JEE exam to be scrapped; Get ready for NAT 2017

Change is the name of the game when it comes to IITs and the JEE exam!Just three years after the biggest engineering entrance test of the country underwent some massive metamorphosis, reports of new overhauls are emerging.

According to these reports, the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) is mulling over introduction of a single testing system/authority for admissions to leading technical institutes such as the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), National Institutes of Technology (NITs), Indian Institutes of Information Technology (IIITs) and Government Funded Technical Institutes ( GFTIs ).

This new testing system /authority will be known as National Authority for Testing (NAT). The concept of NAT has been approved by the various committees and will soon be tabled in front of the Cabinet. Once approved, the system will be implemented in October 2016, for admissions to the academic session of 2017.

The recommendations for NAT come from an expert panel - the Committee of Eminent Persons (CEP), constituted by the IIT council. Headed by Ashok Mishra, the committee has suggested that JEE Main and JEE Advanced be combined into a single engineering entrance exam. This exam will be held four times a year and test the candidate's knowledge of physics, chemistry and mathematics.

Apart from the single engineering entrance test, the CEP also suggested another mandatory standardised aptitude test. This aptitude test will be conducted on the lines of US-based SAT exam. Once introduced, the test will minimise weight on school board marks and candidates need to only pass their board exams.

There's no clarity on the exam patterns for the both the tests, yet. However, the idea behind the exams is to make admission to top technical institutes aspirant friendly and identifying candidates with an innovative bent of mind and a natural aptitude towards science and technology.

Currently, JEE is held in two stages - JEE Mains and JEE Advanced. JEE Mains is conducted by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and is meant for admission to the 32 NITs. Candidates clearing JEE Mains, are then shortlisted for JEE Advanced.

JEE Advanced is conducted by the IITs for admission to the 18 IITs.

JEE Main 2016 offline exam will be held on 3 April while the online exam will be conducted on 9 and 10 April. JEE Advanced 2016 will be held on 22 May.

Here are five important points that one should know about NAT:

1. The National Authority for Testing (NAT) will be established as a conducting body-cum-testing-system after approval from the Union cabinet. It will be registered as an independent society under the MHRD.

2. In the first stage, NAT will conduct a standardised general aptitude test (like SAT exam), whose scores will be used to shortlist candidates for engineering programmes. The test will analyse the aspirant's analytical aptitude instead of knowledge of subjects.

3. Next, NAT will introduce a single entrance test for admission to IITs & NITS. This online test will be held four times a year.

4. NAT's exam services are expected to be implemented in October 2016, for admissions to the academic session of 2017.

5. The testing system will reduce the dependence of engineering aspirants on coaching institutes, delink school board marks to engineering admissions and identify candidates with scientific bent of mind.