JEE, NEST & IISER-IAT

Joint Entrance Examination (JEE)

JEE Main

JEE-Main is conducted by National Testing Agency (NTA). JEE-Main has two papers, Paper-I and Paper-II. Candidates may opt for either one or both of them. Both papers contain multiple choice questions. Paper-I is for admission to B.E./B.Tech courses and is conducted in a test mode. Paper-II is for admission in B.Arch and B.Planning courses and will also be conducted in Computer Based Test mode except for one paper, namely the ‘Drawing Test’ which shall be conducted in Pen and Paper mode or offline mode. From January 2020 onwards, an additional Paper-III is being introduced for B.Planning courses separately.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, JEE-Main 2021 has a change in paper format and number of attempts. Now there will be 20 single choice questions and 10 numerical questions out of which only five numerical questions are to be attempted. The marking scheme is same as earlier i.e. for SCQs, +4 marks for correct answer and -1 marks for incorrect answer and 0 marks for not answered, and for numerical type questions, +4 marks for correct and 0 for incorrect.

JEE-Main, unlike JEE-Advanced, has a fixed exam structure and is not subject to change every year. Up until 2018, the JEE-Main Paper-I is of three hours duration and consists of thirty single choice questions in each of the three subjects (physics, chemistry and maths). 4 marks are awarded for correct answers and 1 mark is deducted for incorrect answers. Students taking this exam are usually in the age group 18-20.

A new pattern consisting of 20+5 questions per subject was introduced in January 2020 with 20 single choice questions + 5 numerical type questions by NTA. In single-choice questions 4 marks are awarded for correct answers and no marks are deducted from numerical type questions.

From 2013 to 2016, the marks obtained in the class XII school board examination used to be accorded a 40% weightage in deciding the JEE-Main all India ranks.

JEE Advanced

Joint Entrance Examination – Advanced (JEE-Advanced) (formerly the Indian Institute of Technology – Joint Entrance Examination (IIT-JEE)), is an academic examination held annually in India. It is organized by one of the seven zonal IITs (IIT Roorkee, IIT Kharagpur, IIT Delhi, IIT Kanpur, IIT Bombay, IIT Madras, and IIT Guwahati) under the guidance of the Joint Admission Board (JAB) on a round-robin rotation pattern for the qualifying candidates of the JEE-Main (exempted for Foreign Candidates). It was used to be the sole prerequisite for admission to the Indian Institutes of Technology bachelor’s programs before the introduction of UCEED, Online B.S. and Olympiad entries, but seats through these new mediums are very low (except IITM Online B.S. which has open enrolment).

Other universities—such as the Marine Engineering and Research Institute, Indian Institute of Petroleum and Energy (IIPE), the Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Petroleum Technology, the Indian Institute of Space Technology (IIST), the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISERs), and the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) — use the score obtained on the JEE-Advanced exam as the basis for admission. The JEE-Advanced score is also used as a possible basis for admission by Indian applicants to non-Indian universities such as the University of Cambridge and National University of Singapore.

It has been consistently ranked as one of the toughest exams in the world. High school students from across the country prepare for several years to take this exam, and most of these students have attended coaching institutes. The difficulty and low acceptance rate puts extreme pressure on students taking the exam. In an interview in 2018, former IIT Delhi director V. Ram Gopal Rao, famously said that the exam is “tricky and difficult” because it is framed to “reject candidates, not to select them”.

National Entrance Screening Test (NEST)

National Entrance Screening Test (NEST) is a compulsory test for students seeking admission to National Institute of Science Education and Research (NISER), Bhubaneswar and University of Mumbai – Department of Atomic Energy Centre for Excellence in Basic Sciences (UM-DAE CEBS), Mumbai. Both NISER and UM-DAE CEBS were set up by Department of Atomic Energy, Government of India in 2007. Their mandate is to train scientific manpower for carrying out cutting edge scientific research and for providing input to scientific programmes of Department of Atomic Energy and other applied science institutions in the country. NEST 2023 will be conducted in around 120 cities cities across India.

The candidates admitted to the program in NISER, or CEBS, are eligible to receive an annual scholarship of Rs 60,000 through the DISHA program of the Department of Atomic Energy, Government of India. In addition, the scholarship recipients receive a grant of Rs 20,000 per annum for the summer internship. Alumni of the program are presently pursuing Ph.D. at reputed universities and institutes in India & abroad. Besides, top performers at NISER and CEBS, securing overall grades above a certain threshold at the end of the program, are eligible to appear directly for the interview for admission to Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) training school.

About NISER

NISER, established by the Department of Atomic Energy, strives to become a citadel for basic sciences and allied subjects in terms of teaching and research. Its vision includes imparting high-quality science education in a vibrant academic ambience to the bright, motivated students, by a faculty of distinguished scientists and teachers. The curriculum is amply supported by a strong visitor’s program by accomplished scientists from India and abroad.

NISER offers a 5 year integrated M.Sc. program in Biological, Chemical, Mathematical and Physical sciences. Along with the major subject, a student can have minor in Biology, Chemistry, Computer science, Mathematics or, Physics. NISER functions from its campus at Jatni. Degrees at NISER will be awarded by the Homi Bhabha National Institute (HBNI), a deemed-to-be University within the Department of Atomic Energy.

About UM-DAE CSBS

The Department of Atomic Energy, Government of India, has an autonomous Centre for Excellence in Basic Sciences in Mumbai. CEBS offers high quality teaching embedded in a vibrant post-graduate and research environment with some of the best teachers and scientists from major institutions in the city (TIFR, BARC, IIT) and the University of Mumbai and its colleges, as its faculty. The Centre is located in the Vidyanagari campus of the University of Mumbai. CEBS offers a 5 year integrated M.Sc. program in Biological, Chemical, Mathematical and Physical sciences. The degrees at CEBS are awarded by the 150-year old University of Mumbai.

The Indian Institute Of Science

The Indian Institute of Science (IISc) is a public, deemed, research university for higher education and research in science, engineering, design, and management. It is located in Bengaluru, in the Indian state of Karnataka. The institute was established in 1909 with active support from Jamsetji Tata and thus is also locally known as the Tata Institute. It is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in India and has the highest citation per faculty among all the universities in the world. It was granted the deemed to be university status in 1958 and the Institute of Eminence status in 2018.

IISER IAT

Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research (IISERs) are a group of premier public research institutions in India. The institutes were established by the Government of India through the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) to provide collegiate education in basic sciences coupled with research at the undergraduate level. The institutes were formally established by the Parliament of India through the National Institutes of Technology, Science Education and Research (Amendment) Act, 2010 (an amendment to the National Institutes of Technology Act, 2007). Seven IISERs have been established across the country, namely IISER Kolkata in West Bengal, IISER Pune in Maharashtra, IISER Mohali in Punjab, IISER Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh, IISER Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala, IISER Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh, and IISER Berhampur in Odisha. All IISERs were declared as Institutes of National Importance by the Parliament of India in 2012,to promote them as leading institutions in the country in the field of basic sciences along with its sister institutes like Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore and National Institute of Science Education and Research, Bhubaneswar.

From The Team

The Epsilon-Delta Mathematics Circle offers a comprehensive program called the Advanced Mathematics Master Program to students who want to excel in the JEE Advanced and college entrance exams. Students in this program become problem-solving masters, allowing them to score fully consistently at least two years before their JEE or NEST exams. Along with our Olympiad and Mathematics Bee Premier programs, this program helps a student become one of the best in the world in mathematics. They became successful with ease at Best Admission Exams all over the world.