Is the 2015 JEE Advanced Paper Still Haunting Students?

The recent release of Netflix’s Kota Factory Season 3 has sparked a pertinent question among students: is the 2015 JEE Advanced paper still haunting them? The Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) Advanced paper is notorious for its unpredictability and difficulty level, and the 2015 paper was no exception.

In the show, a group of students are seen discussing the 2015 JEE Advanced paper in a classroom, with one student asking Vaibhav Pandey and Balmukund Meena if they were able to solve it. Pandey’s response was laced with frustration, saying, “Yeah, we couldn’t. Go ahead and solve it if you can. Also, go win the 2015 World Cup as well. Will you?” The scene highlights the anxiety and pressure that students face when dealing with a challenging exam paper.

The 2015 JEE Advanced paper was unique in many ways. The topper scored 469 out of 504 marks, which was 93.05 per cent, lower than the previous year’s topper who scored 334 out of 350 marks (95.42 per cent). The cut-off marks for the General category were 100, while it was 70 for OBC-NCL, 52 for SC, and 48 for ST.

Experts and IIT professors were approached to understand what made the 2015 paper so difficult. Himanshu Gupta, Physics Faculty at Physics Wallah, said that it was the marking scheme that made the paper challenging. There were no single-choice questions, and the paper consisted of integer type, matrix match, and multiple options correct type questions. The marking scheme was also unusual, with +4 marks for correct answers and -2 marks for incorrect answers or leaving a correct option blank.

Saurabh Kumar, a senior educationist with over 22 years of experience, believes that JEE Advanced is always difficult, and the only constant is that nothing is common. He added that the paper never repeats questions, never takes questions from reference books, and never gives hints about the pattern of the exam. The introduction of matrix-match type questions and comprehension type questions in 2015 made the paper more challenging.

An IIT professor, who wished to remain anonymous, said that the nature of the questions in JEE Advanced makes it an advanced level exam. The professor believes that the exam should be challenging to select only the brightest minds. The marking scheme is designed to prevent any student from gaining an unfair advantage.

Aditi Garg, a student who appeared for the exam, said that the paper pattern was unexpected and difficult. She found it challenging to decide whether to answer a question she was unsure about due to the negative marking scheme. On the other hand, Kshitiz Goel, another student who appeared for the exam, thought the paper was “good and balanced” and not too lengthy.

The 2015 JEE Advanced paper saw approximately 1.22 lakh candidates from over 350 centres across India competing for 10,000 seats across IITs and ISM Dhanbad. The exam’s weightage was increased to 504 marks, making it a more challenging and lengthy paper.

The question remains: is the 2015 JEE Advanced paper still haunting students? The answer lies in the unpredictable nature of the exam and the pressure to perform well. As one expert said, “Stress did not come due to the pattern of the paper or the difficulty level of the paper, but due to the competition of the exam, the cut-off, the number of applicants taking the exam, and the number of seats involved.”