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P R E P J E E

HOW TO APPROACH IIT JEE ?

Hello friends, my followers have consistently asked me about IIT JEE preparation. I haven’t
written any answer on this topic, but I will write in this post about it.

This post covers all detail description of each stage of JEE preparation. I hope you will like
this and it will help you.

IIT JEE preparation is a bit challenging. I don’t say challenging in terms of course or
number of hours to be invested, but its because it requires physical and mental strength.
Intelligence also plays a role in selection but hard-work does more wonder than
intelligence. Factors that make this IIT JEE challenging are

1. Understanding of theory concepts.

2. Practice.

3. Revision of course.

4. Course depth to be studied.

5. Consistent working throughout 2 years of preparation.

Generally all students study more or less the same but the difference comes in the above
mentioned 5 factors. So now you must assess yourself in these 5 factors. Let us discuss
each one in detail and figure out what exactly it is, what students do generally and how to
correct it.

READING FOR UNDERSTANDING

IIT JEE is an exam where the examiner doesn't test your range of knowledge but only how
much you understand the given knowledge. Understanding is first most important point to
be kept in mind while preparation. It means how well you can explain a particular concept
to someone and utilize it in real life problems or numericals. For example lets take this
physics problem from IIT JEE 2016..
here some students might confuse on how to solve it.. but its easy. First identify what has
been given in the question then what is asked in the question.. you will have to connect
these two dots and then the procedure.. Its easy when you understand the concepts of
physics and are proficient in its application. This question utilizes a simple concept of
centre of mass and a little bit of components of vector… as after calculating the angular
velocity about Z axis angular momentum can be calculated.. so what’s angular velocity..
[math]\omega_{Z \text{ axis}} = \omega \cdot \sin
well options are given and if \theta[/math]
[math]\theta = \text{angle made by axis with horizontal.}
where [/math] So it will be
[math]\dfrac{\omega}{5}[/math] (do the math). Now you calculate the angular momentum
about an axis and match your answer with the options.

The understanding comes here as you have to analyse what has been asked in the
question and how to bring it out. This was a kind of application of Centre of Mass and
Vector and its important to understand these concepts carefully and then approach the
question.

Now the problem arises with many students who do not understand or just skip the
understanding part, its not correct!! I repeat its not correct.. just take some time, help of
teacher or book or a friend and clear it there itself and don’t forget to use some example to
understand it. It will be better to speak to yourself and make yourself understand that
concept after you take help as it will retain for longer period since you taught yourself.

Next most important thing is to sit with a pen and paper while studying. Let it be P, C or
M never ever sit without pen and paper to study, if you do you are wasting time.

PRACTISING THE CONCEPTS

Now comes the real challenge.. the PRACTISING PART. Students who even after
understanding concepts fail to solve problems lack in this part. ‘Practice makes a man
perfect’ fits right here. Its necessary for brain to continuous feed the same information
from different paths.. practising plays a role here. When your brain has processed the info
theoretically, it must process it numerically too. Numericals are a tool to train the brain.
While solving numerical problem you send a lot of information repeatedly..like the concept
learned, the formula, the method used in previous problem etc. So by this you start getting
ideas. To solve the problem in this part, start from a silly question in textbook and go on
solving till the last question. A good way to gain confidence is to be perfect with the
conceptual points and formulae in the chapter and this includes derivation too, then start
from examples. Examples in a standard Textbook or a Reference book are selected and
attempt to provide the reader a complete understanding of various techniques, methods
and formulae used to reach to the solution. So make sure you attempt the example
questions on your own. Try to solve it using only your memory and understanding. If you
get right answer do look at the solution of the book. The advantage of this, if you have
used any other method you will get to know 2 method for the same question. Once you do
it good, move forward but what if you fail? don’t lose heart and look at the solution. Just
looking won’t help, take a pen and a notebook and decode each step and analyse how to
reach the solution. (make sure you know formulae and can little bit understand the
concept.. just as much as to make yourself confident).

Practice from any useful source you see. Make sure the source has quality of questions
and not the quantity. Quality means the types of question in the source, each one is
unique. Many students go crazy on thickness of the book, but believe me thickness never
matters. You may be wondering what is a quality source of question or what kind of
question it may have. So let us consider an example of a such a source.. For physics its
‘Concepts of Physics Volume 1 & 2’ by H.C. Verma. You just take a look at the book,
every concept is dealt under a new heading and the examples given are unique. Then
comes a set of questions which tests your UNDERSTANDING of the chapter and the
concepts. Every JEE aspirant must try to attempt those questions on their own. Those
questions spark the ideas that are required to clear an exam or to clear any kind of doubts.
Finally the set of MCQs I and II and numerical problems, which also must be attempted
after thoroughly reading, understanding and remembering the formulae of the chapters.

