JEE Advanced 2016 exam is over and here is what experts have to say about the paper and what the students can expect as their score

Expert take

According to Rl Trikha, director, FIITJEE, last year the cut-offs had to be lowered since most of questions were with negative marks in both papers. “Numerical based questions (subjective in nature) only had no negative marks. There was not even a single question with only one correct choice. Both papers had combined 18 questions with one or more correct with 50 per cent negative marks. Even paragraph based questions in paper II had 50 per cent negative marks. Paper I had two matrix-match type questions with each of four rows having one or more correct answers carrying 50 per cent negative marks.

This year, paper I had five Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs) with single option correct. Eight questions of one or more correct type with 50 per cent negative marks with a difference that there is scope of partial marks if no incorrect option is darkened. For each correct option there is one mark awarded. Five  numerical based questions carry no negative marks.

This year, even in paper II, each subject had six single correct Multiple Choice Questions (plus 3, minus 1); eight questions multiple choice that had one or more correct with marking similar to paper I and two paragraphs with two questions each with marking scheme (plus3, 0) — no negative marking.

Hence, this year cut-offs are expected to be normal — 10 per cent per subject and 35 per cent overall as against seven per cent per subject & 24.5 per cent overall in 2015.

“Students who have been regular and have developed deep conceptual understanding & analytical abilities by constant practice of solving problems, should have no difficulty in cracking the papers. There are one or two questions in each subject which are tricky/lengthy or require assumptions to be able to effectively use data given. Thirty per cent questions were easy, 48 per cent were moderate and only 22 per cent were difficult,” Trikha says.

Subject perusal

The format of the JEE (Advanced) paper I was more or less like the 2015 paper. It contained single answer correct MCQs, multiple answer correct type MCQs and integer answer MCQs. Two key changes were there. First, the partial marking for multiple answer correct was brought back. Second, the paper was more logical than calculative.

In Chemistry, overall difficulty level was moderate. There were at least four questions which were not easy and could easily be misinterpreted by the students. There were five  questions from Organic Chemistry, six from Inorganic Chemistry and seven from Physical Chemistry.  It would be difficult to score 80 per cent in the Chemistry paper.

In Mathematics, the paper was typically tough. There were about four-five questions which had lengthy solutions. Scores wouldn’t be high.

In Physics, overall paper was the easiest. All questions were standard and clear. Average expected score is between 40-60 per cent.

Aakash Chaudhry, director, Aakash Educational Services