More than 18,000 aspirants from Telangana and Andhra Pradesh appeared for the Joint Entrance Exam (JEE) Advanced held across the country on Sunday. 

Incidentally, the two Telugu states together produce the maximum number of IITians every year. 

While last year, 1,546 made it to the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) from the twin states, and this year around too, they hope to send maximum number of students to IITs. Those who took the exam said they are optimistic about making the cut as the paper was easy. “The question paper was comparatively easier this year. Although I found the Mathematics section to be a little lengthy, Physics and Chemistry were moderate,” said Prateek B, an aspirant. 

The number of questions in each subject saw a drop, from 22 last year to 18 this year, and students felt that they had time on their hands to tackle each question patiently. “While the total score was 504 in 2015, I was surprised to know that it’s only 372 this year. There were fewer questions in this year’s paper,” said Rajavardhan Reddy, another aspirant. 

The coaching institutes welcomed the change in the paper marking scheme in this year’s papers. They felt students may benefit from no or little negative marking and may make the cut. “Last year, students got -2 marking for every wrong answer and +4 for the right answer. However, this year students would be able to score +1 for every correct answer and no negative marking until they don’t choose the wrong answer,” said Anand Ramana, Director, FIITJEE-Hyderabad. 

Others too felt that the change in paper pattern and marking scheme will stand students from two Telugu states in good stead and help them secure top positions in IITs. “I am confident that a lot of students would make it to the premier institutes this year as the papers were scoring. Students seemed relaxed after taking the exam,” said Uma Shanker, IITJEE coordinator of Sri Chaitanya-Narayana IIT Academies. 

The top-ranking 1.5 lakh students of JEE Mains qualify to take the next level of exam, JEE Advanced. It is the qualifying examination for those seeking admission in the prestigious IITs and other technical institutions in the country.