Single Entrance Exam for IITs to be held in two parts

http://www.indiaedunews.net/IIT/Single_Entrance_Exam_for_IITs_to_be_held_in_two_parts_15862/
New Delhi: With a view to reducing the burden, in terms of time, finances and the stress caused in scheduling and preparing for multiple entrance examinations, on both, the students and parents, the Council of Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) had, in its meeting on 14.09.2011, endorsed 'in-principle' the proposal of a Common Entrance Examination for admission to undergraduate programmes in Engineering.

Based on the discussions held amongst the various stakeholders, including those from the IIT system, it has been decided to hold a Joint Entrance Examination from the year 2013 for admission to the undergraduate programmes in engineering in two parts, JEE-MAIN and JEE-ADVANCED. 

Only the top 1,50,000 candidates (including all categories) based on the performance in JEE-MAIN will qualify to appear in the JEE Advanced examination. Admission to IITs will be based only on category-wise All Indian Rank (AIR) in JEE-ADVANCED,subject to condition that such candidates are in the top 20 percentile of successful candidates in Class XII examination conducted by their Boards in applicable categories. 

Admission to NITs will be based on 40% weightage for performance in Class XII Board marks normalized on percentile basis and the remainder 60% weightage would be given for performance in JEE-MAIN and a combined AIR would be decided accordingly.

This information was given by the Minister of State for Human ResourceDevelopment , E. Ahamed in a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha on Friday. IANS