AIEEE: It’s not a tough nut to crack

ENGINEERING as a discipline has had a bull run , year after year. AIEEE – All India Engineering Entrance Examination – has had the highest number of examinees in a single day competitive exam globally. 10 lakh students registered for AIEE in 2009.

This marked a record rise in the number from the previous year (8.26 lakh examinees had registered for 2008).

All India Engineering Entrance Examination is for all Engineering aspirants who have appeared/passed Class XII from any national/state recognised boards.

This exam is conducted for admission to the 20 National Institutes of Technology (NITs), 4 Indian Institutes of Information Technology (IIITs), Indian Institute of Information Technology and Management (IIITM), 16 Self-Financed Deemed Universities  and other 9 central & state government funded institutions. The number of atcareers360_cmsts for this exam is restricted to three.

Don’t miss! Searchable database to find an engineering college

Central counselling board for AIEEE: Admission Procedure

As per the direction of the MHRD, 50% of the seats in NITs will be filled from AIEEE eligible candidates of states where NITs are located and rest 50% will be filled on all India merit basis. MHRD will make efforts to establish NITs for those states/UTs which do not have NITs as of now.

In case, the new NITs are not established before the start of admission based on AIEEE 2009, seats will be made available for the eligible students of such states/UTs which do not have any NIT, so as to keep the number of seats for such states/UTs at the level of 2007, after making due adjustment for the number of seats filled by eligible candidates of these states/UTs.

A list of the participating institutions will be furnished by Central Counselling Board 2009 at the appropriate time and will be available on CCB website at www.ccb.nic.in.

Structure of the exam  Papers I & II

Aspirants have the choice of appearing in any one of the two types of papers or both. Paper I is for those who wish to go only for BE/BTech courses in colleges accepting AIEEE ranks while Paper II is for those who wish to pursue a course in B.Arch/ B.Planning.

Paper I: This is a 3-hour paper comprising three sections – Part I – Physics, Part II – Chemistry & Part III – Mathematics. There are 30 questions in each of the three subjects,  Physics, Chemistry & Mathematics. The questions are of objective type i.e multiple-choice questions with a single correct answer. In each section there are 26 questions of 4 marks each and 4 questions of 8 mark each. One must be very careful as there is 1/4th negative marking for every question.

Paper II:  This 3-hour paper consists of  Part I – Mathematics, Part II -Aptitude & Part III -Drawing. The Mathematics section has 35-40 objective type multiple-choice questions with a single correct option and 1/4th negative marking. In this part, the syllabus for Mathematics comprise common topics from XI/ XII CBSE/State board. The Aptitude section has 10-15 objective  multiple-choice questions with four options and 1/4th negative marking. This will test a student for visualising three dimensional objects from two dimensional drawings, visualising different sides of three dimensional objects and also analytical reasoning and mental ability. The Aptitude Test is designed to evaluate a candidate’s perception, imagination, observation, creativity and architectural awareness. The Drawing section has two questions for 40 marks involving sketching of scenes and activities from memory of urbanscape (public space, market, festivals, street scenes, monuments, recreational spaces etc.), landscape (river fronts, jungles, gardens, trees, plants etc.) and rural life.

Subjects and level of difficulty 

Clearing AIEEE is not a difficult task. A systematic approach towards its preparation will help students get admission into one of the top National Institutes of Technology (NITs). AIEEE consists of CBSE syllabus of Physics, Chemistry & Mathematics and some common topics from 11th & 12th grades of state boards.

In AIEEE 2009 Mathematics and Physics were definitely difficult as compared to the previous year. Chemistry was relatively simple. About 25% questions in the paper are easy, 50% are average and 25% difficult. The cut- off for AIEEE is generally between 60 to 70%.

How to prepare for AIEEE

Two years of planned, organised preparation for AIEEE is all that is required. Appropriate study material is the first thing an aspirant must have. Every set of problems needs to be approached differently and with a separate methodology. Regular practice makes a student confident to tackle the problems. Speed and accuracy is the key to success.

Relevant study material

Books are preferred for shaping your conceptual understanding. There is a plethora of problem-solving books. It will do the student good to solve other competitive examination problems. Practise a lot.

Success tips for the exam

Speed and accuracy is an important aspect, which comes from extensive practice of similar questions.

• Always exercise time pressure while solving AIEEE papers. In Maths use short methods for calculations, skip irrelevant steps to save time.
• The most important thing is clarity of concepts & regular practice in problem-solving.
• AIEEE is not difficult, but tricky. However, its questions do have a need of being tackled with different tactics and perspectives.
• Focus on solving the problems on your own, while preparing for the exam.
  Both speed and strike rate matter. You need to be quick and accurate to achieve high scores. High speed with less accuracy can actually ruin your results.
• Never use calculator while preparing for the AIEEE. Being adept in mental calculations can actually increase your speed to a great extent.
• Select your questions wisely. If you solve easy and average questions correctly, you can easily get through. You may atcareers360_cmst difficult ones to make merit.
• Gather and implement tips, gain confidence, be positive, and you will
  ace AIEEE.

