Partha Halder, B.Tech (Chemical Engineering) – Director at FIITJEE, Punjabi Bagh Centre, pens an article that highlights the smart strategies and plans that students must avail of to excel in the forthcoming JEE Advanced 2017
The country’s most coveted engineering entrance exam JEE Advanced 2017, the gateway to the IIT’s is just a few days away. It is scheduled on 21st May, 2017. Engineering aspirants eyeing a seat in their dream IIT have now entered the most critical phase of their preparatory phase. It is during this phase that a student fine tunes their skills, harness their capabilities, monitor their strengths and weaknesses, plug loopholes, assesses their national level standing and engages in maximizing their output.
Around this time students must have completed their syllabus of Class XII or would be doing it by the end of November. It’s now time for them to change gears to move on to the next level. But, what is important is clinical planning and putting it into execution. Few important pointers listed below would be helpful:
Before going to the next level of preparation, one must begin by preparing a study and concept-wise revision plan for the next 200 days. The plan should be such that it should factor in two important milestones ie Class XII Board Exams & JEE Main ahead of JEE Advanced, 2017.
If a student has completed Class XII syllabus by now, then they must immediately start revision for Class XI syllabus, as 40-45 percent of the questions are asked from Class XI syllabus in JEE Main and also in JEE Advanced. Students would not get sufficient time for revision later due to their Class XII Board exams.
During revision, remember it is the quality of time spent that is important and not just the quantity. One must engage in concept-wise revision – which means revision should not be chapter-wise, rather it should be concept-wise. Lot of times questions are asked wherein multiple concepts are interlinked. If a student revises concept-wise then chances of inadvertently missing out on anything is minimal and hence automatically their quality improves. Also, while revising, students must pick up representative problems specific to a concept or chapter and solve them. So, while solving a question a student is reminded of certain concepts or techniques studied earlier and hence other associated things automatically gets refreshed in the mind.
During revision help and seek help from peer groups. The best way to revise is to explain a topic to your friend. Complete clarity with respect to a topic comes only when it is expressed in own words. If possible teach topic-wise. Try to make it a regular practice.
Students preparing for JEE Advanced, often ignore few topics which are relevant for JEE Main for example “Chemistry in everyday life” or “Semiconductors”. Hence focus on all topics that are important and relevant for an exam.
JEE Advanced is a lot more conceptually-based paper. Hence one needs to revise concepts thoroughly and also its application. As questions asked are application-based with the objective to judge a student’s thinking and analytical ability with higher difficulty level, it is imperative to focus on all aspects of a concept. Moreover, every year the pattern of the paper and marking schemes remain a surprise element. And this plays a big role in impacting a student’s performance. Hence, questions must be solved by applying your reasoning and analytical ability. Refer to archives i.e previous year papers of the JEE Advanced Question Paper Bank. This will help to build confidence to solve specific types of problems.
Develop strategy for time management in between the sections i.e Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics.
One must subscribe to a good All India Level Mock Test Series. Such test series should be pattern-proof so that a student is mentally prepared for any kind of surprise. This will help a student to assess their skills with respect to other good and serious students at the national level. To begin with one must solve at least one part or a full syllabus test paper in every week. Subsequently, appear in All India Level Mock test at least twice a month leading up to the exams. If possible subscribe to a good quality online test series. Also, the report card generated after every such online mock test is instantaneous. Hence a student gets to know the in-depth performance analysis. One can try out www.mypat.in for such online test series.
Attend test analysis sessions by experts to gain insight on the ideal approach required to do well. Map it with your performance. Calculate the GAP. Prepare an action plan to narrow the gap. Implement the newly-formed strategy in the next All India Mock Tests. Assess the improvement. Subject-wise weak areas needs to be identified and revisit those concepts all over again to eradicate the weaknesses. Success in JEE Advanced is directly proportional to the number of questions solved by “you” and not “solution seen by you”. Hence, one must not refer to a solution without solving a question by themselves. Give sufficient time to think logically and analytically to develop a solution approach to a problem. Initially deploy conventional methods of solving. Gradually develop smarter and efficient ways to solve to save on time.
Question selection is extremely crucial. Every paper consists of easy, moderate and difficult questions. JEE will be no different in this regard. In fact, a good quality Test series will give you a similar experience. Hence while solving mock tests, develop an eye for selecting the right questions. Quickly solving the easy and moderate questions will enable you to clear the cut-off easily. To go the next level attempting difficult ones would be the key. Judicious attempt should be practiced. The idea is to keep negative marks at bay. This will automatically create a huge difference with the masses as they would be randomly picking up negative marks.
During this preparatory period i.e from now on till February, one must simultaneously solve Class XII Board Exam Test papers. Though the difference between the syllabi of Board and JEE is not substantial, still one must practice Board Exam papers of previous years. Attempt a few mock tests as well.
Prepare a list of points to remember for all concepts, topic-wise and mark the ones that need more practice at your end.
To pursue the above points one must remain physically fit and mentally focussed. Hence practice meditation to develop inner calm, self-control and power of concentration. These matter a lot and will help you on the day of examination. Do not overstress/overstretch yourself. 6-7 hours (especially between 11 pm to 6 am, this helps in setting body clock) of sleep is a must. Late night study must be avoided. Include physical activity in your daily schedule to remain fit and to maintain the right energy level.