DAV Public School students celebrate with AIEEE achiever Ajit Kumar on Sunday. Picture by Bhola Prasad

The All India Engineering Entrance Examinations (AIEEE), the results of which were declared on Saturday night, have thrown up as many as 700 achievers from Jamshedpur.

Boys have outperformed girls in the Central Board of Secondary Education-conducted engineering entrance test with the first rank in the city going to Ajit Kumar of DAV Public School, Bistupur. Ajit’s all-India rank is 212 and state standing 10.

But the rankings have slipped badly from last year. The city topper in 2011 had clinched an all-India rank of 34 while this time, it is 212.

Another prominent trend was the slip in ranks in comparison to IIT-JEE. This year’s city topper in IIT-JEE, Parthsarathi Panda, who had bagged an all-India rank of 75, is placed 1,615 in AIEEE.

Similarly, Arnab Ghosh, who stood 267th in IIT-JEE nation-wide, notched a position of 998 in AIEEE.

Although there are no specific reasons for the disparity, teachers and coaching institutes mostly cited the difference in syllabi and question patterns of the two exams.

“Yes, the rankings have dropped because there is a lot of difference between IIT-JEE and AIEEE. Moreover, students take IIT-JEE more seriously and tend to be relaxed while appearing for AIEEE. However, the overall performance of the city is better in comparison to last year,” said Pramod Dubey, director of Prerna Classes, a coaching institute.

Most students who have cleared both IIT-JEE and AIEEE have decided to opt for the former notwithstanding the rankings, as no one wants to miss the chance of studying in the country’s most prestigious engineering cradle.

“My all-India rank in IIT-JEE was 2,315 while I am placed 212 in AIEEE. Even then I will choose IITs, because the name carries value. I am sure to get a berth in one of the good colleges, most preferably IIT-BHU,” said Ajit Kumar.

“Around 70 students from our school have cleared AIEEE. But most of them would still prefer IIT as the trend of the previous years suggests,” said Pragya Singh, principal, DAV Public School.

AIEEE provides entry into all National Institutes of Technology, Birla Institutes of Technology, Indian Institutes of Information Technology and a number of private and deemed universities.