Students’ Speak: Don’t follow too many reference books as that will only lead to confusion

By: Divyanshu Singh

I would suggest that don’t start your revision from the beginning rather you should only focus on the areas where you have doubts or the topics which you have missed last time, says Divysanshu Singh.

In this article, I am going to share my experience and learning points which I think would definitely help you all in your preparation for JEE Mains and will mainly focus on the preparation tips for the students who will be appearing for the second time which is scheduled to be conducted in the month of April. Results are published for the January entrance tests and now you are aware of your strengths and weaknesses. I will suggest that you should not panic at all and for the students who missed by a little margin, I am sure that they will make this time.

You all are aware of the fact that it is one of the toughest entrances which is conducted in the country, so you must prepare yourself accordingly. And since you have appeared once, you have a better idea of pattern and questions which will help you in managing time.

The paper consists of 75 questions, 25 each from Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics in which 20 questions will be MCQ type and 5 questions with numeric value answers in three hours of time. And there will also be negative marking for MCQ’s.

For the preparation of JEE Main, don’t follow too many reference books as that will only lead to confusion and finally wastage of time as you have only less than two months for the entire course.

I would suggest that don’t start your revision from the beginning rather you should only focus on the areas where you have doubts or the topics which you have missed last time. Follow your notes carefully which you have prepared earlier and start revision with your notes only. Doing such will help you keep a complete track of the entire course and after that, you can focus on your strengths. Don’t give much time to the topics where you think it will take more time rather practice as many problems as possible in the areas where you are confident. That will keep your morale high and you will not think much about the previous result.

In my point of view, particularly for Physics, never skip the topics such as Magnetic Effects, Optics, Electronics Devices, Kinematics, Laws of Motion, as you will definitely find questions from such topics. You can follow HC Verma or SL Arora for your reference.

For Chemistry, important topics include Equilibrium, Thermodynamics, Atomic Structure, Periodic Table, Nomenclature, Co-ordination Compounds. Have a thorough reading of the complete chapter from NCERT, you will surely get questions from it.

For Mathematics, important topics are Trigonometry, Probability, Differentiation and Integration, Determination, Permutation and Combination, Sequence and Series. Try solving examples from RS Agarwal and back questions from NCERT.

In my opinion, this time you should mainly focus on practising unsolved papers from different publications (Arihant) as that will help you in managing your time which plays a vital role in the examination hall and can help you enhance your rank. Don’t focus on attempting all questions rather start with the questions which you can solve easily and which consumes less time. Doing that will definitely give some more time to the questions where you are bit confused.

Also, from the counselling point of view, I will suggest that you should go for second or third round counselling that might help you get a good government institute. For general candidates, I will suggest that you should avoid having a gap of another 1 year for the preparation if you haven’t score well this time. Also, you can only appear for counselling if you have scored 75% of aggregate in your boards.  

Another thing I would suggest that you should give equal importance and time to your board exams also and maintain a balance between them. I have seen the cases where one scores very good marks in the entrance tests but fails to do the same in the boards. So, don’t neglect your boards and take it seriously. 

So just keep practicing as many questions as possible and don’t worry about the results as the best from the two will be considered for further proceedings. Also, you should not only focus on working hard, rather, opt for smart work.

About the Author:

Divyanshu Singh is a B.Tech in Civil Engineering graduate from KIIT Bhubaneshwar. He is currently working as a Graduate Engineer Trainee (GET) with ITD Cementation.