MUMBAI: For long, when it came to getting into an Indian Institute of Technology ( IIT ), signing up at the right coaching academy was what mattered more than the school you attended. But the new entrance exam system, which gives weightage to class XII scores of candidates, has changed the rules of the game.This year, of the top 1.54 lakh shortlisted to take the JEE-advanced for admission to the IITs today, a massive 64,481 or 42% passed their high school under CBSE. Students from the Andhra Pradesh school board came next with 20,730 candidates, and 11,724 are graduates from the Maharashtra state secondary board.This year, close to 80% candidates come from five boards: the CBSE, AP, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Gujarat. In other words, if you want to get into one of these premier engineering institutes, passing class XII from one of these boards gives you an edge in the face of tough competition.What is clear from the numbers is that, apart from AP, national boards also contribute their bit in other states. For instance, of the 13,626 students eligible to take the advanced test from Maharashtra, 11,724 studied under the state board and the remaining 1,900-odd either pursued class XII from either the CBSE board, ICSE board or via open schooling (from which 313 candidates qualified).Last year, when admissions to the IITs took place, more than 8,000 out of 9,700 candidates or over 80% came from just three school boards: the CBSE, Andhra Pradesh and Punjab state boards.“Many CBSE students always managed to crack the JEE. But we see that each year, the dynamics of the other state boards change,” said an IIT director. “Even among the top rankers, we see a kind of shift after each exam,” he added.Analysis done by IIT-Kharagpur shows that of the top 100 JEE-main rankers this year, a stunning 51 hail from the state of Andhra Pradesh, irrespective of which board their high school was affiliated to. AP left its archrival, coaching hub Rajasthan-Kota, miles behind; it had to do with merely 11 spots in the top 100 club.In all, of those who made the mark, 1,26,990 students will take the IIT-JEE advanced on Sunday. “Some may not have registered as they may have felt they are not cut out for the IITs, some may want to pursue another discipline like medicine or go abroad, and some others may want to join an engineering college in their state,” said a JEE official.