.7 lakh. After cancellation of duplicate and erroneous forms, the number will reduce. The registration win- dow closed on January 6, an extended deadline.

CBSE initially planned to move completely to a computer-based test but the plan was not endorsed by students, who preferred the traditional paper-pen test. To encourage students to opt for the computer exam, the board had centres for only the computer-based exam in cities from 2012. But students preferred to travel to smaller towns for the exam. Students from Mumbai and Delhi preferred to travel to Thane or Gurgaon. In 2013, only 2,000 students appeared for the exams from centres in Mumbai, while 42,000 preferred Pune. Mumbai students chose centres in Thane, Navi Mumbai, Pune and Aurangabad. Only 7,500 took the exam from Delhi, while 28,800 registered for centres in Gurgaon.