IIT-JEE average scores double,cutoff goes up to 190 from 178

For the first time in four years, the IIT-JEE average marks announced on Saturday have shown double digit scores in all three subjects — physics, chemistry and mathematics. The aggregate average almost doubled — from 29 in 2009 to 55 in 2010 out of a total 489 — while the cut-off for successful candidates showed a marginal improvement from 178 last year to 190 this year.

Is the increase in cut-off — calculated on the basis of average performance of candidates — a case of improved standards or is it due to the corrective measures applied by IITs to neutralize errors in the JEE paper as pointed out by TOI?

In order to paper over its mistakes, IIT-JEE, for the first time, evaluated each answer sheet in two ways — sequential question number-wise and subject heading-wise. The higher score of the two systems was taken as a candidate's score.

This strategy was adopted to offset the interchange of subject headings of mathematics and physics in paper and Optical Response Sheet. IIT is not disclosing the marks scored by both ways of evaluation. Now, IIT insiders are pointing out faults with this method.