NTA to set up 3,000 practice centres for JEE and NEET, Unique question paper for each JEE, NEET exam - Videos

The newly-formed National Testing Agency (NTA) will set up 3,000 centres to let JEE-main and NEET-UG 2019 aspirants practice computer-based test free of cost from August 2018. It will also launch a mobile application to help them locate and register themselves for the centres.
According to NTA officials, there will be no change in the syllabus, pattern or difficulty level in the 2019 tests. The only difference will be that it will be completely computer-based. The centres will function on Saturdays and Sundays and aspirants will be allotted around an hour to practice to give them the experience of sitting for a real computer-based exam to be conducted by NTA from 2019. “Although there are many changes to happen in the future, for the 2019 exams, as the HRD minister had announced, the syllabus, pattern and number of questions and difficulty level will be the same. Any changes at such a short notice with regards to pattern and difficulty level will put students in a difficult situation as they are preparing for their board examinations as well,” said a senior HRD official.
Competitive tests such as JEE main, NEET-UG and UGC NET are set for a major overhaul from next year. The changes include having a unique set of questions for each candidate, with a software picking questions at random, and multiple dates for taking an exam.
The overhaul is being driven by the new
National Testing Agency (NTA), which will conduct its first exam in December 2018 — the University Grants Commission’s National Eligibility Test. The agency will annually test around 1.5 crore candidates.
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NTA plans to rely heavily on technological tools like artificial intelligence,
psychometric analysis and
computer-based adaptive testing — where candidates are taken to the next level of questions once they are through with easier questions — to change the way exams are conducted in India.
“The tests will be 100 per cent safe. The highest level of encryption will be used so that no one can hack into the system,” said Vineet Joshi, director general of NTA.
NTA officials said the test will be designed in a way that rote learning and intensive coaching are not of much help to candidates unless she is thorough with the syllabus. “There will be distractors (multiple choice questions) designed to fox you. And with millions of questions (items) to be prepared instead of a couple of question papers for a particular test, you will be at the mercy of the software’s algorithm which will pick up items at random for your test at a particular date, based on the set difficulty-level,” an official said.
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Sources said these computer-based tests will have several advantages. Candidates will be able to revisit questions later or keep some for review once the easier ones are done. In case the exam date doesn’t suit a candidate, she will be free to choose another date (from a given set). And, as has been reported, if the candidate is unhappy with her score, she can take the exam again after three months.
Video: JEE, NEET tests set for major overhaul – The changes
“It is going to be completely driven by technology. Artificial intelligence tools will be used to setting the questions and preparing the key for the correct answers. This will increase the capacity of NTA to do the things faster,”” a human resource development ministry official said.
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NTA is currently undertaking psychometric analysis of the previous years’ tests. “There are three things we are analysing from previous papers. We are seeing how each question has fared to determine its level of difficulty. Second, we are looking is how the distractors (the multiple choices for a question) have functioned. These distractors should be able to properly distract the person, so that only the ones who know the subject are able to answer correctly,” said a psychometric expert analysing the JEE main data at NTA.

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