Since 2019, JEE Main is being conducted ‘online’ as a Computer-Based Test (CBT), organised by National Testing Agency (NTA).
Before 2019, JEE Main was conducted in offline/pen-paper-based mode. Students who were used to appearing for examinations in offline mode had plenty of apprehensions and concerns about attempting the exam online on a computer.
However, as per the government’s decision, JEE Main will only be held in the online mode, and there’s no looking back. JEE Main 2020 is only four months away, and the preparations are in full swing. The first attempt exam shall start on 6th January 2020.
To crack JEE, students must get used to the online environment and be 100% prepared for the challenge. But first things first, let’s attempt to understand the challenges aspirants face while switching to the online mode:
Getting Acquainted
From standard 1st to standard 12th, Indian students are used to taking offline exams/tests. They have a comfort level while using pens and pencils to take exams. They now need to adjust to answer questions on a computer screen for JEE (and other exams like the BITSAT).
It’s a completely different scenario. When you’ve been taking the pen-paper mode exam for years, your body gets used to it – you’re mentally and physically prepared to attempt questions in a specific way. But when you’re asked to switch to the online mode, it suddenly becomes a huge challenge. Getting the hand-eye coordination right is especially troublesome.
Browsing through Exam paper
What happens when you get a physical question paper? You take a quick look at it and create an immediate plan in your mind about the questions you’d try first. You already have a blueprint, and you know how to continue.
What happens when you get 90 questions about Physics, Chemistry & Mathematics on a computer screen? You’re bound to get confused while navigating through each question individually on your screen. It is hard to comprehend how to proceed.
Speed & accuracy
When you’re so used to a conventional manner of taking exams, you understand the speed you need to solve the questions. Even though the time is limited, your body will adjust automatically, and you will try to attempt the exam speedily with accuracy. It’s difficult to get this speed and accuracy in the online mode.
It’s difficult to maintain a constant pace at which you attempt the questions. Therefore, it hampers the overall speed of completing the exam on time.
Maintaining the flow
In pen-paper-based exams, you do all your rough work on rough sheets and mark your answer on paper too. It doesn’t affect your flow. However, when it comes to the Computer-Based mode, rough sheets are provided separately for rough work. Looking back and forth from a computer screen and rough sheets might hamper your concentration. Moreover, it is going to be demanding to keep your flow of solving the questions.
These are some of the challenges that students face when switching from offline to online mode. However, they can always ‘Adapt and Overcome’. There are many advantages to taking the exam in online mode as well. Let’s look at a few of them:
- Answers can be changed/reviewed anytime without any trouble
- Less time needed to mark your answers
- Freedom to choose exam date as per preference
- No chance of discrepancy in marks
- Convenient to assess the exam
From the above points, we can conclude that taking JEE Main in online mode has its fair share of benefits. The key to adapting to the online mode is to keep practicing. Taking online mock tests, getting habitual to the online environment, and increasing your speed of attempting questions are some of the things that every JEE aspirant must do.
This is where myPAT – India’s largest online learning and assessment platform for IIT JEE, BITSAT, KVPY and NTSE comes to the forefront. myPAT provides a real test environment for all aspirants to become JEE-ready, particularly to adjust to the online environment of JEE Main.
myPAT offers endless mock tests for students to practice and prepare for one of the most significant entrance examinations, JEE Main. myPAT brings the following features to its users:
- Same test screen like NTA JEE Main screen
- Exam summary
- Marking schemes
- Variety of online mock tests
- Analysis of your tests
Apart from these, myPAT provides previous year question papers, textual notes, and much more to help make students’ preparation a walk in the park. Go ahead and start practising on myPAT right away.
