After revision of NEET UG syllabus, aspirants, experts debate on need of change in JEE Main 2024 syllabus

Some experts believe that rationalising the JEE Main syllabus would ease the pressure.
Recently, the NMC revised the NEET UG 2024 syllabus after considering the rationalised CBSE syllabus, which has been changed in NCERT books too. Due to this move, JEE Main 2024 aspirants are hoping that their syllabus might be reduced too.
Some experts believe that rationalising the JEE Main syllabus would make sense. “The pressure will remain the same if the JEE syllabus is not changed and students will have to read two different syllabi, one which is for board exams, and the other by NTA. Revising the syllabus, as per the revised NCERT pattern, will reduce stress among students and will give a unified learning experience across the country,” said Saurav Kumar, chief academic officer at Vidyamandir Classes, a coaching institute for JEE, NEET.
Internal choice — experts give mixed reaction
The CBSE had deleted some chapters prescribed by it for the Class 11 and 12 exams in 2020. However, the reduced syllabus of CBSE has not been adopted by the NTA for the JEE Main exams so far. The JEE Main question paper, however, has internal choices within the sections — physics, chemistry and mathematics (PCM) — to make it a level playing field for students coming from different boards.
Expressing mixed views on the internal choices in the JEE Main question paper, Mukesh Gupta, a NIT Rourkela professor said that the provision of internal choices in all the sections only creates more confusion among the students. “JEE aspirants will have to read the complete question paper anyhow to decide on whether or not to answer, and this will waste some minutes of their exam time,” he explained.
Sanjay Govind Dhande, former director of the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur (IIT K) earlier in an interview with indianexpress.com said, “JEE cannot fully assess the intelligence of a student. Engineering is not just about PCM. It demands students to be creative as well. Important aspects including composition, ability to communicate and understand a summary are not checked through this entrance exam. We need to include an assessment of creativity and visual intelligence in the JEE.”
Some experts believe that the JEE Main syllabus should be changed as and when the school textbooks reflect the recent changes. Kalpit Veerwal, JEE Main 2017 AIR 1, believes that “the JEE Main and JEE Advanced exams should not be out of reach of those students who cannot afford expensive and specialised coaching.”
However, the IIT Bombay CSE graduate who also owns an ed-tech company, added that the syllabus and the question paper pattern should be such that the exam covers all major areas of science and mathematics needed for engineering. “Otherwise, the exam quality might be diluted too much like we are seeing in NEET — the cut-offs are sky high due to the easy difficulty level of the paper. JEE is known for its difficulty which ensures that only the brightest students make it to IITs and NITs, and that should not be tampered with,” he added.
What do recent JEE exam takers and experts think?
Some recent JEE candidates believe that the syllabus should be revised. Narrating his experience on how he prepared for JEE Main after NCERT removed the portions of the deleted syllabus, VIT Chennai’s BTech first year student Sumanta Pathak said that his school only taught those parts that were in the CBSE Class 12 syllabus. Due to this, he had to opt for special coaching classes to prepare for the JEE. “There were several portions in chemistry that are still in the JEE syllabus but have been removed from the NCERT,” he added.
Pathak also added that it would have been great if the syllabus was revised keeping the changed CBSE pattern in mind. “Going back and forth to study from the deleted portions of CBSE and for the board exams to balance the JEE Main preparation was not easy,” he recalls from his preparation days.
However, not all students agree with this. Agniv Kashyap, another student who appeared for JEE Main 2023 says that the approach for the board exams and the JEE preparation is different. While he devoted a whole year to the engineering entrance exam, he only invested two months in Class 12 exam preparation. Kashyap believes that revising the JEE Main syllabus and making it as per NCERT will only make the JEE entrance exam much easier.
“CBSE has deleted several chapters including inorganic chemistry’s P-block. Removing the important chapters from the JEE syllabus will leave only a handful of options for NTA to frame the JEE question paper,” the NIT Silchar student said.
Narrating his experience, he said, “In the first year of my engineering degree at NIT Silchar, I have come across many things in my BTech syllabus that require some conceptual clarity from the deleted portion of CBSE. Not knowing the minute, yet important Class 12 concepts will put a student in a problem. The prerequisites for a subject in engineering are not met by not studying the deleted portions of the CBSE syllabus.”
Experts in the field including the NIT Rourkela professor however dissented and said that any topic which has been excluded from the JEE Main or CBSE syllabus but requires attention in BTech programmes later will be taught at the BTech level at the engineering institutes.
Dr Manoj Kumar Pandey, Director, Amity School of Engineering and Technology, AUUP said that the JEE Main and JEE Advanced patterns may change in the future to make them more aligned with the latest engineering curriculum and to ensure that students are better prepared for the challenges of engineering education. Some key changes he would like to see include reducing the number of questions, increasing the weightage of conceptual questions, and introducing more application-based questions. “The JEE Advanced paper should include more innovative question formats,” he added.
JEE Main 2024
JEE Main in 2024 will be conducted in two sessions. While the first JEE Main 2024 session will be held between January 24 and February 1, the second session is set to be held from April 1 to April 15. The National Testing Agency (NTA) which administers JEE Main, is yet to announce the registration dates. The official website – jeemain.nta.nic.in – will host the JEE Main 2024 notification along with the exam pattern and syllabus.
Any change in the JEE Main 2024 syllabus and exam pattern will be announced beforehand and candidates taking the entrance exam will be provided sufficient time to prepare.