Common test for IITs and other engineering courses from 2013

JEE to be combined with AIEEE, 50 % weightage to class XIIth marks

A common national level test for admission to engineering courses across the country will be introduced from 2013. Under the new scheme, all aspirants will have to take two exams - JEE main and JEE advanced - to be held on the same day. The aspirant's scores in these 2 exams will determine whether he or she is eligible for admission to the Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT), NIITs or IIITs, or other state-funded institutions.

For admission to IITs, 50% weightage will be given to the class XIIth results, while for centrally funded institutions which include NIITs and IIITs, it will be 40%.

The new structure has met stiff opposition from students and the IIT faculty alike. What do you think? Should class XIIth marks be given weightage in the selection process for the engineering entrances?

On the other hand, a student wanting to take admission into an engineering college need no longer sit for three to five entrance tests, but just a single test will do. So for over 15 lakh students who sit for engineering entrance exams every year, can this be seen as welcome move?


Team Meritnation

Cope with results anxiety with ease

How anxious are you?

During times of uncertainty or worry it often helps to pin down exactly what you’re feeling. But how can you make sense of what may be just a vague feeling of discomfort?

You can begin by figuring out what kind of anxiety you have according to what you’re doing, feeling, or thinking.

What are you doing?

• You are pacing up and down
• You are getting short-tempered with people
• You cry easily
• You are sleeping too much or too little

What are you feeling?

• Your heart is beating faster
• You have headaches or muscle pains
• You don't feel like eating
• You are feeling sick to your stomach
• You are feeling shaky, weak, or dizzy
• You have a choking feeling in your throat and chest

What are you thinking?

• What are you telling yourself about your situation?
• What do you believe will happen?

Getting to know about how your body is responding to the anxiety is one of the first measures to coping with it. Identifyas to what exactly you are feeling and where exactly your normal body routine is going wrong. After you are able to do so, try going back to the normal routine.

For eg- if you generally have your lunch at a certain time, but are not feeling hungry today, convince yourself to eat at least a wee bit. The idea is to trick your body into believing that everything is going on as usual and there’s no need for releasing those extra stress hormones.

Also, divert your mind to talk to yourself and plan about more important issues like your career options and BE READY WITH A BACKUP PLAN on that if by chance the results are not as good as you had expected.

Exercising and deep breathing exercises are also very effective in reducing stress, and you should go for a walk or a quick jog and see how light you feel when you return home!

Hope you score great tomorrow! Don’t worry, you’re not alone!

Good Luck!
Team Meritnation

CBSE launches post-results counselling helpline

An important piece of information for those feeling anxious after the results. CBSE has launched a post-results counselling helpline that will be operational from today for students and parents who are looking for guidance pertaining to the Board results.

The tele-counselling helpline is an outreach programme that will also help students and parents overcome the post-result stress.

Students can dial a toll free number - 1800 180 3456 - from any part of the country between 8am and midnight and get in touch with the counsellors. The helpline will be active for the next 15 days.

Cheers!
Team Meritnation

CBSE Class Xth Results to be announced on May 24th

CBSE is going to announce the class Xth results for the year 2012 TOMORROW, May 24th 2012. Students can access their results by logging on to any of the following websites and entering their Roll Number -

• www.cbse.nic.in
• www.cbseresults.nic.in
• www.results.nic.in

As results approach, you might be feeling the pressure getting to you. If you are experiencing sweaty palms, racing heartbeat, nausea or disturbing thoughts, you are not alone! These are all signs of anxiety and in fact, it can be quite normal to feel some anxiety before results and feel those butterflies in your stomach.

Instead of worrying about the results that are not in your hands, you should focus on how you can best utilize the time available. A starting point can be to understand the career options that each of the streams offer after +2.

You might want to try out the Personality Tests on Meritnation to understand your strong and weak areas and the Meritnation Stream Selector to understand your aptitude for various fields.

So, in all, discussing about the stream that you want to get into should be a priority right now over thinking about the results!

Good luck!
Team Meritnation

Brush up your concepts with the new Summer Education Pack by Meritnation!

Meritnation launches a special pack for CBSE classes VI-XII to help strengthen your fundamentals in Maths & Science this summer! The Summer education Pack gives you a chance to brush up important concepts from topics covered in previous classes, and work upon the basics to help build a more thorough understanding of concepts in your present class.

Learn your way through these important topics with extensive videos, animations, tests, puzzles & interactive exercises.

So what are you waiting for? Subscribe to Meritnation’s Online Course now to get this exciting Summer Education Pack for your class absolutely FREE! We at Meritnation are confident that our latest offering will give you an edge over your classmates when the school re-opens!


Cheers!

Team Meritnation

CBSE students may now get a chance to apply directly to foreign universities

The Central Board of Secondary Education is introducing the CBSE-International curriculum in 100 affiliated schools in India from the academic session 2013. The program is already being implemented in several schools across Singapore, Oman, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia and Japan and is long due to be implemented in India as well.

The CBSE-i curriculum follows the international pattern and will do away with the need to opt for the International Baccalaureate (IB) Program or the International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE) for students aspiring to go abroad after completing their class XIIth in India. The curriculum incorporates subjects like visual arts, performing arts, research, life skills and physical education besides language, science and social science. Seems like CBSE, through this program, is also looking towards the all-round holistic development of the students and not just focusing on their academic progress.

CBSE-i has been a success internationally and now, with over 350 Indian schools having expressed their interest to join the program, students here should also be able to be a part of this program soon.

This is an important step taken by CBSE to promote world-class education in India. Incorporating the program in all the schools will be significant in bringing the Indian school curriculum at par with that followed worldwide.

Kudos to CBSE for this initiative!

Cheers!

Team Meritnation