NTA all set, to conduct JEE (Main) and NEET (UG) exams twice a year

NTA will with UGC-NET examination in December this year. It will conduct the JEE (Main) and NEET (UG) examinations twice before admissions to give flexibility for students, Javadekar said.

This will give more chances to students thereby giving adequate opportunity to bring out their best and reducing stress, which develops due to single exam conducted on one single day in the year

The new system of examination will be student-friendly, transparent, fair and flexible, the HRD minister said while addressing a press conference in New Delhi on Saturday.

He said the NTA will bring qualitative difference in the examination process by its focus on research and scientific test design using services of experts, researchers, statisticians, psychometricians, test item writers and education specialists. The item writers would be trained to ensure that the quality of questions is as per the test design, he said, adding that experts, statisticians and item writers/subject matter experts have already been identified for being inducted into NTA.

The minister highlighted that for the first time in the history of competitive examinations, the JEE (Main) and NEET (UG) will be conducted twice before admissions in the next academic session. This gives a choice to the students especially if they fail to appear in a test due to unwarranted circumstances. He also informed that the syllabus and the pattern of question paper would remain the same and there will be no increase in the exam fees currently being charged.

He also informed that the examinations for all candidates will be conducted in computer based  mode only (starting from next exam UGC-NET exam). He further informed that these examinations will use highly secured IT software and encryption to ensure delivery of tests just in time. This will ensure no leakages and other malpractices. 

National Testing Agency (NTA) was approved by the union cabinet in November 2017 as an autonomous and self-sustained premier testing organisation to conduct entrance examinations for higher educational Institutions.

While students will get more chances to bring out his/her best, sitting in both the tests will not be compulsory. The two tests (each for JEE (Main) and NEET (UG) ) will be equated using psychometric methods, standardisation techniques and best of the equated scores will be used for the admissions.

All the tests (UGC- NET (December), JEE (Main) and NEET (UG)) will be conducted in multiple sittings and a candidate will have an option of dates to choose from. Scores of different candidates in multiple sittings will also be equated using standardisation techniques.

NTA will establish a network of test practice centres for students of rural areas so that everyone will have an opportunity to practice before the exam.

Schools / engineering colleges with computer centres would be identified and kept open on Saturday / Sunday starting from the third week of August. Any student can use the facility free of charge.

All tests would be set in a scientific manner with the test items developed jointly by the subject matter experts and psychometricians. Before developing the question papers, the item writers for the exams will be given feedback on the functioning of the previous years’ items so that they are able to make test items which are more valid and reliable. All the above mentioned examinations will be held in existing number of languages.

In order to allow adequate time for preparing for the exams, the tentative schedule for exams is being declared well in advance.