JEE (online) answer keys confusing

Nagpur: Students who appeared for the online version of Joint Entrance Examination (JEE-main) were more tensed while checking answer keys on JEE website. Random numbering of questions made checking for the right combination a tough task.
Dilip Vaidya, academic director of the coaching centre ICAD, said “Answer keys for the online paper has created a lot of confusion among students and parents.The answer key provided by the official body is as per the standard paper that they have uploaded on JEE-MAIN website. Actually, every student writing online examination received the question paper from same set for that date, but the serial number of questions and the serial number of options were jumbled randomly, so student cannot directly check answer key for his question paper. Many students and parents got shock of their life when they checked answer key directly and found that most of their answers are wrong and they are getting minus marks.”
Vaidya has advised students to download the standard question paper and answer key for their examination date separately. “Students have also received their question paper by e-mail along with their chosen option. Now, student has to go question-by-question of his paper, match the question with standard paper, and get the correct option number from standard key, match the standard answer mentioned against the standard key (not the standard key/option number) with his chosen answer to conclude whether he/she is right or wrong.”
JEE Main’s offline test was held on April 3, while the online tests were conducted on April 9 and 10. There were no issues reported for the offline test’s answer keys. Though answer keys were declared on Monday, coaching classes were able to make sense of the chaos only a day later.
Apart from the confusion, there were errors reported in the answer keys for online version as well. Vaidya said, “It is shocking to find that standard answer key of as many as six questions (2-physics & 4-chemistry) from April 9 online paper, and nine questions (4-physics, 4-chemistry & 1-maths) from April 10 online paper are wrong. One question in physics has been rendered meaningless due to wrong diagram. Also one question each from Physics & Chemistry does not have any option representing correct answer.” Students can challenge answer key as per the procedure given on website.
For those who appeared for JEE offline, there’s good news as CBSE will be giving marks for an error in question paper. Vaidya said, “There were two questions in Physics which had two correct options instead of one. This has now been accepted by CBSE and students who have chosen any of the correct options for these questions will be awarded marks.”