NEET 2017 NOTIFICATION IS OUT: LAST DATE TO APPLY IS 1 MARCH

You can see the admission notice here.

NEET ELIGIBILITY CHANGE:ONLY THREE ATTEMPTS NOW

SOURCE: INDIAN EXPRESS

The National-Eligibility-cum-Entrance-Test (NEET) has introduced limits to the number of times aspirants can attempt the paper and the age of the candidates. Now, candidates can only try their hand at the paper three times and cannot be older than 25 years (30 years for reserved category), a surprising turn to a national examination that had no limit on the number of attempts and age till date.

This has been done to bring down the number of older candidates competing with 17-year-old candidates (the minimum age limit), and to prevent fraud and cheating. According to data collected from the Maharashtra directorate of medical education and research (DMER), the oldest candidate was 38-years-old and at least another 100 aspirants were in their early 30s, TOI reports.

This year, candidates have been eagerly waiting for the notification of NEET 2017 but it has been delayed over a long time. Even the official website of NEET is not available as it is under construction. In 2016, the NEET examination replaced the All India Pre Medical Test (AIMPT) which used to take place every year in the month of May. It has been made mandatory for admissions in all-India medical/ dental colleges.

TOPPERS TALK: Immerse Yourself Into These Three Beautiful Subjects

In  Topper's Talk column we will be  focusing on how to prepare simultaneously for Boards, JEE and BITSAT. In our first edition we are presenting excerpts of our talk with Jai Moondra. 

Jai is presently a second year B.Tech(CSE) student in IIT DELHI. Jai secured an AIR 7 in JEE MAIN 2015, AIR 102 in JEE ADVANCED 2015, AIR 30 in KVPY. Jai was also the Ajmer Zone topper in XII CBSE examinations with 98.00%

What was the motivation that helped you get such a sparkling success?

Initially my motivation was ambition, to achieve something which is widely recognized. But slowly I realized that the three subjects that I was studying were very beautiful and deep; and by the end these subjects became my motivation.

Jai you chose to stay with family at Ajmer for preparing instead of going to Kota or Jaipur. How much crucial was the support of family during this preparation time?

Family support to me was very crucial. You do not have to worry about anything except studies with the family by your side. The family provides a strong support throughout the two years which I believe is essential since there are many ups and downs.

I have now also attended college for 3 semesters and lived in hostel. I think I now realize the importance of having family by your side.

Almost everyone who starts living in a hostel will ultimately adjust to the new lifestyle. But the initial phase will be invariably difficult. When we first start living in hostels, we are ignorant of the benefits and care that home provides; all kinds of benefits: social, physical, emotional (perhaps even academic). To realize that we are now responsible for ourselves can take a very long time. The settling down phase is long for most people and can be very challenging. And it is very different from the challenges a student has seen before: this is not simply an academic challenge.

How you kept yourself relaxed during this preparation time?

Many times I felt that things were going very bad and I will not be able to recover. The best thing to do at such times is to first realize that the preparation is a long one and one can always hope for recovery by working hard. At such times talking to teachers and parents can be very motivating and uplifting. The more stressed one is, the harder should one work. It is easy to panic in such situations but it does nothing, one must try to study and focus more; this is harder, but is gets you out of trouble.

Tips for Board Examination Preparation

I think that if you are confident enough in JEE syllabus then mathematics boards will not be difficult. You have to study just one or two topics that are not in JEE syllabus and it is not very difficult. In physics the board exam syllabus is almost parallel to that of JEE Main and if you are preparing only for JEE Advanced then some effort needs to be put into it. Chemistry is most demanding in boards. Overall boards are not a very big trouble, but they consume a lot of extra time.

Board exam is I think a different kind of exam. In my view their syllabus is focused more towards studying more number of things to a lower difficulty level as opposed to studying lesser number of things in greater depth which is done in JEE Advanced. This eventually proved good for me as I learnt how to manage a large number of things in head. The strategy for me was covering the syllabus of JEE Advanced first and then look for anything in the board syllabus that was left out.

