Mcb777 LiveNEET JEE news: How lockdown derailed preparations for JEE, NEET

The Supreme Court has announced that JEE-Mains and NEET for 2020 will be held in September, ending weeks of speculation. The JEE-Mains 2020 was scheduled to be held from September 1-6 and NEET on September 13. Due to Covid the dates have been pushed back repeatedly. The original date for JEE was from April 4-11, which was then shifted to July 18-23 and then Sept 1-6. NEET's original date was May 3, then July 26 and then Sept 13. large77691425For students who have been preparing for these two major entrance exams for the past two years the uncertainty around the dates and not being able to attend coaching during the lockdown has derailed their preparation and plans. All the students TOI spoke to admitted to being low on confidence. medium77691392The National Test Agency recently revealed that about 8.5 lakh students have registered for the JEE-Main, 7.1% less than the number registered in January this year. “The dip is because of the pandemic and the lockdown. Students have decided to drop a year and appear next year,” said Pavan Kumar, deputy director, FIITJEE, Chennai. At his coaching centre 10-20% students dropped out of the coaching programme because of Covid. He feels that the disruption will reflect in the performance too but is not sure to what extent. boxcontentOver 8.5 lakh students are expected to take the JEE-Main exams. For NEET, the figure is expected to be over 16 lakhs.JEE-Mains is one the toughest exams to crack on this planet and Mandar Patil from Mumbai has always aspired to clear it. He started preparing for it right after his Class X Board exams. But now after almost five months of sitting at home and preparing in isolation he is no longer sure of his goal. “I don’t have any expectations now. I feel bad about how the lockdown spoiled my hard work,” said Patil who lives in a joint family in a small home. “I don’t have my own room and there’s always someone sitting in front of me when I am studying. My family members tell me to not study so hard and give me chores to do,” Patil said adding that he often escaped to the terrace of his building to study in peace. medium77691381For Rahul Raina in Delhi, getting a quiet atmosphere for studying is not a problem but still he is not satisfied and misses his coaching class. “There we would spend at least six hours every alternate day preparing for JEE. All of us friends would sit together and thrash out doubts, or work on problems together. Now, if I have a doubt I have to look for someone who could help me. Studying in isolation is tough,” added Raina who has been studying his notes and solving previous years’ question papers during the lockdown.“The first time the exams got deferred it was okay but when the date shifted a second time a lot of students panicked and lost focus. It broke the momentum of their preparation,” said Saurabh Kumar, director academics, Vidya Mandir Classes, Delhi. At VMC, the attendance from April to June was about 65% and when the dates were moved the second time, it dipped by 10%. He also feels that a lot of students won’t be able to visit the exam centres as lockdown is still on in many places, and not everyone can afford a private vehicle. large77691453The entrance preparation which is usually for the duration of 2 years has now extended to 2.5 years. “I have been studying the same thing again and again and now I am mentally exhausted. I just want it to get over,” said Shivam Shukla, a NEET aspirant, but added that he is sure of cracking the exam. medium77691373The course fatigue is even more pronounced in repeat candidates. Like, Sarthak Trivedi from Bareilly. In a June 28 post on Quora about how lockdown impacted JEE preparation, Sarthak writes: “When the first phase of lockdown was introduced I was at my peak…doing revision more than 12 hours a day and in a week’s time I had almost revised 20 chapters in detail which were my weak chapters! Later I became resistant and did not want to study as I am a dropper and was bored of studying the same content from past 3 years…”. Aditya C, said that the lockdown impacted his overall preparation for JEE by 15-20%. An engineering aspirant since class VIII, Aditya relied heavily on mock tests conducted online by his coaching centre during lockdown. “We have tried to make the best of what we have but this is not the best way to prepare,” he said.For parents, too, this time has been stressful. “Coaching centres provided a degree of seriousness to the preparation without that it’s just a jugaad,” said Anita Ganz, a Delhi-based entrepreneur whose son is preparing for the architecture paper of JEE. Pavan Kumar of FIITJEE added that while bright students have still coped, mediocre and weak students have been hit the hardest by the disruption caused by lockdown. Untitled Carousel 77365155