The HRD minister’s insistence on taking board exam results into account for entrance to IITs has put students in a quandary because they now have to deal with two fundamentally different approaches to testing.
Ever since Union HRD minister Kapil Sibal announced that a student’s Std 12 scores would be given weightage for admission into the IITs, there have been several concerns raised. Foremost among these is the division of a student’s labour and time, but there is a more fundamental concern in the minds of students and trainers: how do you constantly reorient yourself to two very different approaches to testing.
An assumption often made is that since the IIT JEE is of a more difficult standard, students who prepare for it would have a smooth sailing in their Standard 12 Board examinations. But Rohit Gulati, who will appear for both tests next year, disagrees: “The problems set by the CBSE board are simpler than those asked in the JEE paper. But JEE is an objective test, whereas in Board exams we get marks only if we explain each and every step of the solution.” In other words, while the JEE tends to test conceptual and analytical understanding, the board exam requires more of memorising.
As Chandan V Dikshit, planning and strategy head, Rao IIT Academy, points out: “The representation of Std 12 toppers has till now been quite low in the IITs. Now, the probability of their selection will increase.”
Rohit is currently attending Bansal Classes in Kota. He used to spend six hours attending classes, and seven to eight hours studying on his own. But now he has cut down his JEE studies to 4-5 hours, dedicating the rest of his time to NCERT textbooks.
“The number of work sheets we are getting from the academy has increased since it now covers both JEE and CBSE portions. They are also hiring teachers for additional subjects such as English. So we will have extra classes too. The new system is increasing the pressure on us,” says Rohit.
Until last year, the most serious IIT contenders would finish their studies for the JEE by December, and then quickly run through the Board exam syllabus for a month before appearing for the exam. This is no longer an option. Take 16-year-old Jasin, a class 12 student from Kerala, who now wakes up at 5 am every morning to study for his Board examinations and then follows it up with hours of hard work at a JEE coaching institute. He finally goes to bed late in the night after putting in even more hours of study.
Not everyone, however, is perturbed by the new rules. Kshitiz Vatsyayan, a standard 12 student who is coached at the Rao IIT Academy in Mumbai, says that the CBSE syllabus forms the base for the portion covered by the JEE. “While solving problems for the JEE, we have to constantly employ concepts that are covered in the standard 12 syllabus. That’s why I have a hundred per cent attendance at college,” says Kshitiz.
Paradoxically enough, coaching institutes, whose stranglehold Sibal wants to break with these new rules, may end up reaping more rewards. Amar Gupta, CEO, Pie Education, points out that “the decision could lead to the introduction of more coaching institutes in the market that concentrate more on the 12th syllabus”.
Top institutes have already started integrating teaching for the school boards along with the competitive entrance exams. “Our course teaches in a manner that incorporates both the school syllabus and the IIT pattern,” says Gurpreet Singh, regional head, FIITJEE.
It appears therefore that the proposed changes to the system will hardly reduce the role of coaching institutes. In fact, it may have the opposite effect. One thing is clear: the burden on students is likely to increase considerably.
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