JEE Main 2020 preparation tips for Mathematics

Experts advise that aspirants appearing for JEE Main 2020 should start their preparations for Mathematics well in advance. This will help them enhance their skills, develop shortcuts and solve them in a small time frame.

The JEE Main 2020, one of the prime engineering entrance exam, will be held on January 6-11 next year. The registration for this exam began on September 3 and will go on until September 30. Looking at student reactions and mock test paper, mathematics is considered to be one of the toughest subjects to crack in this entrance exam. This means JEE aspirants have to pool in extra effort and more time towards this subject. Experts suggest that an aspirant must start preparing for this subject well in advance for them to draw their own short cuts and also practice to solve a problem in record time.

For every aspirant planning to appear for JEE Main, Shiksha shares a list of preparation tips for mathematics, the syllabus and the books you could refer to. 

Maths Examination Pattern

The candidates have the choice of appearing for either Paper-I or Paper-II of the JEE Main examination. The Paper-I consists of three sections with 30 questions in maths, physics, and chemistry. The questions are multiple-choice type and there is a negative marking for every wrong answer. As far as mathematics is concerned, the JEE main question paper has 30 objective-type question from both 11th and 12th standard maths syllabus.

Maths Syllabus

JEE Main Syllabus for mathematics comprises a variety of topics. Students must cover all of these topics in maths and be clear with the theoretical concepts and solve problems in each of them. It is mandatory to attend and solve as many maths problems as possible to get good scores in the final examinations. Any doubts in these topics should be cleared with expert guidance then and there to avoid piling up of portions at the last moment. The following are the important maths topics for JEE Main exams.

Important reference books for JEE Main mathematics

The NCERT textbooks for 11^th and 12^th standards form the basis for JEE Main syllabus for mathematics. But these books are not enough as toppers in the exam and All India Rank holders go a step ahead in referring to other author’s maths textbooks. Also, they follow books with compilations of ten or twenty years’ previous question papers and practice them as part of their study schedule. They also take up mock tests frequently to analysis their areas of weakness and strengthen them appropriately. Some of the best reference books for JEE Main mathematics are:

Preparations Tips for JEE Main Mathematics

To score maximum marks in JEE mathematics, the candidate requires both speed and accuracy. Maths is a subject where many students face difficulties as it is full of formulas, theorems and problems to solve. To clear the paper with good marks, one needs to be an expert in the subject and follow a good preparation strategy throughout the preparation process. Also, when it comes to mathematics, the syllabus is not fixed, the experts who set the question paper always have the habit of making the paper tricky and play with the student’s minds. The following are some JEE Main preparation tips for mathematics to equip the mind to solve tricks on par with experts.

• Focus on the important topics and do not omit any topic while preparing for the examination.
• Practice with as many JEE Main question papers from past years as possible before taking up the actual exam.
• Focus on topics such as Algebra, coordinate geometry, calculus, Vectors, indefinite integration, etc., as questions were asked from these topics in the past three years’ examinations.
• Complex numbers in one chapter in which at least three problems are asked every year. Hence, it is a must to master this topic along with other units such as vectors, definite integral calculus, etc.
• Trigonometry seems to have very less weightage compared with other topics in mathematics, but this topic should not be neglected while preparing for the Main exams.
• To tackle questions from co-ordinate geometry, the entire concepts of algebraic calculations and conics should be mastered.
• Chapters such as determinants, mathematical reasoning, etc., should also be covered to fetch great scores. The topics are simple to study and the questions asked from these topics are also simple. Mastering them will surely offer a good lift to the final score.
• It is also a good idea to join a coaching class for maths as it will help in clearing doubts with theorems, formulas, and problems.

Students have to device a time plan covering the different topics in mathematics and abide by the plan during their exam preparatory phase. They should try to solve as many previous years question papers and mock tests as possible and perform a self-evaluation to identify their weak areas. The time plan should have enough scope for relaxation and rejuvenation as well to boost up the memory cells.