Students’ Speak: Here’s how I aced JEE Main exam

By: K Mouli

Every year JEE Main and JEE Advanced are conducted to provide admission to various IITs, NITs, and GFTIs and other private institutions. To excel in the above exams, hard work with smart strategy is the need of the hour.

This article throws some light on the tips and tricks, time management, scoring topics, revision approach, etc., followed by me while preparing for JEE Main.

JEE Tips & Tricks

• Understanding the exam pattern is the first and foremost thing you should do
• Always preferred to attempt MCQ first
• Try to avoid calculation mistakes and used approximations, if possible while solving it may save some time
• I always keep in my mind that a virtual calculator is provided only in JEE Advanced but not in JEE Main
• Revise important topics twice or thrice and it is always better to prepare notes
• Use the substitution method throughout the exam (mostly in trigonometry) if possible
• Do not try to attempt unknown questions with a wild guess, as there is negative marking for every wrong answer
• Always try to use the standard values given in the question paper never assumed unless mentioned (like did not assume the value of ‘g’ as 10 m/s unless mentioned)
• Do the rough work neatly as sometimes it can confuse you

Time Management Tips

Most of the students prepare well for JEE exams but while giving the exam they are unable to manage time and as a result, they cannot reach the mark including me

1. One of the most committed mistakes is to attempt the question beginning from question number one
2. Try not to fall into the trap of attempting every question that comes on the screen
3. Glance at the question and decided whether it can be solved in time
4. I used the “SKIP” mantra for the questions I am not aware of and unknown but, tried to attempt those questions if time permits
5. Never get disappointed with the number of attempts, you may not know how tough the shift is and what could be the best score. Therefore, I always tried to give my best in the given time
6. It is always good to be confident but sometimes being overconfident costs us a lot. So, when I stuck at a particular question I thought it is better to skip and revisit it
7. Utilise the “Mark for review” option for the questions, I think can be attempted at a later stage. So, it is easy to identify such type of questions and solve them

JEE Scoring Topics

Physics: Electrostatics, Current Electricity, Electromagnetic Induction, and Alternating

Current, Semiconductor & Electronic Devices, Communication, Units & Dimensions, Measurement of error (Absolute and Relative), Instruments. Heat and Thermodynamics, Ray Optics, Gravitation, Oscillations heat transfer fluids nuclear physics. 

Chemistry: Atomic structure, Gaseous &liquids, Electrochemistry, Chemical kinetics, nuclear &surface chemistry, Chemical bonding, d –block elements, Co-ordination compound, Alkyl halides, Aromatic compounds, Chemical equilibrium, Metallurgy, Solutions, Hydrocarbons.

Mathematics: 3 Dimensional Geometry, Vectors, Determinant and matrices, Sequence and series, Straight lines, Circles, Probability, Differentiation, Differential equations, Trigonometry equations, Statistics, Heights and distance, Complex numbers, Quadratic equations.

JEE Revision Approach

• Preparing notes make the revision easier.
• Prepare notes in such a way it contains all the formulae and facts need to remember in a pictorial or diagrammatic representation. It helped me to remember much and more for a long time.
• Revise the important deductions, results, as it will reduce the time in solving the questions.

About the Author:

K Mouli is a graduate in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from Raghu Institute of Technology. He has worked as a software analyst at Capgemini and later switched to the banking industry and worked with Canara Bank. He is currently working at CWC and has a passion for teaching.