‘Adaptive’ JEE Advanced: Why IITs are running a pilot test to curb coaching culture

5 min readUpdated: Jun 16, 2026 03:22 PM IST

The campus of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi

Months after the IIT Council recommended exploring an ‘adaptive’ version of the Joint Entrance Examination (Advanced), the IITs have decided to conduct a pilot aptitude test among students joining all 23 institutes this year, The Indian Express has learnt.

In adaptive testing, the difficulty of questions changes according to a candidate’s responses — a move aimed at making the exam “a better and less stressful assessment” while reducing dependence on coaching-driven preparation.

The decision was taken at a recent meeting of IIT Directors, where the proposal to reform assessment methods in the IIT entrance process was discussed further.

According to official sources, the proposal received support from several IITs, although some directors also expressed reservations about operational challenges and implications of introducing a new assessment model. The consensus was that a pilot exercise should be undertaken before any larger policy decision is considered.

How will it work?

As a first step, students admitted to the IITs this year are expected to participate in an aptitude test that will be developed and coordinated by IIT Kanpur. The exercise is likely to involve all 23 IITs and may be conducted after admissions are completed later this year.

Official sources said the pilot is intended to help IITs better understand the strengths and limitations of aptitude-based assessment and generate evidence before any decision is taken on future changes to JEE Advanced.

The exercise is also expected to provide data on whether aptitude-based measures offer insights beyond those captured through the current entrance examination system.

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Why is it significant?

The development marks the first significant movement on a proposal discussed at the IIT Council meeting held in August last year. The Council had recommended that the Joint Admission Board (JAB) and IIT Kanpur evaluate the possibility of introducing adaptive testing.

At the time, the proposal was presented as a possible way to assess reasoning and critical-thinking abilities more effectively while reducing dependence on coaching-driven preparation.

Sources indicated that while the Council discussions had focused on adaptive testing, the immediate priority was to conduct an aptitude assessment among incoming students and study the outcomes.

Trial period

According to officials familiar with the discussions, IIT Kanpur will design the assessment through an internal team and coordinate its administration across the IIT system.

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One official familiar with the discussions said the directors agreed that a trial would be the best way to evaluate the proposal because opinions within the system were divided, with some seeing merit in the idea and others seeking more evidence before supporting a larger shift.

The Indian Express had earlier reported that the Council — the apex coordination body of the premier institutes — recommended that an optional adaptive test be held as a pilot ahead of the next JEE Advanced examination to collect performance data. Based on the results, a phased roadmap with specific timelines for any transition to adaptive testing could be outlined, according to the minutes of the meeting held on August 25 last year and released in January.

Concerns over the exam

According to the minutes of the meeting, IIT Kanpur Director Prof Manindra Agrawal had raised concerns regarding the current structure of JEE Advanced, the growth of the coaching industry, and the emotional and financial stress experienced by families preparing for the examination.

Pointing out that the exam needs to better assess critical thinking and reasoning skills, Agrawal had proposed a shift to adaptive testing. “This model further reduces coaching dependency, enhances fairness, and allows flexible, secure testing environments,” the minutes had stated.

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The IIT Council subsequently recommended that a panel led by the JEE Apex Board (JAB) and IIT Kanpur examine the proposal, the operational logistics involved, and its potential to reduce dependence on coaching. The Council also recommended that a tool be developed to generate questions of varying difficulty levels.

According to the minutes, the Council had suggested holding a free mock test two months ahead of the examination, which is usually conducted in May.

Explaining the concept earlier this year, Agrawal had told The Indian Express: “In 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 to which a student can solve questions.”

“If we bring in the component of aptitude-based questions, it can reduce the impact of coaching. Aptitude co-relates with innate intelligence. Coaching can only train students to use intelligence better; it cannot change that intelligence,” he had said.

© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd

Vidheesha Kuntamalla is a Senior Correspondent at The Indian Express, based in New Delhi. She is known for her investigative reporting on higher education policy, international student immigration, and academic freedom on university campuses. Her work consistently connects policy decisions with lived realities, foregrounding how administrative actions, political pressure, and global shifts affect students, faculty, and institutions.

Professional Profile

Core Beat: Vidheesha covers education in Delhi and nationally, reporting on major public institutions including the University of Delhi (DU), Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), Jamia Millia Islamia, the IITs, and the IIMs. She also reports extensively on private and government schools in the National Capital Region.

Prior to joining The Indian Express, she worked as a freelance journalist in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh for over a year, covering politics, rural issues, women-centric issues, and social justice.

Specialisation: She has developed a strong niche in reporting on the Indian student diaspora, particularly the challenges faced by Indian students and H-1B holders in the United States. Her work examines how geopolitical shifts, immigration policy changes, and campus politics impact global education mobility.

She has also reported widely on:

* Mental health crises and student suicides at IITs

* Policy responses to campus mental health

* Academic freedom and institutional clampdowns at JNU, South Asian University (SAU), and Delhi University

* Curriculum and syllabus changes under the National Education Policy

Her recent reporting has included deeply reported human stories on policy changes during the Trump administration and their consequences for Indian students and researchers in the US.

Reporting Style

Vidheesha is recognised for a human-centric approach to policy reporting, combining investigative depth with intimate storytelling. Her work often highlights the anxieties of students and faculty navigating bureaucratic uncertainty, legal precarity, and institutional pressure. She regularly works with court records, internal documents, official data, and disciplinary frameworks to expose structural challenges to academic freedom.

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An Indian Express investigation found that since 2011, JNU has appeared in over 600 cases before the Delhi High Court, filed by the administration, faculty, staff, students, and contractual workers across the tenures of three Vice-Chancellors.

JNU’s legal wars with students and faculty pile up under 3 V-Cs | Rs 30-lakh fines chill campus dissent (November 2025)

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