NATIONAL LEVEL ENTRANCE EXAMINATIONS IN ENGINEERING AND MEDICINE

Bring out the importance of the national Level entrance examinations like AIEEE, IIT-JEE PMPD and BITSAT.

These examinations being national in character, there is a belief that their syllabi are based on a nationally prevalent stream of education, namely CBSE. Therefore, it is believed the students of CBSE schools may find some advantages in preparing for these exams over those of the state board schools. However, these are only myths with proper preparation and guidance from specialists, the state board students can also perform brilliantly well in these examinations, for the syllabi consists of some common minimum syllabi of different states.

AIEEE is important to those who seek admission in the twenty NITs and some prestigious deemed Universities, which adopt only AIEEE for admission. Similarly IIT-JEE is a must for seeking admission in the IITs and Banaras Hindu University and the Indian School of Mining. The Pre-Medical and Pre-Dental (PMPD) examination is the only entrance test for admission against the 15% seats of MBBS and BDS in all states, except Andhra Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir.

The Birla Institute of Technology and Science Admission Test (BITSAT), being conducted online, from 2006, is a must for admission in the world renowned BITS. A few other national level admission tests are those for Armed Forces Medical College (AFMC), Pune, JIPMER, Puducherry, AIIMS, New Delhi and CMC, Vellore. These assume importance or serious aspirants for medical seats - just for the reason of paucity of medical seats, in comparison to engineering seats.

What are the significant differences between them?

AIEEE, IIT-JEE and BITSAT are meant for engineering courses whereas the rest are for medical courses.

AIEEE consist of 2 papers as already explained. All the questions will be of objective type except in Aptitude Test II; answering will be done by shading within the bubble corresponding to the correct answer, from among the 4 answers given, for each question. Each correct answer carries 3 marks, and every wrongly answered question is awarded with (-1) mark, as a penalty. No minimum mark is prescribed in the qualifying examination. Admission is done through region-wise counseling, which is based on the marks obtained in the relevant paper of AIEEE.

IIT-JEE has two papers, probably, slated for 11 April 2010, of objective type, with questions on Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry designed to test the comprehension and analytical ability.

Candidates obtaining less than 60% in aggregate in qualifying exam become ineligible for admission.

BITSAT is meant for admission to BE(Hons), B.PHarm(Hons), MMS, MSc(Hons), MSc(Tech) (Integrated) of Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani.

PMPD exam, from 2005, consists of two parts: Part I (Prelim) probably on 3 April 2010 and Part II (Main) on May 16, 2010. Those who qualify in part I will only be allowed to write Part II.

With about 350 Engineering colleges in Tamil Nadu (TN) why should TN students try for AIEEE?

Out of the 350 Engineering colleges in Tamil Nadu very few are of good quality, recognized for standards and consequently for campus recruitments and for further studies. Besides, in 2009 about 6 more top colleges among them are going to become deemed universities, leaving less number of good institutions in the fray for others who have not taken AIEEE.

On the other hand the number of Deemed Universities is increasing, many of which are using AIEEE for admitting students, either partly or fully. Apart from this, all the prestigious NITs use only AIEEE as admission test.

Can a State Board student compete with a CBSE student in AIEEE and AIPMT?

That would have been a difficult task a few years back. Now that the State Board students’ curricula have been enriched recently, the difference has almost died down. The fact that there are only about 4500 CBSE students finishing +2 in the entire Tamil Nadu annually, and above 30,000 candidates wrote AIEEE last year from Tamil Nadu should clarify how many State Board students took AIEEE! Further the number of State Board students getting into NITs is far in excess of students from CBSE!

Significantly, a very large number of State Board students get into NITs and Deemed universities when compared to CBSE students. Similar is the situation in respect of PMPD and other AIPMT exams for entry into AIIMS, AFMC, JIPMER, CMC and many other medical colleges.

While I can get a management quota seat in a Tamil Nadu college, why should I take the trouble of writing AIEEE or AIPMT?

Management seat in Engineering often comes for a price in the order of lakhs while a seat in an NIT costs less than ten thousand rupees per annum. Also consider the difference in the academic merit the student would achieve. Even though it is conducted at All India Level, state level ranks are awarded for admission to NITs. In respect of admission to Medical colleges it is easier to bring out the role played by AIPMT and other admission tests. A seat in medicine is 400 times rarer than a seat in engineering and may cost Rs. 25,00,000 or more in management quota, outside the All India Level entrance like PMPD, AIIMS and AFMC.

What will be the effect of the year-long training for All India Entrance on the performance in the board exam for a state board student?

The effect will be highly beneficial to the student in performance at the Board Exam. Many students neglect STD XI lessons since only STD XII marks are used for admission to the higher studies. Since AIEEE and PMPD exams are based on both STD XI and std XII lessons, a student preparing for them has the additional benefit of learning the STD XI portions also thoroughly, which would equip him with strong basics and fundamentals in essential subjects. This would help him with strong basics and fundamentals in essential subjects. This would help him learn STD XII portions with grater grasp and confidence resulting in better performance in STD XII. The other benefit is the additional training the student would get directly in STD XII syllabus.

On Admission to B. Arch Programme

Council of Architecture (CoA), New Delhi is a central government authority controlling Architecture education and its professional practice in India. B. Arch degree acquired by anybody in the country would be approved for higher studies and professional practice in India only if the candidate had been admitted to that course based on an Aptitude Test approved by CoA. Paper II of AIEEE and the online National Institute for Advanced studies in Architecture (NIASA) are two approved tests for this purpose. Apart feom B. Arch, other related courses are degree programmes in Planning (B. Plan), Interior Design (B.Des) and Building construction Technology.

Paper II of AIEEE

At least 14 institutions, including the widely acclaimed NIT-Tiruchi, use this exam for Admission in their B. Arch programme.

Normal paper-based examination of 3 hrs duration, to be held during 2-5 pm on April 25, 2010. There are 3 parts: Parts I & II are of objective type, on Mathematics and Aptitude in Architecture, respectively; Part III is on drawing, comprise 2 questions.

NATA : All the colleges offering B. Arch and affiliated to Anna University use this examination scores. This is an online test to be taken any date and time agreeable to the candidate and the examination center, Jan 1 to Sept 30. About 40 centres are approved for this purpose in the country. In TN, MESAI academy, School of Arch, Guindy, Bharath Univ., Adhiyaman Engg. Coll. Are some centers for taking the exam. Fee of Rs. 800 is to be paid in person and registration to bedone before appearing for the exam.

This is a 3 hr test with 2 parts. Part I is a paper based 2 hr test involving Drawing carrying 100 marks. Part II is an interactive online test for 1 hr duration carrying another 100 marks. 80 marks out of 200 is the cut off for eligibility. Institution admitting will rank the applicants to it based on this mark (plus a component on board exam mark in some institutions) and offer admission. Test can be repeated if desired.