The pattern of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) entrance exam may change. Actually, the IIT Council has proposed to change the pattern of JEE Advanced. The IIT Council is the highest governing body for IIT operations, which includes all 23 IITs and the Union Education Minister himself.
Now JEE Advanced may be conducted on the pattern of 'Adaptive Testing'.
Adaptive Testing is a modern and advanced examination system. In this, the questions given to students to solve will be according to their ability. This means as the student answers questions, the next question becomes easier or harder accordingly.
Adaptive testing is considered an effective option for selecting students with quality and ability. It accurately evaluates students' question solving skills.
In adaptive tests, students are given calibrated questions based on their ability. Based on this, two types of assessments are made-
When selection is made on both these parameters, a better and accurate filtering process is ensured. This ensures that not only students with subject knowledge, but those with special intelligence ability and problem solving skills succeed in the examination.
5 Objectives of Adaptive Testing in JEE Advanced
Stress Not Connected to Exam Pattern
Educators believe that student stress is not directly linked to the examination pattern. Stress is a separate psychological process that mainly arises from high competition, limited seats and social expectations, therefore it does not seem practically correct to assume that student stress will automatically reduce just by making the exam adaptive.
Dependence on coaching will not decrease
Similarly, experts view the claim of reduced dependence on coaching with some caution. Because even for international exams with adaptive testing systems like GRE, GMAT, TOEFL and IELTS - a large number of students take coaching. The only difference is that the coaching method and focus changes there, but the role of coaching does not completely end.
According to experts, adaptive testing may change the nature of coaching - emphasizing strategy, logic and time management instead of rote learning. But there are currently no solid indications to assume that this will end the dependence on coaching.
Overall, adaptive testing can be considered an important step in exam reform, but exaggerated claims about its associated effects - like stress and coaching - should be avoided.
Currently students decide section-wise time
Until now, the JEE Advanced paper is 3 hours long, in which students have to solve questions from Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics (PCM) - all three subjects. In this current system, students manage their time themselves. This means a student can choose to give 45 minutes to Physics, 30 minutes to Chemistry and one and a half hours to Mathematics - there are no restrictions on this.
However, if the adaptive testing system is implemented, the examination pattern will completely change.
In the adaptive system, the computer will determine the next question based on each answer given by the student. This means that the exam will become more controlled and structured in terms of both time and questions. As such, the adaptive model will be quite different from the current JEE Advanced pattern and will be a new experience.
There will be an optional adaptive mock test as a pilot project
The IIT Council has suggested that before making any changes to the JEE Advanced exam pattern, data on student performance should be collected. They believe that making direct changes without data would not be appropriate. For this purpose, it has been recommended to conduct an optional adaptive mock test as a pilot project before JEE Advanced.
This adaptive mock test will be conducted approximately two months before the JEE Advanced exam, so that:
