The IIT-JEE (Joint Entrance Exam) is conducted by the CBSE (Central Board of Secondary Examination) for admissions into various Engineering and technical education institutes across the country. This is so far one of the toughest exam to crack in compare to all other entrance exams being conducted across the country, but when it comes to the globally conducted exams, what is the level of toughness of JEE as compare to other exams?
As the difficulty level of exams cannot be measured easily, it is necessary to divide exams into various groups.
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Group 1 |
Group 2 |
Group 3 |
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Exams related to the basic sciences, and are being conducted for the purpose of admissions into institutes. These exams must have subjects like, Physics, Mathematics and Chemistry along with additional subjects, if any. |
Exams which do not have subjects of basic sciences. The subjects may include Law, Civil services, Accountancy etc. The success rate is the only criteria to calculate the success rate. |
Exams focused on subjects like ISI entrance and Olympiads. If the subjects included are Physics, Mathematics and Chemistry then the standard of question are to be taken into consideration for comparison, else the success rate shall be the factor based for comparison. |
Based on these groups these are 15 toughest exams being conducted across the world.
#15 IES (Indian Engineering Services)
For technical and managerial services in the division of Government of India, the IES is being conducted. A four stage competitive exam is being held across the country which includes six tests. The written test is of two parts and lasts for 12 hours, post which there is the personality test. Lakhs of students across the country appear IES every year as it is one of the most prestigious post for any engineer of India. As per the statistics, in the year 2010, 1, 57,649 appeared the IES and out of that only 434 were selected. This is the common scenario every year and this shows the difficulty level of the exam. The president of India, appoints the selected candidates into the Group A category.
#14 GRE (Graduate Record Examinations)
GRE is the entrance test for many schools in the US. The exam is conducted online and offline as well, and for the online mode the students need to appear six separate divisions containing the verbal reasoning sections, analytical writing sections, research section and quantitative reasoning sections. The offline mode is available for the centers where online is not possible and paper-based is the only option. Most of the graduate schools need GRE score as the prerequisite score for admission.
#13 USMLE (United States Medical Licensing Examination)
United States Medical Licensing Examination is the test must for a M.D before he/she opts for practice medicine in the United States. This is so far one of the toughest exams being conducted in US, with excruciating pains of medical school for the aspirants. The final selection is being done as a professional form of natural selection and the candidates who truly understand medicine are only selected.
#12 NAT (National Admission Test for Law)
NAT is the test for admissions into the major law universities in UK. The test started in the year 2004 for admissions into some of the top law colleges across UK. Initially it used to perform as agent to filer the eligible candidates for UK only, which later on was made open for foreign students as well. In the exam every student is allotted two hours and a quarter to finish an essay and 42 multiple choices questions, post which the test for reading and logical reasoning skills is being taken. In the reading part it contains a passage along with ten sets of papers based on the passage. For the essay writing the candidates are being given 40 minutes and the topic is normally general related to the students. Presently 9 universities across UK conduct this test to intake eligible students.
#11 CCIE (Cisco Certified Internetworking Expert)
The CCIE is being conducted to test the skills of planning, operating, troubleshooting tough network facilities of the candidates. This is one of the most prestigious certification in the entire networking industry. As per CISCO, of all the engineers appearing the test only 3% get selected and are certified. The CCIE is a two step exam, with the first part being written test with 90 to 110 questions and duration allowed is two hours. The fee for the first part of the exam is $350 and the result of the first part is being declared immediately after the exam. Students clearing the first part of the exam are eligible to appear the second part for which the registration charges are $1,500 which includes the practical test and it lasts for 8 hours.
#10 GATE (Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering)
GATE is being conducted to analyze the knowledge of the students on engineering and various fields if science. It is being jointly conducted by Indian Institute of Science and the seven IITs in the country and opens doors for PG studies in the top engineering institutes in India. The exam carries one single paper with both MCQs and numerical, and the duration is for 3 hours. For the convenience of the students the exam is being conducted online where questions are arranged in a random sequence. The score of GATE is valid for two years from the time results are being announced.
#9 GAOKAO or NCEE (National College entrance Exam)
GAOKAO or NCEE is the exam which is must for every student in China as it is the primary requirement for every student opting for higher education. The exam is also known as National Higher Education Entrance Examination and it is the exam that decides the future of every Chinese teenager’s career as they need to clear this exam in order to get admitted into various undergraduate courses.
#8 California Bar Exam
To pursue a career as a lawyer in California one must clear the California Bar Exam, and it is one of the toughest exams across the world due to least success rate. The California Bar exam has a severely low success rate than any other jurisdiction and the passing rate for the California Bar Exam is around 48 percent.
#7 Mensa
Mensa is the oldest and also the largest IQ society on the world. It is a non-profit organization where people with a score of 98 percentile in the standardized IQ tests are also considered to be low rankers! Mensa has its branches across the globe and there is no age bar for appearing the test. A girl of 3 year is the youngest member of Mensa.
#6 CA - Chartered Accountancy Examination
Equivalent ranked with the international, CPA test, the Chartered Accountancy Examination of India is the final exam for the CA aspirants. The exam is being conducted by the ICAI (Institute of Chartered Accountants of India). The final exam has various two rounds to be cleared. Before final exam there are two more exams a candidate must clear, CPT (Common Proficiency Test) and CA- Inter (Two groups) along with an internship of 18 months. The pass percentage of the CA final exam is between 3%-8% every year.
#5 IIT JEE (Indian Institute of Technology Joint Entrance Examination)
To get admissions into various government engineering and technical institutions such as Indian Institute of Technology and National Institute of Technology, the IIT is conducted by the CBSE. Out of 7,00,000 students on an average appearing the IIT every year, a handful of 10,000 get selected for these institutes. Students failing in the first attempt make repeated attempts, by dropping years and a lot of them also get admissions into some of the prestigious colleges such as MIT, Harvard, and many more.
#4 UPSC (Union Public Service Commission)
To recruit the top notch government officials in India, Union Public Service Commission conducts the Civil Services Exam, Indian Statistical Service Examination, Combined Defense Services Exam and many more such exams across the country. Students clearing the CAT and IIT-JEE also find the UPSE as a tough exam. IAS officers are also being selected through the UPSC exams. The exams are held in three phases, first being the objective question round, second, subjective and the final one is the personal interview. Approximately 3 lakh students appear these exams every year and out of it hardly 1 thousand get selected.
#3 CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst) Exam
Chartered Financial Analyst is not an academic degree but a professional stature. According to the Wall Street Journal, CFA exam is the toughest exam all over the world. The pass percentage is 20% of the students appearing the exam. The CFA exam is conducted in three phases, first and second being the MCQ format tests, third has the essay type subjective questions along with few more MCQs. Almost every finance and investment professional attempts the CFA test once in his/her lifetime.
#2 All Souls Prize Fellowship Exam
The All Souls Prize Fellowship Exam is conducted at the Oxford University and is believed to be one of the toughest exams all over. Till 2010 students were required to write long essay about a single word being given in the exam. Only 2 fellows are selected from the entire lot of students appearing the exam, and this is enough to judge the toughness of the exam. The exam has four papers, and each one has 3 hours to be completed. Candidates need to have highly imaginative mind and factual knowledge in order to clear this exam.
#1 Master Sommelier Diploma Exam
Till now, this is the toughest exam in the world as per several surveys and researches being made. 40 years ago this exam was first taken in UK and since then only 200 candidates have been selected on the basis of this exam. The authorities select the candidates on what basis, is the secretive part which no one has any idea. On an average every candidate appears this exam 5-6 times before getting selected. The exam is divided into 3 sections, theory, service and blind tasting. Mostly students fail the last section and clear the first two parts. There are the toughest question in the tasting section where, for instance the aspirants has to tell the grape variant with its year and region of growing. Even some of the most famous sommeliers passed this exams in fourth or fifth attempts!