Only 1.5 Lakh Students Appeared in JEE Advanced 2018; Will Cut Off Drop?

This year the number of candidates who qualified for JEE Advanced 2018 – 2,31,024. The number of candidates who registered – only 1,60,716. A gap of almost 30%. While the reasons for this decline in numbers are clearly not known, it is not a new phenomenon. The past years have shown a steady decline in the number of candidates applying for JEE Advanced. In addition to the steady decline, candidates skipping JEE Advanced 2018 even registering successfully, is another concern.

Seeing this lowered rate of registration, partially registered candidates were also allowed to take the JEE Advanced 2018 Examination — is the situation so bad that IITs were desperate for students to come for the exam?

The number goes down further. There were many absentees in the examination this year. As per the data released by JEE Advanced 2018 conducting IIT, IIT Kanpur a clear picture was put forward. 1,57,496 candidates appeared in Paper 1 whereas 1,55,091 candidates appeared for Paper 2. The number of absentees in Paper 1 was 7326 and for Paper 2 it was 9731.

Result of JEE Advanced 2018 will be declared on June 10, 2018, and the answer keys for the same will be available on May 29, 2018.

Candidates had expressed their opinions saying that this year JEE Advanced has lived up to its sheen of being called the most difficult entrance examination. After a lowered level of difficulty level in 2017, JEE Advanced 2018 came with quite a few surprises. This was— the first time that JEE Advanced was being conducted online. Candidates summed up by saying that Mathematics was the most difficult section. Physics and Chemistry whereas stayed in the moderate front. Around 140–150 marks questions were from class 11th syllabus and around 210–220 marks were from class 12th syllabus. In all, JEE Advanced 2018 difficulty level was high as compared to past 2 years.

Now given that the number of candidates who took the examination fell and the difficulty level of the examination has risen — What will be the Cutoff? As per this situation, guesses are the cutoff will fall. Obviously, the official data speaks candidates are less, and since the level difficulty was high, cutoff marks are going to drop.

Plus, we have also seen a desperate effort to push the candidates to appear for the examination by allowing partially registered candidates in JEE Advanced 2018. As per the official notice, dated May 11, 2018, on the JEE Advanced 2018 website, the partially registered candidates were called to appear in the examination.

The notice said that such candidates could take part in the examination if they submitted a demand draft/banker’s cheque of Rs. 3100, and, SC, ST, PWD and Female candidates were asked to submit a demand draft/banker’s cheque of Rs. 1800 at the examination center allotted to them on the day of the examination.

This desperate effort points to an obvious direction — With lesser candidates, a higher level of difficulty and desperate efforts by the authorities — Cutoff will surely go down.

The past trends also speak of a similar story. Except for in 2017, where the cutoff increased. In 2015 the Minimum Percentage of Aggregate Marks to Qualify JEE Advanced was 24.50. In 2016, it was 20.00. But in 2017, there was an increase in the Minimum Percentage of Aggregate Marks to Qualify JEE Advanced — it was 35.00. The reason given for this was that the paper was the easiest one in 2017.

But this year all the situation discussed above points towards a fall in the cutoff of JEE Advanced 2018. But, until the release of official cutoffs, note that these are based on past trends and analysis. The declaration will be made with the declaration of JEE Advanced 2018 Result.