‘Errors’ creep into JEE Main papers

“In one of the questions, all options given had positive values, but the correct answer should have a negative value. In question number 73 in the physics paper, none of the options matches as the units for all the four options are in Joules while the quantity asked is potential,”said Pravin Tyagi, managing director, IITian’s Pace, a JEE coaching institute.

“It is a national level exam conducted by the CBSE. The paper-setters should have ensured they were error-free and do not puzzle students. So many students wasted time in attempting questions which were wrong and will cost them marks. The errors were pointed out on the day the exam was conducted, and the board should have acknowledged it by now. They should either give marks to all those who have attempted the wrong question or nullify it,” he added.

In question numbers 75, 83 and 88 of the physics paper, none of the options given for the questions were correct, Tyagi said.

“In question number 20 of the maths paper, all the options as answers were correct. It left us extremely confused and I wasted a lot of time on it. I hope the board gives us marks for that question” said Bharat Parekh, a student who appeared for the exam.

The answer keys were made available online to students for verifying and challenging them, for a fee of Rs 1,000 per question. According to the rule, if the challenge is accepted and corrected, the fee is refunded. “A policy decision on the challenges will be notified within a few days. The results are expected on May 3,” said the spokesperson from the CBSE board.

Around 11.85 lakh students took the offline exam of the second edition of JEE Main conducted on April 6. While JEE Main scores will used for admissions to undergraduate engineering programmes in NITs and other centrally funded technical and engineering institutions, the top 1.5 lakh scorers of the test will be eligible to take JEE Advanced exam for admissions to IITs, to be held on May 25, 2014.
dipti.sonawala@expressindia.com