MHRD announces entrance dates; JEE Mains to be held twice in 2019

All the exams will be computer-based except for NEET, which will be conducted in pen-and-paper mode

The Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) on Tuesday announced the schedule for various entrance examinations till May 2019 to be conducted by the newly-established National Testing Agency (NTA).

It announced the schedule for UGC-NET, JEE Main I & II, CMAT & GPAT, and NEET-UG.

All these exams will be computer-based except for NEET, which will be conducted in pen-and-paper mode as before. This mode of writing exam was kept unchanged at the request of the Health Ministry.

"The change in the NEET exam pattern (as against the statement made on July 7, 2018) -- which will now be a single exam in pen-and-paper mode and in the same number of languages as has been conducted last year -- is on the request of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, which wanted the same pattern as last year's to be maintained," the HRD Ministry said in its statement.

While declaring the establishment of NTA, the Ministry had in July said that all these exams will be conducted online.

As per the schedule announced on Tuesday, the UGC-NET will be conducted on several days during December 9-23, 2018; JEE-Main I on days between January 6 and 20, 2019, while JEE-Main II will be held between April 6 and 20, 2019.

The CPAT-GMAT entrance, earlier conducted by the All India Council for Technical Education, will be conducted by the NTA now on January 28 and NEET-Undergraduate on May 5 next year.

The Ministry said that through NTA it has also established 2,697 Test Practice Centres (TPCs) in schools and engineering colleges for candidates to practice and familiarise themselves with the pattern of the exams.

These centres will be available to the candidates on Sundays and Saturdays starting from September 1 and will be free of charge.

"The TPCs will have a downloaded Computer Based Test (CBT) which will be similar to the actual test to be conducted on the exam day. (more)

Rahul Gandhi seeks probe in NEET candidates' data leak, writes to CBSE

Rahul called for putting in place additional safeguards to prevent such a breach in the future

Congress president Rahul Gandhi has written a letter to the CBSE over media reports claiming a massive breach of data of candidates who appeared for the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test this year, and demanded an inquiry into the matter.

In the letter to Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) chairperson Anita Karwal, he called for putting in place additional safeguards to prevent such a breach in the future.

Drawing attention to the recent media reports regarding the "massive breach" of candidate data, Gandhi, in his letter, said, "It is alleged that this data is available on certain websites for a price, and has leaked the data of over 2,00,000 students".

Education news : The reports claimed that personal data, including names, phone numbers and email ids of over 2,00,000 candidates, who appeared for CBSE's National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) this year, were available for a price on some online portals.

I am shocked by this wide scale theft of personal data that has compromised the privacy of candidates across the country, Gandhi wrote in the letter.

He said it highlighted the serious lack of safeguards to prevent data breach, and calls into question the ability of the CBSE to ensure the sanctity of the examination process.

I strongly urge you to order an inquiry against this shocking lapse and take action against the officials responsible for the same. In addition, I request you to put additional safeguards to prevent the recurrence of such data breaches, Gandhi said.

The CBSE conducted the NEET on May 6 in 136 cities in 11 languages, the results of which were announced on June 4.

From 2019, NEET to be conducted twice a year by NTA: All you need to know

From new conducting body to new shedule, NEET is set to see a lot of changes from next year

Students preparing to appear in the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) 2018 will not find much help by referring to previous years' question papers and patterns as the exam will see a complete overhaul from next year.

HRD minister Prakash Javadekar announced on Saturday that a newly formed National Testing Agency (NTA) will now conduct the national-level examinations — NET, NEET, JEE (Mains). These exams were till now conducted by the CBSE.

With the announcement of the new body, there will be several changes in the exam pattern from next year. Here's all you need to know about NEET 2019:

1. Twice a year: NEET, which was earlier held once a year, will now be conducted twice a year from 2019, in February and April.

2. Can NEET aspirants appear in both the tests?

Students can appear both the times in NEET and the best of the two scores would be taken in account for admission.

According to reports, the new exam body will take into consideration the variation in difficulty levels in the two tests by using specialised standardisation techniques while determining the final score.

3. Test to be computer-based: All exams conducted by the NTA will be computer-based. NTA will soon announce a list of its computer centres. From August-end, students can go to these centres to practice for the exams.

4. What remains unchanged?

Javadekar said the syllabus, question formats, language and fees would not be changed for any of the exams.

5. Tentative dates:

First phase

• Online submission of application forms: October 1 to October 31, 2018
• Examination: February 3, 2019 to February 17, 2019
• Result: First week of March 2019

Second phase

• Online submission of application forms: Second week of March 2019
• Examination: May 12, 2019 to May 26, 2019
• Result: First week of June

Article Source : BS