NTA Exam System: Every year lakhs of students in India appear for entrance examinations for admission to engineering, medical and other major courses. Most of the examinations conducted in the country are conducted by the National Testing Agency. But the examinations that we see today being conducted through a single organization, National Testing Agency (NTA), were not always like this. Earlier, different institutions and boards used to conduct these examinations, but after 2017, there was a major change in the examination system and a new central system was created. In such a situation, let us know who used to conduct big exams when there was no NTA and how much the exam pattern changed after 2017.

What is NTA and when was it started?

National Testing Agency (NTA) was established by the Government of India in November 2017. Its main objective was to conduct the country’s major entrance examinations under a single, transparent and modern system. Earlier, these examinations were conducted by different institutions, due to which the process sometimes became complex and uneven. To overcome this problem, NTA was created as an independent organization, which works on digital and fair examination system.

When there was no NTA, who conducted the big exams?

1. Medical Entrance Exam – Earlier there was AIPMT (All India Pre-Medical Test) for admission in MBBS and BDS. It was conducted by CBSE (Central Board of Secondary Education), later it was changed to NEET. Apart from this, AIIMS Delhi used to conduct its own separate examination. Many states also had their own medical entrance examinations.

2. Engineering Entrance Exam – Earlier there used to be AIEEE (All India Engineering Entrance Exam) for engineering. This was also organized by CBSE. Later it was changed to JEE Main and a separate JEE Advanced exam continued to be held for IITs.

3. State level examinations – Every state used to conduct its own separate exams, like MHT CET (Maharashtra), BCECE (Bihar) and other state level engineering, medical exams.

What changed after formation of NTA?

After the formation of NTA, many major changes took place in the examination system. Now many big examinations started coming under one organization like JEE Main, NEET UG, CUET, UGC NET. NTA made almost all the examinations computer based (CBT). Also the application and result were made completely online. Apart from this, examination centers were also created in small towns and rural areas of the country so that more students could take the examination. NTA tried to reduce paper leaks and make evaluation fast and fair. Also, the same examination process should be implemented in the entire country.

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How much has the exam pattern changed after 2017?

After the formation of National Testing Agency (NTA), many important changes were seen in India’s biggest engineering examination JEE (Joint Entrance Examination). Especially in the method, pattern and organizing process of the examination, there has been a lot of difference as compared to before. Before NTA came, engineering entrance exams were mainly conducted under systems like CBSE and before that AIEEE. At that time the pattern of examination was different. A total of 90 questions were asked in the examination. There were 30-30 questions from each subject Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics. All questions were compulsory. Negative marking was applied on every wrong answer. The examination was mostly conducted offline (pen-paper mode).

Big change after NTA came

After the formation of NTA in 2017, JEE exam completely changed. It was made more digital and organized. Now JEE exam has become a completely online computer based test. Students have to take the examination at the computer centre. The exam is still based on three subjects (Physics, Chemistry, Maths). Every subject includes Section A and Section B. Now the examination is not conducted on a single day, it is conducted in several shifts. Apart from this, admit card, application and result became completely online.

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