JEE Advanced results out, 43,000 candidates qualify

 Acing the test this year was Vavilala Chidvilas Reddy from Hyderabad zone, who scored 341 out of 360 marks

Vavilala Chidvilas Reddy with his parents.

Candidates from Hyderabad and nearby regions dominated the test for admissions into India’s premier engineering colleges, the results of Joint Entrance Exam (JEE) Advanced showed on Sunday, with a total of 43,773 securing the marks required for a successful seat.

The test, known as one of the world’s toughest college qualifier assessments, was taken by 180,372 who first had to clear the JEE Mains, a relatively easier hurdle to clear. While JEE Mains are used by most engineering colleges in the country, including NITs (National Institutes of Technology) and other centrally funded technical institutions, qualifying the JEE Advanced is must to secure a seat in one of the 23 premier Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) colleges.

Acing the test this year was Vavilala Chidvilas Reddy from Hyderabad zone, who scored 341 out of 360 marks. Reddy, whose family is from Telangana, said studying at the IIT’s was a “childhood dream”. “I am very happy and excited. I had expected that I will be in the top 10 and I got rank one,” Reddy told news agency PTI.

The 17-year-old said he plans to take up Computer Science at IIT Bombay and wants to eventually take up research. “Six months before the JEE, I used to study around eight to 10 hours every day. During the last two months, I studied 11-12 hours daily,” he said.

Among female students, the highest score was bagged by Nayakanti Naga Bhavya Sree, also from Hyderabad zone. She secured 298 out of 360 and her overall rank was 56th. Male students continued to dominate the test, making up 83% of the total number of candidates who secured qualifying marks.

“I think I could have got a better rank. I expected top 10. I used to study 12-13 hours every day. I plan to take Computer Science in IIT Bombay and later do research in maths. I am interested in maths,” Sree said, according to PTI.

In all, roughly one in four students who took JEE Advanced scored the requisite number of marks.

The total number of students who qualified it last year was 40,712.

This year, in case of zone-wise performance, most -- 10,432 candidates -- were from Hyderabad zone qualified the exam, followed by IIT-Delhi zone (9,290), IIT-Bombay (7,957), IIT-Kharagpur (4,618), IIT-Kanpur (4.582), IIT-Guwahati (4,499), and IIT-Guwahati (2,395).

Six among the top 10 rankholders are from IIT Hyderabad zone.

Describing the criteria for inclusion in the rank list, the organisers this year, IIT-Guwahati, said that the aggregate marks are calculated as the sum of the marks obtained in Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry. “Candidates have to satisfy the subject-wise as well as the aggregate qualifying marks to be included in a rank list,” they said.

Since the qualifying marks for JEE (Advanced) increased this year to reach a four-year high. For instance, for the common rank list, the minimum percentage marks in each subject increased to 6.83% from 4.40% last year. Similarly, for the common rank list, the minimum percentage of aggregate marks has also increased to 23.89% from 15.28% last year.

The qualifying percentage for JEE (Advanced) for the unreserved category had increased to 90.7 percentile this year from 88.4 percentile last year.

Similarly, the cut-off for Other Backward Classes-Non-Creamy Layer (OBC-NCL) increased to 73.6 percentile from 67 percentile; for Economically Weaker Section (EWS) candidates it has increased to 75.6 from 63.1; for Schedule Caste (SC) candidates to 51.9 from 43; and for Scheduled Tribe (ST) candidates it had increased to 37.23 this year from 26.7 percentile last year.

Officials said that the qualifying marks and marks required to be included in the rank list increased because of the increase in the number of candidates this year. “180,372 candidates had appeared for the exam against last year’s tally of 155,538. Therefore, the cut-off and the minimum percentage marks in each subject have also increased,” said a senior official at the organising IIT.

The Joint Seat Allocation (JoSAA) counselling for the allotment of seats will begin from Monday.