Secret Tips to Win IIT JEE 2015 After a week of well-spent holidays after Class 10 board exams, like most of the really-serious engineering aspirants, I was excited about my IIT JEE preparation. I talked to my seniors, my teachers and even the book sellers about the best IIT JEE books in town, bought some really heavyweight books and got down to work. IIT coaching in my days was not available in the small town I lived in, so I started out with self-studies. There was no doubt, ever, that I want to join an Indian Institute of Technology (IIT). As far as I knew (and it is true to this day) that the formidable brand value of the IITs, resources that they have, its strong alumni network and placement offers that they fetch was unmatched by any other Indian engineering institute. A few premium private engineering institutes, like BITS Pilani, were too expensive and not affordable for us. Hence, IIT it was. As I sat down with my books, I soon realized that I would need help. There were just too many books to study, written in English that I sometimes found difficult to follow. When I thought of the handful of IIT seats and lakhs of applicants for them, my chances to make it the coveted engineering seats would seem quite bleary. Now that JEE pattern has changed, my students have to focus on Class 12 board marks, JEE Main and JEE Advanced too. As an IIT aspirant, we used to hear a lot of advice like – ‘You mustn’t lose your focus’, ‘Practice, Practice, and Practice some more to get through IIT JEE’, and ‘Distractions will kill your Dedication. Beware of them!’ But then, nobody knew the exact method of making it to an IIT. Here are some of the secret tips to win IIT JEE 2015 which are basically the extract of my own IIT JEE preparation experiments and experiences: Study by Plan, not by number of hours With a success rate of barely 4-5%, IIT JEE may seem fiercely competitive. But as an IITian, I can assure you that IITians are mere mortals too. An average IITian is not always a ‘genius’ but he is certainly methodical and disciplined in his own particular way. When you are preparing for IIT, you cannot just say, “Oh! That person cracked IIT studying for just an hour a day. I study for three or four hours a day. It has to be enough.” It doesn’t work that way. You cannot compare performances by clock. In the exam, it does not matter how long you studied or whether you never studied at all – it only matters if you know your concepts well or not, whether you know how to solve a problem or not. Hence, you need to measure your performance by your study plan for the day. You need to establish definite goals to be achieved in a day, in a week, and in a month. Your daily goals will need to include: topics you will study, preparing notes for the topics you have studied, solve practice questions or numericals related to the topics, and solve at least two practice papers, sample papers, mock tests, or IIT JEE past year papers a day. It used to take me 5-7 hours to complete my daily goals. Use your clock only to see how much time you took to solve the tests. Early morning studies are better than late nights! I know what you are going to say. IITians do have a reputation of pulling an all-nighter before exams. But that is not a good idea while you are still at school. Sleeping late at night will mean that you will be hardly able to focus on the invaluable tips teachers offer in class. Many-a-times, if you study well in class, you will save a lot of time in trying to unravel the concepts on your own later. So, think of classroom studies as your JEE prep classes and pay attention to them. Rote learning doesnt work for IIT JEE preparation Surprisingly, all through the school years, we are never taught how to study properly. Rote learning does not do you much good when it comes to fetch good scores in JEE Main or JEE Advanced. In fact, if you are a CBSE student, the school board exams also emphasizes on High Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) these days. It means that you need to really understand what you are reading and learn to apply your brains. Application of concepts and fundamentals you learn is very important. You need to learn how you will apply them to real-life problems too. Going through questions asked in the past year papers should give you a good idea of what type of questions are asked in engineering entrance exams. Dare to take up the Challenge Think about difficult topics are your ‘challenges’. They should give you an adrenalin rush and to be able to surmount them should give you satisfaction. Study difficult topics when you are at your brightest and most alert. With a positive frame of mind and better focus, these difficult chapters will seem to transform into simpler concepts. Here’s a warning too. JEE Main, JEE Advanced and Class 11 & 12 syllabus for your school board can be quite a lot to handle (even though most of the topics are common in the three exams). So, do not waste much time in researching every topic in-depth. Seek help quickly and get going. Online IIT JEE coaching service providers often offer 24X7 support and problem solving sessions with experienced and highly qualified faculty members. These may be available as part of their comprehensive package or as separate components too. You may want to subscribe to these assistance programs for getting your doubts cleared and queries solved as soon as they arise. Monitor your JEE preparation As mentioned above, sample papers help you familiarize to the type of questions asked in the exam. Full-length IIT JEE past year papers or mock tests do much more. They help you evaluate your preparation level, develop speed and accuracy during the exam, and give you a clear experience of the paper pattern. Analysis of mock tests is very important. It is this analysis which helps you identify your weak and strong points. At askIITians, we conduct weekly tests for our students and offer them a detailed analysis report along with recommendations on how to improve their performance. All-India JEE Main and JEE Advanced test series also give you a real-life exam feel. All-India Ranks (AIR) generated after such mock tests give you a fair idea of where you stand among your peers. Good AIR boosts your confidence while poor AIR serves as a warning sign. Keep fit, keep glowing While still at school, do not give up on your sleep for anything. Give up on TV or computer time instead. I used to sleep by 10 pm and woke up by 4 am. I used to sleep 2 hours for a day after schools too – which kept me fresh and my mind and body relaxed for evening session studies. You might have to experiment to find your own comfort zone. Gorge on mom-made food as much as you can. You are going to miss the home-made food terribly when you are in the IIT. Exercise daily. Go for a walk, jump rope or play active sports for at least an hour a day. And drink at least 8 glasses of water every day. They will not only keep you healthy but also help your skin to glow. You do not want your chances ruined to win over the rare beauties at the institute do you? Well, it would be a terrible, terrible mistake! Find suitable study groups Constructive competition and group studies keep you motivated. But network with right kind of fellow aspirants to form study groups. If you do not find suitable candidates in your neighbourhood, you may set up a virtual study group with online friend. In the end, don’t underestimate the contribution of ‘stupid’ friends in the study group. To explain anything to them, you have to go to such details and break concepts into such bite-sized chunks that you never forget them again – even if you want to. So, help weak students whenever you can.
Posted on: Wed, 01 Oct 2014 07:59:01 +0000
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