JEE Advanced question paper will now have short answer type questions instead of multiple choice questions (MCQs), the Joint Admission Board (JAB) – conducting body of the entrance exam, has announced the same.
The announcement comes just a day after the board announced to conduct the IIT-JEE Advanced online from now onwards. So far, JEE Advanced only had MCQs for which the candidates need to mark correct answers on optical mark reading (OMR) sheets later evaluated by machines.
“The introduction of a computer-based test will give candidates access to keyboards. So, they will be able to provide correct answers through calculations, if necessary,” said a JAB official. “When the question pattern was multiple-choice, examinees often took refuge in the process of elimination to guess the answer. Now, such opportunities will be limited,” he added.
Explaining about the expected paper pattern, the official said, as there is no order about framing questions, question-setters are free to frame concept-based questions for examinees to not just rely on techniques or memorisation to crack the questions rather to apply their logic for solving the questions. The question pattern is set to change, the official added.
The decision to shift to a computerised testing system had been taken to eliminate printing errors and translation goof-ups that created problems for candidates and necessitated grace marks.
