JEE (Mains), NEET to be conducted twice a year: Javadekar

NEW DELHI: Come 2019, aspirants will be able to take the Joint Entrance Examination (Main) and the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) twice a year in case they miss a chance or are not satisfied with their scores.

Ushering in major reforms in the examination system, the ministry of human resource development announced that the National Testing Agency (NTA) will now be conducting these tests, which were so far conducted by theCentral Board of Secondary Education (NTA)will however start with the University Grants Commission’s National Eligibility Test (UGC-NET) to be conducted in December. All the tests will be computer-based.

Announcing major changes in the examination system, Union HRD minister Prakash Javadekar said that apart from JEE (Main), NEET and UGC-NET, the NTA will also conduct Graduate Pharmacy Aptitude Test (GPAT) and Common Management Admission Test (CMAT) from 2019.

“This is one of the major reforms in the examination system of the country to be implemented by the NTA. The NTA will start conducting examinations starting this December when it will hold the UGC-NET. The dates will be announced later by the agency. However, the big change is that for the first time JEE (main) and NEET will be conducted twice a year. The students will also get the chance to select the dates and centres. All the exams will be computer-based,” said Javadekar.

JEE (Mains) will be held in the months of January and April every year, while NEET will be conducted in February and May, he said.

The minister said that barring these, there will be no change in the syllabus, neither will the exam cost more than what it does currently.

The question papers each day will be different and may vary from candidate to candidate.

“However, the difficulty level will remain the same. All the tests are prepared in a scientific manner engaging experts, researchers, statisticians, psychometricians, test designers and education specialists. These examinations will use highly secured IT software and encryption to ensure timely delivery without any leaks," the minister said.

For UGC-NET, the online submission of application starts from September 1, 2018 and the examinations will be conducted from December 2 to December 16, 2018. For JEE (Main), registrations will start from September 1, 2018 to September 30, 2018 for the January 2019 exam and the results will be declared on the first week of February 2019.

Online submission of application for NEET to be conducted in February 2019 will start from October 1, 2018 to October 31, 2018.

News Source (Times of India)