REVISION

Have you read a story in childhood where a boy performs poorly in his academics at
gurukul and after many failures fleas away from there. He then roams villages and one day
notices rope marks on the walls of a well, where women were drawing water. He observes
it so deeply that he gets the solution of his problem. Yeah!! that’s what I am talking about.
Revision of course of every subject is important. During revision you do the same thing
multiple times i.e. sending information of something you have encountered before. This
makes your concepts more strong and you start feeling it a bit easy. Then you get your
many doubts cleared which you might not have cleared before. Revision also includes
solving questions again which you had solved during first time. Don’t think it as a waste of
time, if not all at least try to solve 50% of the questions of that chapter. For example let’s
take differential calculus.. suppose you read the chapter and practised the problems from it
and understood the chapter, it took a week to complete the chapter. Now what you have to
do is to read the chapter again after 10 days or so and solve the problems then again after
may be 15 days. Doing it for 3 times in a cycle is sufficient to remember it for 6 months or
more. But don’t leave it as such now its time that you are well versed with concepts of
Differential calculus and practised it sufficiently, you have to search for Advanced
problems or problems which require High Order Thinking Skills (HOTS). These questions
may have combination of two or more chapters or may demand deep thinking of same
concepts which you used. Let us see an example of such a question from physics paper of
IIT JEE 2012..
so what’s the multi concept used here? well its the clue of 45 degrees mentioned. It says
that the gravitational force and electrostatic forces are equal. So when they are equal and
mutually perpendicular then the resultant will be at 45 degrees to any one of the force.
Equate the two and you will get the answer.

DEPTH OF THE COURSE

The course of IIT JEE is not vast but deep. Each chapter has to be read up-to the depth to
develop understanding. Each topic has to be studied in detail and problems of all levels
have to be practised. You may see the difference as a JEE aspirant’s course is lot more
than a normal school student’s course. It takes normally 7 - 10 days to complete a chapter
in school but the same chapter takes longer time in coaching institutes or if the batch is
fast track then the amount of information given to them is much more than normal school
class. So you must have patience to study that depth. It requires more effort but in the end
is always fruitful. Here you must remember to practice all derivations in a chapter of
Physics, each mechanism in Organic chemistry and each theorem of mathematics
chapter. Be proficient at what you choose to study.

CONSISTENT PREPARATION FOR TWO YEARS

Its not about how early you start your JEE preparation nor the hours you spend each day
in front of books, its about how consistent you are toward your daily routine. Many have
misbelief of ‘More the hours, more the chances’ but the correct way is more dedication and
continuity more the chances. If you study 8–9 hours daily for two years you can clear JEE
with desirable rank. Generally coaching students spend 6 hours at classes, apart from
classes if you can spend 4–5 hours I am sure you will never lag behind.

On holidays you can put a bit more effort and make it 10, but this 9–10 hours of study must
be free from distractions. I am not enforcing for 10 hours strictly do it on your own
capacity. If you can manage only 4 hours don’t worry but you must stick to it (let it be Holi
or Diwali or any festival 4 means 4. I am sure you can stay away at least 4 hrs XD). It is
because if you follow a fixed timetable your body adjusts according to it and then your
brain fixes a prime time. In this period whatever you read is absorbed perfectly and retains
more.

It is tough to stick to timetable, I am sure most of aspirants have this problem. But
practising it can make you to even stick to it. You will enjoy as well as learn a lot during
your preparation period. Include some physical activity in your daily work, may be an hour
of morning walk or evening stroll or even some sport. Feel fresh when you sit to study and
avoid studying for too long period, take 5–10 minutes of break after every 1 or 1.5 hours
and just relax in that time, take deep breathing or stretch.

Now, after sufficient understanding and practice you will also develop speed, you can
target few problems to be solved in some limited time period and try to achieve it. If you
practice from beginning, speed will improve as well as your capacity.

SOME GENERAL POINTS

1. Keep away from social media, use only for need.

2. Have a good friend circle and keep away from negative people.

3. Talk to parents and teachers regularly as it will keep your focus toward goal.

4. Have a regular feedback from teachers and accept criticism.

5. Only accepting won’t work but work on weak areas.

6. Don’t run behind too many resources, keep it limited and use then more.

7. Assess yourself by regular mock tests and never do same mistakes again.

8. Think always positive, never compare yourself with Sharma Ji’s son or Gupta Ji’s
daughter.

9. Don’t underestimate yourself nor be overconfident anyday.

10. Have some spiritual inclinations, it makes you stable.

11. Never lose your tempo, keep enthusiasm from first day till last day.

END

I hope you found it helpful and found out exactly where you are lagging. So be confident
and eliminate all these flaws.

In case I have missed any points, suggestions are welcomed. Quora doesn't makes posts
visible easily so please do share to as many people as you can.

All the best :)