Last lap before AIEEE
In the last two weeks before AIEEE, aspirants must revise all the formulae and the important points during these two weeks. One must study all three subjects each day.

Must do in the last two weeks

• Make a note of important points.
• Make a timetable for the coming twelve days to revise your syllabus. Time table must be developed in such a way that you give maximum time to your strengths. For instance, if you are strong in Electrostatics in Physics, then revise electrostatics, giving enough time to it so that you are sure and confident of every concept in it. If you are not thorough in Modern Physics, then only revise whatever topics you have studied. Do not study anything new in the last week.
• Cover your syllabus during the next seven days. Now revise your complete syllabus once.
• Take a few Mock Tests to check your speed and accuracy.
• Identify the gaps/problem areas where you are wasting your maximum time. Whatever mistakes you make in the first paper try to rectify in the second. In this way you will be better prepared for the main exam. What most students do is that they revise the entire syllabus but never atcareers360_cmst a mock test. Therefore they make mistakes in the main exam and thus lose the race.

Day before

• Let your hair down the day before AIEEE. Do not study anything. Simply relax and indulge yourself.
• Stay calm, confident and trust your ability.
• Say to yourself ‘I am excited about AIEEE and I can crack it’.
  Don’t ask your friends how much they have studied. It will only create tension.
• Have a sound sleep for at least six to seven hours.
• Prepare to reach the exam centre an hour before the commencement of the exam.

Analysis of AIEEE 2008

If you closely study the AIEEE 2008 paper you will find that there were 105 questions each carrying 3 marks. The total marks were 315 out of which if you had scored 180+ marks you were always safe to get a good college. On analysing the last year’s paper it was found that in physics most of the questions were from electricity, magnetism, modern physics and mechanics.

These topics comprised about 75% to 80% of the paper. 35% questions were easy and 60% were neither too difficult nor too easy.  Chemistry is the broadest branch and one that is most scoring.

An analysis of last year’s paper revealed that physical chemistry had 12 questions, organic chemistry 12 and inorganic chemistry 11. What this shows is that physical, organic and inorganic chemistry are given equal weight in AIEEE.

Now the part which the students say is difficult. Mathematics. Post the analysis it was found that chapters from Calculus and Algebra are the most repeated in the previous year papers of AIEEE. In AIEEE 2008, 24 questions were there from these two topics alone.

Analysis of AIEEE 2009

In AIEEE 2009 there was a marked change is the pattern of questions and marking scheme. The number of questions in each section was reduced to 30 but students found it tough as there were 24 questions of 4 marks and 6 questions of 8 marks in each section along with 1/4th negative marking.

The 8-mark questions were time consuming and this was one reason why some students could not atcareers360_cmst many questions. In Physics it was found that 40% questions were easy, 52% medium level and 8% difficult. More weight was given to chapters like Heat & Thermodynamics – 17%, Optics – 10%, Modern Physics – 10%, Electronics & communication – 7% and Properties of matter – 3%.  In Mathematics, 32% questions were easy, 58% average level of difficulty and 10% difficult.

More weight was given to chapters like Coordinate Geometry – 13%, Integral Calculus – 10%, Vector – 3 Dimensional Geometry & Determinants – 10% and Trigonometry – 3%.  In Chemistry, 40% questions were easy, 50% had a medium level of difficulty and 10% were difficult. 40% weight was given to Physical Chemistry and 27% to Inorganic Chemistry.

After going through the new marking scheme and level of difficulty of the papers we could conclude that if a student secured more that 225 out of 432 he could be sure of getting into one of the 20 NITs.

Special tip: Importance of chemistry

It is observed that those who crack AIEEE are the ones who do well in chemistry. A week before the exam dedicate four hours to brush up your concepts of  chemistry – three hours for organic and inorganic chemistry and  one hour for physical chemistry.

Try to atcareers360_cmst chemistry in the first hour as it has some easy questions and if you can solve these questions in the first hour, you will feel confident. It has been proved that if you are confident then your efficiency increases. Inorganic and organic also cover a substantial portion in AIEEE. Chemistry is the most scoring subject.

Just read the concepts of thermodynamics and chemical equilibrium. Some questions from these parts are purely conceptual. So clear your concepts and you can successfully atcareers360_cmst 40% questions from these two topics.

Expert advice/  recommendation

Always atcareers360_cmst theoretical questions first and then questions which require calculation. Its human nature that if you atcareers360_cmst a few confident questions in the beginning then you feel loaded with positive energy which increases your efficiency and speed for the rest of
the paper.

Ramesh Batlish is the Centre Head, Guru Education Ltd