The IIT council recommended that an expert committee study the possibility of introducing an adaptive exam system, which means that, based on how well they respond, students may receive questions that are easier or harder. The council has suggested collecting information and understanding how students perform under this method and also told the council to conduct an optional pilot adaptive test before the examination for the upcoming JEE Advanced exam.
Why was this step taken?
As per the results, the meeting was conducted on August 25th, 2025, which was made public on Monday. A logical plan with specific deadlines for the shift to adaptive testing can be identified.
The council is directed by Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, who is the chairman and one of the directors of the Board of Governors.
As per the IIT Kanpur Director Prof. Manindra Agarwal, he shared his thoughts about the present-day structure of JEE Advanced. The entrance exams of IIT. He also highlighted it for the exams' betterment. Manindra Agarwal recommended adaptive testing, where he said, "This model further reduces coaching dependency, enhances fairness, and allows flexible, secure testing environments."
According to the records, the IIT council suggested that the panel be organised by the JEE Apex Board (JAB) and IIT Kanpur to look into the concept and the operational issues involved and reduce the need for coaching. The council also advised creating a programme where they ask questions according to the students' difficulty level.
According to the records, the council was advised to set up a mock test two months before the examination. Usually, it's held in May, as per the previous records. Around 1.80 lakh aspirants had come for the computerised JEE Advanced exam, and 54,378 qualified in the previous year.
He also added, âIn an adaptive test, questions are generated on the fly. There will be questions of varying difficulty levels; a candidate starts with simple questions, and as they solve these, the difficulty level increases. After a period of time, you can pinpoint the difficulty level at which a student can solve questions." Later, he said, "If we bring in the component of aptitude-based questions, it can reduce the impact of coaching. Aptitude correlates with innate intelligence. Coaching can only train students to use intelligence better; it cannot change that intelligence."
As per the records, âTo create a sustainable and long-term solution within IITs, which have a student population ranging from 3,000 to 18,000, along with faculty, families, and a broader community, a proper structure of posts and a cadre for ensuring mental health must be created. Posts ranging from counsellors to psychologists and psychiatrists need to be created within the IITs."
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Other IIT centres' opinion about this
When the interview happened with IIT Gandhinagar director Prof. Rajat Moona, he said, âMental well-being is a very serious concern at engineering institutes and at IITs. Psychologists are regularly hired at IITs now to handle such issues proactively. The efforts put in by various institutions are the guiding factor to bring in coherence in our efforts.â Later, he added, âFor example, on how many counsellors should be there⊠Some IITs have one counsellor per 500 students, while some may have one counsellor per a smaller or larger set of students. Some institutes have a fixed number of counsellors.
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There are also different levels of intervention, including clinical counselling and medical intervention. The IITs are aiming to work on creating a recommendation on this, which will be presented at the next IIT Council meeting."
