ISEET Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

IIT-JEE and AIEEE - for long the gateways to India's top engineering colleges including the IITs and NITs - is all set to be replaced by a new "common" test to be called ISEET i.e. Indian Science Engineering Eligibility Test, said to go on the similar lines as SAT conducted in US. The test shall be conducted from 2013 (month of April/May) and hence the students are supposed to prepare for it from now. The selection pattern has been defined on weight basis on three examinations - Board Examination, ISEET Main, and ISEET Advance. The introduction of this test is expected to help do away with multiple entrance examinations and thereby reduce the stress level of students and also to some extent reduce financial burden on parents like payment of application fees, commuting to the place of multiple exam venues etc. The test will be conducted by CBSE.

There has been a lot of confusion and apprehensions based on hearsay about the test being discussed and hence this article to answer most of those Frequently Asked Questions about the test. Hope this article will help parents and students to understand modalities about the test to a large extent if not full.

What is ISEET ?

As said above ISEET stands for Indian Science Engineering Eligibility Test to be conducted for admission to India's most coveted Engineering and Science Institutions, University Engineering and Technology Colleges and Deemed Universities. This is going to be a common test (single) for the entire country and going to replace different entrance tests conducted erstwhile by many different institutes separately and also by states.

Which are all those tests ISEET going to replace ?

ISEET is going to replace the following entrance tests to the faculty of engineering and science -

• IIT-JEE - Admission to 15 IITs, IT-BHU, ISMU (Through main merit list) and 6 IISERs, Institute of Maritime Studies, IISc (Through extended merit list)
• AIEEE - Admissions to 30 NITs, 5 IITs and other private engineering colleges and Deemed universities.
• PETs - The pre-Engineering tests conducted by various states for admissions to State Govt. / private engineering colleges in various states.

How significant will be the XII Board exams along with ISEET?

The selection criteria has now been well defined in terms of the respective weightage of three exams - XII Board, ISEET Main, ISEET Advance. A student's performance in the class XII Board exam will be considered with a weight NOT LESS THAN 40% of the total score. However the weightage given to the XII Board exam may go up to 100% as it has been left to the states and the institutes to decide upon the weightage, only lower limit of 40% has been specified.

What ISEET will consist of ?

The test divided into two parts - Main and Advance, shall test the scholastic level and aptitude level for science and engineering. The test will have following pattern -

• ISEET Main will be 3 hours duration objective type test, with aptitude testing questions based on comprehension, critical reading and logical reasoning.
• ISEET Advance will be 3 hours duration objective type test, to be held on same day, with the aim to test problem-solving ability in basic science subject and hence will have questions on Physics, Chemistry and Maths.

The ISEET tests shall be conducted twice a year - April/May and November / December.

What is the prescribed syllabus for ISEET ?

Though no specific syllabus has been declared so far, but the details may be announced by the end of Apr. 2012, says one communique from the department of HRD. However the there is a wide guess that the tests will follow NCERT-based CBSE syllabus.

Is every state and institute going to follow ISEET?

So far there are some reservations from some state governments and IITs. Tamilnadu for example has declared that there will be no consideration given to ISEET and they will fully give weightage (100%) to XII Board exam. IITs also have some reservations. However, by the time this post goes online there is a meeting convened by Department of HRD on 11 Apr. to resolve some of the concerns. The outcome shall be make known at this same place. So please keep visiting.