Tuesday, September 13, 2005

Can't Leave A Good Thing Alone

Via Times of India, IIT entrance to get a new format

9 comments:

doubtinggaurav said...

I am glad I passed before this bunch came ;-)

Primary Red said...

Same here!!

Jagadish said...

I think it is a fair call. I've seen several friends of mine fritter away opportunities in decent educational institutions in pursuit of a JEE rank. They do not concentrate on their class 12 (and 11) exams and become dhobi ke kutte ... na ghar ke na ghaat ke. Some ended up with JEE ranks in the 1700s. Others didnt even get through.

I think it is the right move. You shouldn't need horns to get into the IIT.

froginthewell said...

Thanks for bringing this to attention.

I think JEE has already become pathetic enough. I would put 91-95 as the "glorious years" of JEE - after which deterioration set in.

In '98 there was a sudden steep decline ( when the paper was set for 200 marks ) - and a sudden change was noticed in the regional distribution of ranks. I don't want to comment on the specifics since that might offend people belonging to certain states.

In my year, 1999, we had 70 or 80 objective questions and 15 problems for 3 hours : which meant JEE tested only speed, and no longer any ingenuity. I heard that in 2000 or 2001 there were questions concerning the extraction of silver.

In Tamil Nadu now they are doing away with entrance tests and admissions will be based on the 12th-performance. There have been protests by CBSE students. One noticeable effect of such changes will be that there will be more girls in engineering colleges as well as US universities ( among graduates ).

libertarian said...

I'm kinda ambivalent. I think any system needs to stay relevant. Look how it's evolved - several languages - more inclusive in general, which is a good thing.

The magic of IIT, in large measure, is the ferocious competition after you get in - not just the JEE. Further, with the IIT brand, expectations are generally very high - people tend to strive towards those expectations and hence over-achieve.

The JEE was, is, will be an imperfect filter. As long as it culls generally very bright folks, I think the IITs will more than OK. Doesn't mean we don't stay vigilant, to prevent a dramatic drop in quality.

Primary Red said...

finally, we get a chance to disagree with libertarian!!

we think the magic of iit is the jee -- at least 80% of it anyway. those who used to get in the old fashioned way were really really good, which accounts for their subsequent success in life.

life isn't easy -- nor should iit-jee be.

best regards.

libertarian said...

PR guess we can agree to disagree :-)
We'll end up in a totally unresolvable nature vs. nurture debate otherwise.

doubtinggaurav said...

Frog in the well
Cerain states you mean UP/Bihar.
Go ahead feel free to say so.
Atleast I won't mind.

Jagadish,

1700s ? Ouch that hurts ;-)
(I wonder whether I can claim victimhood based on my JEE Rank)

Anyway I think this 60% criteria is moot, as most will be able to clear it.

Regards

Jagadish said...

I reckon that one problem with the new ruling is that it comes into effect from this year. Which means students who're attempting the JEE for the third time, having not got through after 12th and skipped a year and now opted to skip another year in order to prepare and write the JEE lose out bigtime. College admissions are closed. It is September. These folks who'd hoped to write the JEE early next year are certainly affected. It is a moot point about whether they ought to be giving so much importance to the IIT/JEE in the first place.

Followers

Blog Archive