What is Preparatory Course in IIT?

What is Preparatory Course in IIT?: Studying engineering at IITs is the dream of every B Tech aspirant in India. Every year, millions of students fight via JEE Main and JEE Advanced test to secure a BTech seat in IITs. When there is such huge cutthroat competition for admission in IITs, many students who belong to SC, ST, and PWD categories couldn't secure the JEE Advanced passing marks even after several reliefs in the cutoff granted to them. Having empty seats in IITs for SC/ST/PWD students is not ethical when there is a huge demand for IIT seats, even if they didn't meet the cutoff. In this aspect, the IIT Preparatory course act as a savior that fulfills the vacant reserved seats. The IIT Preparatory course is 1 one year-long course offered to SC, ST, and PWD category students for the empty seats left in IIT for this category. Candidate must have passed Class 12th with 65% and belong to SC, ST, or PWD category to be eligible for the IIT Preparatory course. 

Well, you must wonder why IIT preparatory courses are not for general-category students. Granting these vacant seats to general students will be unconstitutional, as it will be against the reservation law made by the government. In addition, IITs cant offer direct admission to SC, ST, and PWD category students also as it will affect the quality of admission at IITs and will be an injustice for general category students who study years to secure a seat in IIT.  Therefore, preparatory courses in IITs and ISM Dhanbad were introduced to provide fair admission to students, and at the same time, no partiality is undertaken. 

Read the full post to find out about the IIT preparatory course, why it's introduced, the rank list, seat allocation, and more. 

Also Read: JEE Advanced Aftermath: 7 Reasons Why Students Fail in IITs

What is Preparatory Course in IIT?

IIT preparatory courses are a one-year long course that polishes basic topic abilities in physics, chemistry, English, and Mathematics which makes reserved category candidates eligible and ready for BTech courses in IITs.  Candidates will have to take a written test at the conclusion of this course and will be graded as 'pass' or 'fail'. For students who will pass the IIT preparatory course will be granted seats in the prestigious engineering colleges of India; Indian Institute of Technology (IITs). The chance to attend the Preparatory Course is only available once. If students do not successfully finish the course, they are not entitled to do it again.

Candidates appearing in the IIT preparatory course 2023, will be granted seats in IIT in 2024. In addition, students qualifying in the IIT Preparatory course can sit for the JEE Advanced 2024 exam also if they full the JEE Advanced eligibility criteria. 

Eligibility Criteria for Admission to IIT Preparatory Course?

To take admission into the IIT Preparatory course students have to fulfill some of the important eligibility criteria factors. IIT preparatory seats will be assigned to students only if they follow all the following conditions: 

 IIT Preparatory Course Eligibility Criteria 

Condition 1: Candidate must belong to SC/ST/PWD category

Condition 2: Candidates must have obtained at least 65% in their 12th class to be eligible for the preparatory courses.

Condition 3: The seats designated for each category should be empty in the IIT

Condition 4: The candidate should not have previously been accepted to an IIT preparation programme. 

Condition 5: Minimum percentile marks required for inclusion in the rank list

Also Read: What to do if JEE Advanced 2023 is Not Cleared?

Qualifying Percentile for IIT Preparatory Courses?

The empty seats would be allocated to SC/ST/PWD candidates exclusively based on the specified expected rank list 2023 by IITs, which can be seen below. CRL stands for Common Rank List, and all candidates in all categories will be assigned a rank.

To determine your chances of admission to JEE Advanced participating institutions, utilize the JEE Advanced College Predictor tool to forecast your admission to your preferred college.

How is Rank List for IIT Preparatory Course Prepared?

The IIT preparatory rank list is prepared on the basis of the following criteria for each category of students.

You can use the CollegeDekho JEE Advanced rank predictor tool to obtain a rough sense of your performance in the test and forecast your predicted rank.

IIT Preparatory Course Curriculum and Semester Structure

The preparatory course in IIT includes two semesters and is one year long. Students participating in a preparation course are required to improve their abilities in disciplines such as Physics, Chemistry, English, and Math before being admitted to the BTech degree. For Physics, Chemistry, and Mathematics, the minimum qualifying mark is 40%. The grades are totaled across the two semesters. The minimum qualifying scores for English are 30% every semester. Grace marks of up to 5% are offered to students who fail only one course. Homework, assignments, class participation, quizzes, mid-semester, and end-of-semester exams will be used to evaluate students in the preparatory course.

During the one-year program, students are placed in a semester system, and exams are held in the same manner as they are at IIT. Students take mid-semester examinations, followed by semester exams at the end of the four-month semester. They are then reviewed and informed of their deficiencies. If students fall behind, they are asked to improve their performance. This practice is done again in the second semester. When they finish this course, they are transferred to the pre-assigned BTech branch and study with other ordinary students.

After successfully completing the Preparatory Course, no degree or diploma certificate is awarded.

Note- The course curriculum for IIT preparatory course is as per IIT Bombay. The course curriculum in other IITs may slightly differ from other IITs. 

IIT Preparatory Course Fees

Students studying IIT preparatory courses are not required to pay any tuition fees. SC/ST/PWD students whose parents' (Father and Mother) income is less than 5 lakhs can apply for the following scholarship:

• Messing facilities: Free messing (only basic menu)- only when staying in hostels

• Exemption from payment of hostel room rent: only when staying in hostels

• Pocket allowance (Rs. 500/- pm): only when staying in hostels

Seat Allocation in the IIT Preparatory Course

The business rules and regulations for seat allocation will be applied to preparatory courses in each round of seat allocation. Because it is about ISM and IITs, seat allocation for preparatory courses at IITs can only be done in the fourth round.

Seat allocation in IIT preparatory courses is subject to the following six conditions:

A) Students on the CRL-PWD preparation rank list may be assigned to unfilled available PWD seats under two conditions:

• There are no more applicants who have chosen it

• The CRL- PWD rank has been prepared

B) Unfilled OBC-NCL-PWD seats might be assigned to the same rank list under two conditions:

• There are no more students who have chosen the same rank list

• The OBC-NCL-PWD rank list has been created

C) Unfilled SC-PWD seats might be assigned to students in the same category when-

• There are no more applicants for it

• The SC-PWD rank list has been created 

D) In the event that there are empty ST-PWD seats, they will be assigned from the same category preparatory rank list.

• There should have been no more applicants in the same rank list who chose it

• The preliminary rank list for the ST-PWD category has already been created

E) Candidates from the SC category may be assigned to empty SC seats under the following two conditions:

• There are no more students who have chosen the same path

• A preliminary rank list for the SC category has been developed

Important Link: 

• Minimum Marks in JEE Advanced to Get IIT for SC/ ST

• Minimum Marks in JEE Advanced to Get IIT for General

• Minimum Marks in JEE Advanced to Get IIT for OBC

We hope that this post on the preparatory course IIT was helpful and informative to you.