JEE Advanced 2021 brochure released, IIT entrance exam dates not yet out. Students eligible to apply last year still allowed to take test.
The admission brochure of the IIT entrance – Joint Entrance Examination Advanced (JEE Advanced) — has been released at the official website, jeeadv.ac.in. Usually, the exam and application form dates are released along with the brochure, however, this year, the exam dates are not yet announced. JEE Advanced was scheduled to be held on July 3 but was postponed due to the COVID-19 situation. Nondisclosure of the exam date, however, is not the only change for IIT aspirants this year.
JEE Advanced 2020 candidates allowed: In a first, along with JEE Main 2021 qualifying candidates, those who were eligible to appear for JEE Advanced 2020 but were absent in the exam will also be given a chance to appear for the IIT entrance. These students had passed JEE Main 2020 and were eligible for JEE Advanced 2021, hence they do not have to clear JEE Main again this year. Usually, a student has to appear for Mains again and their attempt is not carry forward.
The relaxation was offered after many students who could not appear for JEE Advanced 2020 had demanded an extra attempt. Students had claimed that they could not appear for the IIT entrance exam due to the COVID-19 led restrictions.
Having these students in the exam, however, will not increase the competition for present students as these students will be considered “in addition” to the current batch and not part of them, as per the official brochure. While filling the form of JEE Advanced, students will get their passport size photograph and the signature auto-populated. These details will be directly taken from their last year’s forms. Further, a Unique Reference Code (URC) will be provided to the eligible candidates, which will be required during the time of entry to exam hall and filling the form.
Female Quota: As opposed to last year when the female quota was at 20 per cent, this year, the number of seats reserved for women will be decided individually by each IIT. Seats offered under female quota are supernumerary in nature, implying that these seats are created in addition to the existing seats.
For 2021 batch, the quota will be decided to ensure that the enrolment of females in each IIT is at least 20 per cent in undergraduate programmes. This means, an IIT where more females are there will create lesser of these extra seats dedicated to girls while those in which lesser female students are enrolled based on the common rank list will create more seats in comparison to others.Seats reserved for women across IITs were 17 per cent in 2019, and 14 per cent in 2018. These seats are offered to ensure gender diversity in IITs which usually have more males as compared to females at undergraduate levels. Till now, there has not been even one female who has topped the IIT entrance exam so far. Things are gradually changing for wome.
Apart from these, there is 15 per cent reservation for Scheduled Caste (SC) and 7.5 per cent for Scheduled Tribe (ST) candidates in every course. Persons with Disability (PwD) also get 5 per cent of seats reserved at IITs. The institutes also have EWS quota and foreign quota – these like female quota – are supernumerary.
Board Exams: To be eligible for admission to IITs, students need to just pass the class 12 exams. Earlier there was a requirement of obtaining at least 75 per cent marks in class 12 which has been lifted now. Students, however, still have to pass the exam. This rule was passed last year by the Ministry of Education, however, will be applicable for students this year too.
Expected Date: Through JEE Advanced, IITs offer admission to undergraduate courses leading to a bachelor’s, integrated masters or bachelor-master dual degree in engineering, sciences or architecture. Students who are in the top 2.5 lakh rank of JEE Main are eligible to apply for JEE Advanced. With the brochure being released, it is expected that the JEE Main revised dates too will be announced soon. As per sources, the JEE Main pending exams will be held in July and August thus the JEE Advanced can be expected to be held no sooner than September.
Organizing Institute: In 2020, IIT Delhi was the organizing institute for JEE Advanced, this year, IIT-Kharagpur has the responsibility. In which a total number of 1,60,838 candidates registered for JEE Advanced 2020. About 43,204 candidates qualified JEE Advanced 2020. The total intake was approximately 16,061.
