JEE-Main: 9.54 lakh students register for paper 2

The exam will be held between April 7 and 20

Registrations for Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) Main paper 2 ended on Thursday, with more than 9.54 lakh students completing the process — almost 14,000 more registrations as compared to paper 1 held in January.

Less than 15% of applicants are fresher, the rest will be attempting the exams for the second time. (Pic for representation/ Getty Images)

Less than 15% of the applicants are fresher, the rest will be attempting the exams for the second time.

The exam will be held between April 7 and 20. Until 2018, JEE-Main was held in only one session.

The score in JEE Main determines a candidate’s eligibility to apply for JEE-Advanced, which is a single-window entrance exam for admissions to premier Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs).

“The sole purpose of conducting JEE-Main in two phases was to give students an opportunity to better their scores because is the first time the exam is being held in computer-based format only. Looks like most students decided to try their luck again,” said an official from the National Testing Agency (NTA), the exam body for JEE-Main this year.

HT had reported about how the demand for engineering has been declining for the past few years, with 2019 witnessing the lowest registration since the inception of JEE-Main in 2013.

Last year, 11.40 lakh students had registered for the exam — almost two lakh more than this year.

Experts said the fierce competition among engineering aspirants is forcing forced more and more students to find other career options over the traditional engineering and medicine fields.

“Mostly, only those students who are interested in joining an IIT apply forJEE-Main. Over the years, chances getting admission in an IIT and course of your choice have dwindled to such an extent that most
students don’t see the point in struggling to secure a seat,”
said a senior professor from IIT-Kanpur.