JEE Main 2024 results discrepancies? NTA issues clarification, aspirants contemplate legal route

Candidates who appeared for the JEE Main January 2024 session alleged that there are huge differences in marks between sessions for the same percentile

The results for the January session of the Joint Entrance Exam (JEE) Main 2024 have created a huge outcry among the aspirants who allege errors in JEE Main scores and percentile calculation by the National Testing Agency (NTA).

The results for JEE Main 2024 were released this week on Tuesday, February 13 by the NTA. The announcement, however, was followed by a controversy as candidates who appeared for the examination, alleged that there were huge differences in marks between sessions for the same percentile.

Speaking about this, Radhika, a JEE aspirant from Kanpur who appeared for the exam on January 27 in the first session, told EdexLive, “My question paper was relatively easier, especially Chemistry and Physics sections so I had expected a higher cut-off for the particular January 27 session. I ended up scoring 247 marks with 99.3 percentile and the cut-off for my session was 236 marks. On the other hand, in other sessions, even those with 150 marks were able to score above 90 percentile. This is a huge discrepancy between shifts.”

The NTA conducted the JEE Main 2024 Paper 1 (BTech) exam on five days — January 27, 29, 30, 31 and February 1 in 10 sessions. Students say that candidates who appeared for the exam on January 27 and  29 have been disadvantaged by irregular percentile calculation.

Souvick Deb Roy, another JEE aspirant from Assam, expressed, “I appeared for JEE Main on January 29 and this was my second attempt. Being a repeater, I expected a good percentile this year. I scored 102 with 85 percentile, though I had expected more. This time, students have highlighted that there is a discrepancy of up to 80-90 marks between sessions for the same percentile which accounts for 25-30 questions. This huge difference is not a joke for such an important examination.”

Several parents and aspirants are now planning to take the legal route and approach the court to look into the matter. Meanwhile, a student association named JEE-NEET Students Community (JNSC) will be sending a representation to the NTA on Monday, February 19, urging immediate action.

Uneven distribution of candidates?

Another allegation that has come to light regarding the JEE Main 2024 results is that close to 25 per cent of the candidates were bunched in the morning shift of January 27, leading to an uneven distribution of candidates and eventually, irregular percentile calculation across sessions.

Radhika, who appeared for the exam on January 27, said, “Most of the students in my coaching classes had their examination on the January 27 morning session. I discussed it with several other students and we noticed that a large number of students had appeared on the same date.”

However, addressing these allegations, the NTA shared a press release today, February 17, with data highlighting the number of students who appeared in each session, gender-wise. The same document also shows the percentile distribution of candidates appearing in various shifts.

The data shared by the NTA on February 17, shows a fairly even distribution of candidates among all ten shifts. However, the aspirants and parents are yet to be convinced by the explanation.

Normalisation: What do experts say?

In their press release dated February 17, the NTA reiterated that a normalisation procedure based on the percentile scores was used to ensure that candidates were neither benefited nor disadvantaged due to varying difficulty levels of question papers.

“It is reiterated that the JEE (Main) – 2024 Session 1 examination has been conducted as per the norms and procedures followed for the conduct of any high-stakes examination thereby providing fair and equal opportunity for all candidates,” the document stated.

However, JEE mentors and educators say that the normalisation process usually does not lead to such huge disparity in the percentile calculations.

“Usually, after normalisation, the difference between hard and easy shifts is somewhere between 10-20 marks. This time, the disparity is around 50-80 marks which is a lot for a qualifying examination. This is discouraging to the students as someone with a score of 250 can get the same college as someone with a 190-200 score,” explained Purnima Lodha Kaul, a JEE Mentor at JEE One, a virtual educational platform for JEE training.

Explaining the previous year’s trends, Kaul said that while it is common for students on the first session of the first day to score comparatively fewer marks, the difference has been significantly higher this time causing concerns among aspirants.

“If we look at the general statistics, we see that students who appear for exams on the first day usually get a lesser percentile. Then when the paper comes out, we start with analysis and discussion on YouTube channels so the students in subsequent sessions are more prepared and score better. There have been several suicides by suicides ever since the results were declared. Even as an educator, it becomes very grave for us, especially when a loss of life is involved,” Kaul added.

JEE Main 2024 results discrepancies? NTA issues clarification, aspirants contemplate legal route