CBSE refutes reports of JEE Mains 2018 paper having same questions as Narayana Academy's mock test

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) on Wednesday clarified that some media reports of seven to eight questions out of 90 in the Indian Institute of Technology-Joint Entrance Examination (JEE(MAIN) 2018) being from a model question paper set by Narayana Academy were not true and appealed "to all not to pay heed to such falsities". In a statement the CBSE said that there was a news item that 7-8 questions out of the 90 questions of JEE 2018 paper were carried from a model paper of a coaching institution by the name of Narayana Academy.

The board, which conducted the exam on April 8, stated that these questions or items did not exist in 2016.  Giving more details, the CBSE explained that the JEE question papers are prepared in original by over 100 item writers, who are subject experts. They prepare over 1500 items over a period of two months during the year of the exam. All these questions are prepared by the item writers in original and they are handwritten. After that, 90 questions are drawn randomly and 8-9 sets are created. Out of the 8-9 seats any one is randomly picked for use in JEE.

According to CBSE, the said 7-8 questions were prepared in original by seven different item writers and were handwritten. After this, the moderator made many handwritten changes too. Followed by this, the vetter also made handwritten changes. The final handwritten version was ready only about 2-3 months back, after which it was sent to the confidential printer.

The board added that that it was "indeed very strange that handwritten changes in all these 7 questions that CBSE has record of, appear exactly in a so-called website claiming to belong to a particular coaching institute and also claiming to be two years old". The board also pointed out some reports had carried the statement of Narayana Academy on Wednesday stating that the items have been doctored to spoil the image of the said coaching institute.

"CBSE reiterates that all these 7-8 items/questions were originally written only about two to three months back and they cannot and could not have figured in any model paper by any coaching institutions two years back. There is an atmosphere of falsities and rumour mongering being deliberately perpetuated against a prestigious organisation like CBSE. CBSE appeals to all not to pay heed to such falsities," said the statement.

The IIT-JEE (Main) 2018 was held for around 10.43 lakh aspirants in 112 cities in India and abroad. The offline exam was held in 104 cities across 1,613 centres across the country and in eight centres in as many countries abroad. "The sixth edition of JEE (Main) 2018 offline exam was held for approximately 10,43,739 candidates registered for admission to undergraduate engineering programmes in NITs, IITs and other centrally funded technical institutes etc," the CBSE said in a release.

JEE (Main) is also an eligibility test for the JEE (Advanced). The examination was organised for 6,46,814 boys, 2,66,745 girls and three transgenders, it said.

(With inputs from PTI)