Mumbai: For JEE (Main) state ‘top scorer’, it’s pure sciences

MUMBAI/PUNE: Sankalp Gaur from DAV Public School, Pune, probably the highest scorer from the state in the JEE (Main) exam, the results of which were announced on Monday, wishes to pursue pure sciences and aims to get into the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, and not the IITs like his colleagues.
While Bandra boy Tanuj Kaza, from PACE Junior College, is the likely topper from the city with a score of 335, Rishabh Shah, could be the second highest with 332 marks.Kaza, however, was not celebrating his high score; his focus was on the preparation for JEE (Advanced).
Gaur, who scored 345 out of 360, will appear for JEE (Advanced) on May 24. He told TOI, “My short-term goal is to do well in the JEE (A). I would like to go for pure sciences and am aiming for IISc, Bangalore, for Physics.” Sankalp has also been selected for the International Physics Olympiad Camp.
The wait for lakhs of IIT aspirants ended on Monday as CBSE declared the cut-off score for eligibility for JEE (Advanced) – the tier II exam for admissions to IITs. This year, the cut-off score for eligibility was 105, down from last year’s 115, indicating that the paper was tougher this time. The cut-off was 113 in 2013. For OBC candidates, it stands at 70, compared to 74 in 2014, at 50 for scheduled caste students and 44 for scheduled tribe candidates.
Of the 12.92 lakh students who appeared for the exam (offline and online), around 1.52 lakh have qualified to appear for the second tier of exam – JEE (Advanced) – on May 24, for admissions to the premier IITs. Of the total candidates eligible, around 18% are girls.
The results that are usually announced in the morning were uploaded only by 3pm. Many said the server was slow and the website crashed a few times. But CBSE officials denied the server crash reports.
Many students claimed there were discrepancies in their scores and demanded a revaluation. “My son is depressed as he will be out of the race for IITs due to an error,” alleged a parent of a student from KC College.
Pravin Tyagi, from a coaching institute, said it was not fair that a national level exam has ignored students’ pleas. Some students had challenged the answer key, but none was accepted by the board, he said. Aakash Chaudhary, from another institute, said the low cut-off score indicated poor performance by students or tough papers.
Officiating chairperson of CBSE, Satbir Bedi said there were two questions of different papers where there were some problems and the expert committee of the board looked into the matter and resolved it. “Students’ interests were protected, and accordingly, grace marks were given for errors in the offline mode,” said Bedi.