The joint entrance examination (JEE) results showed a slight increase in success rate across India. Now, the merit lists recently released by the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) have revealed that the entry bar across categories (both open and reserved), too, has gone up marginally.

The qualifying score in the open category has climbed from 178 in 2009 to 190 in (this year) 2010. It implies that the last candidate on the open merit list has scored 190 out of a total of 480. For the other backward categories (OBCs), the merit list cut-off stands at 171 — a 10-mark climb from last year’s 161.

The cut-offs for reserved category candidates (scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and candidates with physical disabilities) have gone up by a nominal 2%. The qualifying mark for SC/ST/PD candidates had been 18% (89/480) last year. This time, it is nearly 20% (95/480).

The IITs give the SC/ST/PD candidates a 50% relaxation on the score of the last-ranking general category candidate. Those who still fail to qualify are given a further 50% relaxation, and sent to the preparatory course. This year, the number of SC candidates qualifying has exceeded the number of available seats. But for STs/PDs, the cut-offs have been lowered by another 50% (48/480) for the preparatory course.

Although subject wise cut-offs continue to remain low, though they have improved a bit from those of 2009. For SC/ST/PD candidates, cut-offs have gone up from six (Chemistry and Mathematics) and four (Physics) in 2009 to 10 (Physics and Chemistry) and nine (Mathematics). The IITs have often been criticised for their low subject cut-offs.