14 lakh applications for first JEE (Main), 2 lakh from AP The sharp increase in applications is attributed to the link-up of JEE (Main) with JEE (Advanced) for admission to IITs. The competition to secure seats in elite national-level technical institutions such as the IITs, NITs, IIITs, top deemed universities and other Centrally-funded institutions has become tougher this year.

The new Joint Entrance Exam (Main), introduced by the Centre for the first time from this year replacing the earlier AIEEE, has received a record number of applications — over 14 lakh. Of them, around two lakh candidates are said to be from AP alone.

Last year, the AIEEE had received only 11.2 lakh applications, of which about 1.25 lakh were from AP.

The sharp increase in applications is attributed to the link-up of JEE (Main) with JEE (Advanced), since only the top 1.5 lakh rank holders in JEE (Main) will be allowed to appear for JEE (Advanced) for admission to IITs. Earlier, IIT aspirants had to apply separately for IITJEE, which is not the case now, as it is replaced by JEE (Advanced).

The CBSE has been entrusted with the responsibility of conducting the first JEE (Main) in April 2013 in both online and offline mode. The off-line exam will be held on April 7, while the online exam will be from April 8 to April 25.

While the off-line exam will be held in Guntur, Khammam, Tirupati and Warangal centres in AP, the online exam will be held in Hyderabad, Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam.

Marks secured in 10+2 Board exams will be significant now, with the Centre deciding to give 40 per cent weightage for these marks in the merit list. The first 1.5 lakh rank holders in JEE (Main) should also ensure that they remain in the top-20 percentile list of respective Board exams to be eligible to appear for JEE (Advanced).