Only 64% of students, eligible to sit for the Joint Entrance Examination-Advanced 2020 (JEE-Adv), signed up for this year’s exam. While the top 2.5 lakh students who passed JEE-Mains were eligible for this year’s exam, only the 1.60 lakh students finished the registration process on Friday night.
“Most of the students applying for JEE-Adv are those who got very good grades and are confident of getting into the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) of their choice. Students no longer waste their time and effort preparing and applying for the JEE-Adv if they know they could go through a private engineering institute with their Class 12 and Common Entrance Test (CET) scores closer to home, “said one IIT-Bomby Senior Professor.
Last year, more than 1.75 lakh students nationwide out of the top 2.45 lakh students who passed the JEE-Main exam had registered for the exam. In 2018, out of the 2.31 lakh of JEE-Main eligible candidates, only 1.64 lakh of candidates had registered for JEE-Adv and in 2017, around 1.71 lakh of 2.20 lakh eligible candidates had registered for the JEE exam -Adv.
“Most aspiring engineers in the larger metropolitan cities have understood the options they have from engineering colleges closest to home and the advantage of off-campus training they receive through internships and other temporary jobs. The overall growth coupled with studies attracts more students to other engineering institutes these days, ”said Gopakumaran Thampi Thadomal Shahani Engineering College Principal, Bandra.
The JEE-Adv exam will be conducted by IIT Delhi this year and is scheduled for September 27 across the country. Maintaining social distancing rules amid the ongoing lockdown, the number of test centers across the country has doubled compared to the past. year. While test cities have increased from 164 last year to 222 this year, test centers stand at 1,150 compared to around 600 last year.
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