Will JEE Main and NEET Twice a Year Hamper CBSE Boards?

JEE Main and NEET are two of the most important exams in our country considering they are for the two most important professional fields. This brings on a lot of stress on students because getting a good score means getting into a good college later on, be it medical or engineering.

These exams are conducted once a year right after the boards which used to bring burden and mental pressure among students for obvious reasons. Although, a new rule has changed the game entirely. MHRD has just released its official statement on the decision of holding NEET and JEE Main twice a year.

Human Resource Development Minister Prakash Javadekar on Saturday announced that JEE Mains and NEET — the two national level engineering and medical entrance examinations — will be held twice a year from 2019 by a newly-formed National Testing Agency (NTA).

The opinion on this decision is quite forked as some people believe that this could be a good thing as would help students get a better score, while some say that this is double stress.

As the official statement says, the NEET exam which is for admission into medical colleges will be held once in February and second time in the month of May. On the other hand, JEE Main which are for admissions in undergraduate engineering colleges, will be held in January and April. The exam will be conducted online unlike the way it is being conducted today.

Any student can give the exam twice and only the best score out of the two will be considered. Giving the exam twice also doesn’t mean that the exam fee has to be paid twice. Once you have enrolled, you can give the exam whenever you wish to in these months.

In support of the decision

Many people have appreciated the new decision that has been made regarding the two exams. Before, what happened was that the exams were conducted just after 10 days of boards so the students didn’t have enough time to prepare. Now, they can prepare well while preparing for the board exams. Double hard work won’t be required this way.

Some also say that this will help the students try their luck one more time and maybe a slight change in score can change their whole life.

Unfair to the rural area students

Some people are totally baffled with the decision. The main problem that has come up is that this could be unfair for students in rural areas. The exam will be conducted online and every student in rural areas doesn’t have access to a computer or isn’t exactly very familiar with it. Although, for this the government has said that training labs would be set up to help solve this problem.

Another thing that most tutors are concerned about is that this decision is being implemented way too quickly. Some also say that this has created unnecessary panic with students and confused them to the core. Covering a vast syllabus will be a huge problem in a short term, is what most students feel.

Parents say that this means putting double pressure on students as the exams are during break time so going through the whole thing again isn’t easy at all.

Implications of the decision

As far as boards are concerned, entrance exams have always affected the regular study routine in some way and this will definitely do the same. The benefit is the extra time you gain with this. There are so many people who just want one more chance and maybe for them this could be life changing completely.

While for some people this may be double pressure but there are always going to be opinions on everything. It’s about the students at the end and they have to decide how to manage this and all we can do is help them do it.