Students discuss their paper outside an examination centre in Dhanbad on Sunday. Picture by Gautam Dey

Over 25,000 students appeared for the All India Engineering Entrance Examination (AIEEE), conducted by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), in Ranchi on Sunday. In steel city Jamshedpur, about 12,000 took the test.

The 31 institutes that served as exam centres in the capital included JVM-Shyamali, DAV group of schools, Delhi Public School, Vikas Vidyalaya, Nirmala College and Doranda College among others. Jamshedpur had 16 centres — St Mary’s English School, Hill Top School, Bharat Sevashram Pranav Children’s World, Kendriya Vidyalaya, Jamshedpur Public School, Vidyabharati Chinmaya Vidyalaya, DAV Public School-Bistupur, Baldwin Farm Area High School, Shiksha Niketan-Telco, Gulmohur High School, AIWC Academy of Excellence, RKM Lady Inder High School, Govind Vidyalaya-Tamulia, Vivek Vidyalaya, SDSM School for Excellence and Valley View School-Telco.

The three-hour paper was almost similar to that of last year. Candidates had to answer 90 questions of four marks each — 30 each in physics, chemistry and math. Negative marking was one-fourth of the total marks, which was 360.

The examinees felt that the chemistry portion was easier than physics and math. “Chemistry was comparatively easier but it was really difficult to answer all 90 questions on time. Although the questions were objective-type, I needed time to work out the answers,” said Priyanka Das at Jamshedpur Public School.

Payal Gupta, who took the exam at Nirmal College in Ranchi, found it difficult to tackle the math portion. “Physics and chemistry sections were easier, math was tough. I am sure other students will agree,” she said.

The exam was conducted in two shifts. Aspiring engineers wrote the papers from 9.30am to 12.30pm while those interested in architecture stream did so from 2pm to 5pm.

Apart from Jamshedpur and Ranchi, AIEEE was also conducted at Dhanbad and Bokaro. Selected candidates, on the basis of their ranks, will bag berths in National Institutes of Technology, 13 deemed universities and four Indian Institutes of Information Technology at Allahabad, Gwalior, Guwahati and Hyderabad.

“The questions adhered to AIEEE standard. Chemistry was easier. There was no change in pattern and students must have been at ease while answering the questions,” said Shailesh Verma of MIIT-JEE, a coaching institute in Jamshedpur.