School curriculum vs NEET-JEE: Central panel flags major 'gap'
A government report reveals a substantial gap between school curriculum and entrance exam requirements. NEET-UG and JEE question papers are deemed too difficult for average students. Physics in NEET-UG is particularly challenging, impacting stud...
New Delhi: Even as the Centre is planning a free online coaching module for all students, a recent government report has red flagged the bigger underlying problem to solve -- the significant 'gap' and 'mismatch' between school curriculum and entrance exam requirements resulting in a 'far too hard' question paper.
An analysis of competitive entrance exam question papers for NEET-UG and JEE has shown that the difficulty level of both exams is 'too hard' for students and there is a 'substantial gap' between prevailing school curriculum competencies and entrance exam assessment, the draft report of the committee on reducing student dependency on coaching centres is learnt to have concluded. In case of NEET-UG, which determines the entrance to all medical colleges, data from 2023, 2024 and 2025 was studied and it clearly bears out that 'the paper was harder than the candidature'. Physics, in case of NEET-UG, was found 'furthest out' and 'far too hard' for students in all three years, as per the draft report currently under examination by the education ministry.
The analysis says that in all three years, "the average paper was tougher than the average candidate". Since Physics keeps getting harder than Biology, a student's marks depend a lot on the subject which finds higher favour in the question paper. As 'most students' sit 'well below the paper's level', even tiny mark differences swing ranks by thousands, it has been pointed out.
Difficulty of both entrance exams higher than the preparedness of an average candidate, finds report Simply put, the difficulty level of the exam is 'too hard for students who take it'. In case of the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE), which selects engineering students, data of two shifts of JEE 2025 (22.01.2025, 23.01.2025, 24.01.2025, 28.01.2025 and 29.01.2025) was analysed to assess difficulty level of questions against student ability.
A study of question papers across all ten shifts revealed that the level of difficulty was 'higher' than the preparedness of candidates who appeared for the exam. In each shift, candidate performance was concentrated towards the lower end of the score distribution and a very small percentage of students could achieve high scores, it was found.
Overall, the report notes the 'substantial gap between knowledge and competencies' acquired through prevailing school curriculum and those assessed in entrance exams.
The greater emphasis on advanced conceptual understanding, higher order problem solving and application-based questions are "beyond the level of routine school instruction", making it quite challenging for students to perform competitively, the report notes.
This mismatch between school and entrance exam requirements, it adds, has led to the dependency on additional preparation over and above formal schooling and hence on specialised coaching centres to bridge the gap.
One of the key recommendations made to the education ministry in this regard is on the need to align NCERT and board curricula with JEE/NEET like entrance exam requirements besides harmonising school curriculum across boards to give students across the country a level playing field. It is also suggested that there should be a six-month gap between school boards and entrance exams and the latter should be conducted at least twice a year to ease pressure on students.