Jai any advice on how to tackle the Organic Chemistry?

For me organic chemistry was a new subject and initially I was very weak in it. But thankfully I had good teachers and good books which guided me not to learn but understand things in organic chemistry. Once you start understanding things, the learning part comes itself by experience. The important point for me was that I realized that I did not know anything in this subject (did not try to impose the mind set of physics or maths or the other parts of chemistry) and began fresh and did as I was guided. And slowly organic chemistry became a very enjoyable place for me.

Tips For JEE MAIN Examination

If you have prepared for both JEE Advanced and Boards then very little is left for JEE Main in terms of syllabus. One important point which I found was that JEE Main requires good problem solving speed. Physics I felt was relatively difficult in JEE Main.

Tips For JEE ADVANCED

I think the best strategy in JEE Advanced is to forget the pressure and immerse yourself into these three beautiful subjects and try to enjoy the paper (this is speculation to some extent since I deviated significantly from my strategy; it is very difficult to keep nerves). Another important thing is that you completely forget what has happened in the first paper and start paper 2 freshly. I believe that discussing paper in the break does more harm than good.

Tips For BITSAT

Since BITSAT happens almost in the end, no extra preparation is required for it in terms of syllabus covered. It takes a little time in exam to get comfortable with the computer since it is a computerized exam. So I preferred to go a little slower initially.

What advice would you like to give to the future aspirants?

My advice would be to not take this syllabus as a burden but to enjoy it; even if you don’t like to study something give it a try, the syllabus is so nice that if you study from good books then you’ll start enjoying it. See it as an opportunity to learn new exciting things. But in the process, what you already enjoy must not be left behind. I gave maximum time to what I enjoyed. Keep things as simple (simple in the sense of logic and not in terms of difficulty level) as possible. Of course, sincerity and dedication are important.

JEE MAIN : CORRECTIONS CAN BE MADE BETWEEN 25 JANUARY-2 FEBRUARY

PUBLIC NOTICE

It is brought to the notice of all the aspirant and registered candidates of JEE (Main)-2017 that the facility for correction in their data (particulars) will be operational on the website www.jeemain.nic.in from 25/01/2017 to 03/02/2017. All the registered candidates for the said examination are advised to visit the website and verify their particulars. They are further advised to make correction in their particulars, if any particular is filled wrong/incomplete/flawed, in the particulars available in their registration form. The change of mode from computer based (online) examination to pen & paper based (offline) examination is not allowed. The candidates are advised to make the corrections, if any, latest by 03/02/2017. Thereafter, no correction in particulars, whatsoever, will be entertained by the JEE Unit under any circumstances. The additional fee (if applicable) should be paid by the candidates either through credit/debit card/Ewallet (SBI buddy/Paytm) or through e-challan generated during the online correction by cash in the Syndicate/Canara/ICICI/HDFC Bank during 25/01/2017 to 04/02/2017. Since, it is one time facility, extended to the candidates to avoid any hardship to them; therefore, the candidates are informed to do the correction very carefully because no further chance of correction will be given to the candidates for whatsoever reason. E

CBSE LATEST SAMPLE PAPERS FOR 2016-2017 EXAMINATIONS

CBSE's latest sample papers for this years Board examination are now available on CBSE website.
You can check them here.

The Mathematics paper of CBSE Class 12 Board Exams 2017 will now witness a new pattern. The question paper will be designed in such a way that it will now have 80% ‘easy’ and ‘average’ difficulty level questions. New pattern will have 2 mark questions. Earlier, the questions were of 1 mark, 4 mark and 6 mark. The 2 mark questions will be worth a total of 16 marks.
Mathematics paper will contain 29 questions.  Question 1- 4 in Section A are very short-answer type questions carrying 1 mark each.  Question 5-12 in Section B are short-answer type questions carrying 2 marks each.  Question 13-23 in Section C are long-answer-I type questions carrying 4 marks each. (vi) Question 24-29 in Section D are long-answer-II type questions carrying 6 marks each.

