The last three months before the JEE (Main) examination are crucial for preparation as this period must be primarily utilised for quick revision and taking many mock tests. Each test must be followed by an in-depth test analysis to recognise weaker areas and rectify them. Ideally, a serious aspirant must have completed the syllabus by now. The following plan, however, will help in preparation.
February: This time is crucial and may be utilised for revision. A subjectwise plan with important chapters must be identified along with taking help from subject experts in case one wishes to plug loopholes and understand concepts. Time management is important.
March-April: For students who are taking up board exams, this period should be essentially used for taking mock tests on the lines of JEE (Main) and JEE (Advanced). Analysis of each paper is important to check the mistakes and to avoid repeating them in the actual JEE. The time in between the board exams should be smartly utilised to cater to the needs of both the boards and entrance exams. For repeaters, joining a crash course for topicwise revision along with several mock tests on the current pattern of JEE will help, otherwise they should have a systematic revision plan involving rigorous testing, concept-wise/chapter-wise, along with several mock tests from reliable sources.
NCERT syllabus Is studying just the NCERT syllabus sufficient to clear JEE (Main) and JEE (Advanced)?
Every entrance exam has a particular goal. The syllabi may look similar, but the pattern and level of questions differ in some way. So, students cannot afford to give less attention to any one of them. Familiarity with the pattern of each exam will only make it easier to crack.
So, be attentive when preparing for each of. Solving only NCERT books may not be sufficient to crack the conceptual problems in the entrance exams. The questions in NCERT books are board-exam oriented. Entrance exams contain objective type questions, with questions involving an intermingling of concepts. These are generally of higher difficulty levels. For JEE, practise as much as you can using well-known sources. That will help in strengthening all-important concepts. Many students tend to think that if they prepare for JEE (Advanced) it will also help for JEE (Main). This is not correct. While preparing for JEE (Main), they will have to cover additional topics from CBSE syllabi as well.
Also, JEE (Main) tests the aspirants for speed and accuracy. Training properly for online and offline modes of answering the exam is also important.
The syllabus of class XI and class XII contributes about 45 per cent and 55 per cent of IIT-JEE question papers, respectively.Students are advised to avoid selective study in physics, chemistry and mathematics because the number of questions where there is intermingling of concepts from various topics is higher in the objective papers.
Preparation Use the time wisely to perfect problem-solving by understanding the concepts involved, improving the time needed to solve a given problem and identifying your weaknesses and correcting them. This time should generally be utilised to consolidate your preparation by focusing on problem-solving and overcoming the weaker areas in preparation.
The following points should be kept in mind:
*Remain focused and maintain a positive attitude while studying.
* Develop speed by solving many JEE-level problems.
* Refer to mock-test series to build a winning exam temperament. Sample papers give a fair idea about the pattern of questions and help improve time management.
* Focus on your weak areas and improve your concepts.
* Practising JEE-level questions is necessary, as it improves your reasoning and analytical ability. Solving previous years’ JEE papers will surely give a fair idea of the kind of questions that will be asked and also familiarise you with the pattern of the paper.
* Be careful to read the instructions when attempting the actual exam to ensure there is no change in pattern or marking scheme.
* Take short breaks of five to ten minutes after every one or two hours of serious study. Relax completely when you take a break.
* Don’t overstress yourself. Five to six hours of sleep every night is a must, especially three-four days before the exam.
* In maths, use short methods for calculations, skip irrelevant steps to save time.
* The most important thing is clarity of concepts and regular practice in problem solving.
* Start with conventional methods of problems solving but improvise constantly and build your own shortcuts and ways for problem-solving.
* You need to be quick as well as accurate to achieve high scores. High speed with less accuracy can actually ruin your results.
* Never use calculator while preparing for the JEE (Main). Being adept in mental calculations can actually increase your speed to a great extent.
* Select questions wisely. If you solve easy and average questions correctly, you can easily get through. You may attempt difficult ones to make merit.
Sometimes the right strategy and time management play a vital role in deciding the rank of an aspirant. So, one must be quick enough to adapt to the level of the paper and act promptly. The following points may be kept in mind when attempting the questions. One basic strategy could be not to give full time in one go to a particular subject.
Instead allocate some time so that one could review this subject again. For a three-hour paper with three subjects, generally, students tend to give one hour each. It is advisable that they give 40-45 minutes in attempting questions from the subject they feel most confident about and then move on to the second subject and then to the third. In the remaining time, the unsolved questions may be reviewed. However, students may develop their own strategy based on their preferences.
Dos
Attempt easy questions first. Double check before marking the OMR sheet. Carefully read the entire question paper in the first 5-10 minutes. Take up adequate mock online tests through a well-known source in case you have registered for JEE in the online format.
Don'ts
Don’t start from questions you don’t understand. Don’t get upset if any one section is tough. You can score in other sections. Don’t guess the answer, if you have no idea about the concept involved. Don’t be nervous if you find the paper tough, since it is the relative performance that counts. Don’t take the online exam if you are not comfortable with computers and are not adequately trained for the same.
Time management: Divide these crucial remaining months aptly for the three subjects; prepare a chapterwise and topicwise revision schedule; create short notes and list all formulae and points to remember. This will help in quick revision before the examination.
Correct methodology: The correct approach for those appearing for the first time or second time is to stick to one source and not to refer to the multitude of books/ study material available in the market.Finally, it is the relative performance that will matter on the exam day. So, put in your best performance and you will ace JEE Main 2016.
The day before
* Think positively and don’t discuss about your preparation.
* Don’t talk about JEE (Main) with others.
* The day before JEE (Main), do not study anything new.
* Stay calm, confident and trust yourself.
* Brush up important formulae in all three subjects.
* Tell yourself, “I am excited about JEE Main and I can crack it easily.”
* Have sound sleep for at least 6-7 hours.
* Prepare yourself to reach the exam centre at least half an hour before the exam starts.
The author is the head of FIITJEE Study Centre, Noida.
