JEE 2013 – The ‘Real’ Preparation Begins

After so much of confusion, debate and protests, the criteria for admission into Engineering Colleges in India are now set.

For admission into NITs and other Regional Engineering Colleges, there will be a unified entrance examination called JEE Main. However, the JEE Main score is not going to be the only criterion for admission. The other criterion for admission will be the Class XII Board Examination marks that will be normalized to make the Board Examination marks of students coming from different Boards (CBSE, ICSE, State Boards) consistent. Each regional college will assign specific weightages to the JEE Main score and Class XII Board Examination marks to prepare its merit list for admission. For example, NITs have decided to assign 60% weightage to the JEE Main score and the balance 40% weightage to Class XII Board Examination marks.

For admission into IITs, the procedure is a little different. IITs will screen around 150,000 students on the basis of the JEE Main Score. These shortlisted students will then appear for another examination called JEE Advanced. Before the IITs announce the final rankings for admissions into them, they will carry out another round of screening by eliminating all students who are NOT in the top 20 percentile in their Board Examination results.  

The JEE Main (offline and online) will be conducted in April 2013 and will be similar to the AIEEE in terms of both – the pattern and the difficulty level. It is expected to comprise of single choice questions and a couple of “Linked Comprehension Type” questions, etc. The JEE Advanced will be conducted in June 2013 and consist of two papers similar to the ones in IIT-JEE 2012.

I know the students who are going to appear for JEE Main and Advanced in 2013 might be apprehensive because they have been forced to be the first adopters of this educational transformation, but trust me it will not be as difficult as it seems to be.

The purpose of this article and the articles that follow it every Friday on this website is to help JEE 2013 aspirants sail through the JEE Main and Advanced, and Class XII Board Examinations. These articles will guide you each week with different topics of Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics that you can cover that week.

My preparatory articles will be written keeping in mind the capabilities of a slightly above-average student who is hardworking. So, if any student is average or below average, you can get in touch with me through Facebook/Twitter and I can work out your special routine. Before we hit the road to preparation, there are a few “Frequently Asked Questions” that I would like to discuss and expect students to be clear about.

Q.1. How many hours should I study for and how many hours should I sleep for? Should I study late at night or study early in the morning?

Ans. There is no fixed formula for cracking JEE. Few students might take 8 hours to study a topic that another student might complete in just 4 hours. So, the answer depends on the capacity of each student. But on an average, you should study for more than 12 hours. Sleep for not more than 6 hours. Regarding studying late at night or early in the morning, choose whatever time suits you. I used to study late at night because I could not get up early in the morning and I know people who studied early in the morning and were just as good.

Q.2. Which books should I follow?

Ans. Always remember one thing – it is better to work out one book ten times than ten books once.

For Physics, you can follow Dr. H. C. Verma’s Concepts of Physics – Vol. 1 and 2 from Bharati Bhawan.

For Mathematics, you can follow Prof. K. C. Sinha’s entire series (Algebra, Coordinate, Differential Calculus, Integral Calculus, Vectors & 3-D Geometry, Trigonometry and Probability) from Eduwiser Publishing Group.

For Physical Chemistry, you can follow either Dr. R. C. Mukherjee’s Physical Chemistry or Dr. P. Bahadur’s Numerical Chemistry.

For Organic Chemistry, you can follow your Coaching Institute notes and Organic Chemistry by Morrison and Boyd

For Inorganic Chemistry, you can follow NCERT books and Inorganic Chemistry by Prof. J. D. Lee.

Q.3. How to approach the new pattern of examination? What changes should I make in my preparation style to succeed in the new JEE Main and Advanced?

Ans. Keep your basics clear by following the above books. In addition to that, practise new pattern questions from anywhere you can. I will deal with this question in detail as the series of articles progresses.

Q.4. Due to the confusion in the examination pattern, I have not been able to prepare seriously until now. Is it still possible for me to get through JEE Main and Advanced?

Ans. If you are one of those students who have not started preparing for the examinations seriously yet, the best you can do at this point of time is to focus all your energies into the preparation. The time that is gone will not return, so do not repent; make the best use of the time that is remaining. It is quite possible for you to crack JEE Main and Advanced.

Q.5. I am an average student. Can I get admission into an IIT?

Ans. Being average does not guarantee failure in JEE Advanced just like being intelligent does not guarantee success in the same. If you think you are just average, work harder to compensate for your average intelligence.

Q.6. I feel I have forgotten everything I studied in Class XI. What should I do now?

Ans. You have to keep revising. During the course of my articles, I will allot time for revising your Class XI topics as well. So, do not worry.

One last thing - all the Class XI topics as well as a few topics from Class XII are expected to have already been covered by students (at least once on their own). If you have not done so, you can discuss your problems separately with me. For this week, I would suggest you complete all the chapters that you are currently working on so that when we start our schedule from next week, you do not have to leave any unfinished chapter midway.

If you have any questions/comments, you can interact with me on www.facebook.com/abbyshekchandra

Until next week, all the best !