In a breather to IIT aspirants, especially those from Andhra Pradesh, the Central government on Monday said the cut-off percentage for the top 20 percentile would be computed on class XII marks only. The move comes in the wake of the Andhra Pradesh High Court expressing concern over the “disadvantage” suffered by those students who were unaware of the proposed new system when they were studying in the first year.

In its judgement, the High Court had observed that the intermediate course in Andhra Pradesh was of two years duration and the percentage of marks secured by a student was the aggregate of marks secured in the first and second years. The observation had come after some petitioners had challenged the JEE 2013 entrance test seeking regulations of the percentile norms. Taking the concern of the High Court into account, the Union Human Resources Development (HRD) Ministry in a statement today said the cut-off percentage for the top 20 percentile in case of Andhra Pradesh Board students would be calculated on the basis of class XII marks provided by their board like many other boards.

According to the new format vetted last year, admission to IIT would be based on a two tier system -- a main and an advance test.

Students clearing the advance test would be considered for admission provided they were among the top 20 percentile in their boards.

# Centre says cut-off percentage for the top 20 percentile will be computed on class XII marks only