IITs May Announce Reservation for Female students soon

SOURCE: HT 

Reservation for female students at IITs could soon be real.

A committee formed to increase the enrolment of girl students to the premier Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) has recommended reservation for female students to rectify the problem.

Sources said that the committee has suggested creating up to 20% supernumerary seats for female students out of the total number of seats. However, the reservation will be in effect for a period of eight years or till the time the enrolment reaches the 20% mark.

“The 20% supernumerary seats will be filled by female candidates who have qualified JEE-Advanced. Also, they should be in the top 20 percentile in their respective board exams,” said a source.

The recommendation of the committee will be taken up in the meeting of the joint admission board (JAB) for a final decision, which will decide whether the reservation will come in effect from this year or from 2018. However, the task of deciding on the number of seats will rest with individual IITs depending on the facilities available and the need.

It is learnt that each IIT would be able to choose up to 20% to increase the participation of girls in the institutes. The committee has also made certain other recommendations at school level, which will have a long-term effect. Concerned by the slump in number of girl students entering IITs, the JAB has set up a committee to explore ways to increase their enrolment.

A sub-committee under the chairmanship of professor Timothy Gonsalves was formed to find ways to rectify the situation in the institutes. It was learnt that there has been a 2% dip in the number of girls who cleared JEE-Advanced in 2016 as compared to 2015.

While over 1,000 cracked the examination (roughly 10% of the total 10,000 seats) in 2015, only 840 female students (coming up to 8%) made it to the institutes in 2016-17. As many as 10,500 students landed B.Tech seats at 23 IITs across the country this time.

“The number of seats for male candidates will not be affected and this will help IITs achieve the 1 lakh target by 2020. Also, only candidates who have already qualified in JEE-Advanced will be considered,” said a source.

BITSAT 2017 : NOTIFICATION AND IMPORTANT DATES

BITSAT 2017 NOTIFICATION

The BITSAT is an online entrance test for admissions into the courses of the Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS) Pilani .
Applications form are now available for BITSAT-2017
Interested candidates should register for BITSAT-2015 by applying in the prescribed application form at http://www.bitsadmission.com/.

Important dates and deadlines: 

Deadline to apply for BITSAT-2017 : 6 March 2017
Revision/Editing in the application form by candidates : 7 –10 March 2017
Test center allotment and announcement to candidates : 15 March 2017
Candidates to reserve Test dates : 20 March – 5 April 2017
Candidates to download the Hall tickets with instructions : 15 April – 10 May 2017
BITSAT Online tests : 16 May – 30 May 2017
Candidates to apply for admission with 12th marks
and Preferences to Degree programmes : 20 May – 30 June 2017
Admit List and Wait List announcement : 1 July 2017

The prescribed fee for BITSAT-2017 is Rs. 2750/- (two thousand seven hundred fifty) for male candidates and Rs. 2250/- (two thousand two hundred fifty) for female candidates.

BITSAT-2017 Test Format:

 BITSAT-2017 will be of total 3-hour duration (without break). The test consists of four parts:There will be 150 questions in all.

Part 1 Physics - 40 Questions

Part 2 Chemistry- 40 Questions

Part 3 English Proficiency (15 Questions) and Logical Reasoning (10 Questions)

Part 4 Mathematics/Biology- 45 Questions

There is no time limit for individual parts of the test. The candidate can go back and change any of his/her answers among the 150 questions.

 If a candidate answers all the 150 questions (without skipping any question), the candidate will have an option of attempting 12 (twelve) extra questions, if there is still time left. These extra questions will be from Physics, Chemistry, and Mathematics/Biology only; four questions from each part.

 Further, once the candidate has opted for extra questions, he/she cannot go back for correction of any of the earlier answered 150 questions. The questions are so designed that a good student will be able to answer 150 questions in 180 minutes. The extra questions (a maximum of 12) will give a chance to highly meritorious candidates to score higher. However, candidates should keep in mind the fact that there is negative marking for wrong answers and any attempt to answer the questions by pure guessing of the answers is not likely to have any advantage, but may result in a reduction in the total score.