New Delhi, June 6: The entrance exam for admission to MSc courses in the IITs is likely to be changed to an objective-type online test from next year, in a move aimed at minimising chances of error in offline evaluation and avoiding legal battles.

The Joint Admission Test for MSc (JAM), conducted by the tech schools for about 3,000 seats, has remained a 60:40 mix of subjective- and objective-type questions in pen-and-paper format. The answer sheets have always been evaluated offline.

But the number of candidates has been rising over the years, making evaluation difficult. Besides, the IITs also want to minimise the chances of litigation in case students get to access the answer sheets under the Right to Information Act and find lapses in evaluation.

The IITs offer MSc courses in subjects like mathematics, physics and chemistry. Candidates with BSc degrees can sit for the entrance exam. Over 26,700 took the test in 2012. More than 61,400 registered for the 2013 test.

The JAM Advisory Board met in IIT Kharagpur on May 18 and decided that from 2014, the papers would have objective-type questions only and the test would be conducted online at designated centres. The decision has to be ratified by the senate of each IIT.

A member of the IIT Madras faculty, however, said: “The quality of students coming to IITs through the present system is very good. If you make the test objective, you open the floodgates for entry of candidates who may not be very good in studies. Students get special coaching to crack objective-type tests.”

Sanjeev Sanghi, a professor at IIT Delhi, said a change to objective-type tests was “inevitable” because the issues involved were “accurate evaluation” and publication of results “in time for such a large number of students”.

Sanghi said an evaluator might commit minor errors while checking a paper offline. Since students are allowed to access answer sheets through the RTI Act, they could move court in case of such errors, he added. “Many faculty members in IITs are opposed to offline evaluation because of this reason.”

IIT sources said the IIT-Joint Entrance Examination, currently known as the JEE-Advanced test for admission to BTech courses, used to be a subjective-type exam till recently. It was changed to an objective-type test on the same ground. The Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering for admission to MTech courses is also an objective-type exam.