IIT JEE 2012 – THE LAST WEEK

IIT-JEE is less than a week away now and I can understand how the applicants must be feeling at this point of time. In the last 3 days, many students have come to me for advice regarding last minute preparations and strategies for IIT-JEE, hence this article.
Let me divide the next 7 days into three parts - (a) April 2 to April 6; (b) April 7; and (c) April 8 (the examination day) and advise accordingly.


For April 2 to April 6 :


The major time for preparation has already passed. The best any student (however prepared he is for the IIT-JEE) can do now is to utilize what he has already learnt till now to score maximum marks and increase his chances of qualifying. And to do that, one should refrain from studying new topics and focus on strengthening one’s strengths even further rather than working on the weaknesses. I am saying this because working on your strengths will give you confidence and help you score while working on your weaknesses will give you diffidence and might aid in your scoring below expectations.


During my interactions with students, many of them said that they had forgotten what they studied in Class XI and have no idea what to do now. Since there is so little time left, it is not possible to revise every bit of Class XI topics. So, what you can do is revise the results and important formulas of the topics and go through a couple of solved examples from each topic. Do not try to go through all the solved examples or exercise questions because that could tense you, confuse you and leave you with no time to concentrate on things that are more important from the examination point of view. Remember one thing, you will never fail because you would have forgotten what you had studied during your preparations. Trust me, your knowledge will not betray you. That’s the beauty of this examination.


We are often told that high risks yield high returns. Well in IIT-JEE, the case is a little different. In each of the three courses – Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry, there are a few topics that are low risk but highly rewarding. Moreover, questions from these topics form a major percentage of the total questions asked. Some of these topics are :


Mathematics: Coordinate Geometry, Vectors & 3-D Geometry, Trigonometry, Area under Curves (Definite Integrals)


Physics: Heat, Electrostat, Current and Magnetism, Modern, Sound


Chemistry: Inorganic Chemistry, Organic Chemistry, Radioactivity, Thermodynamics


Try devoting more time to revising the above topics (but do not do so if these topics have not been your strengths). If you have studied nicely the topics I just mentioned, you can, in all probability, solve any question asked in IIT-JEE on these topics whereas, if you take the case of other topics like Limits, Continuity and Differentiability, Functions, Probability, Permutations & Combinations, Mechanics, Ionic Equilibrium, etc., you might not be able to solve the questions on these tricky topics during the examination even if you are an IIT-JEE Guru (except Prof. K. C. Sinha of Mathematics and Dr. H. C. Verma of Physics; I have seen them solve the entire three hour IIT-JEE paperscorrectly in front of me within an hour).


Another question that was asked by many students was whether they should solve past 35 years questions of IIT-JEE or not. I would say a big ‘No’ to it. In the last two years of your preparations, you might have unknowingly solved many previous year IIT-JEE questions because many study packages and text-books have those questions with data changed. I would suggest you practice IIT-JEE questions for the past 5 years, nothing more than that keeping in mind the time you have left now.


For those of you who have enrolled for any Crash Course for IIT-JEE at your Coaching Institutes of choice, take it easy now. Do not try to gobble everything up at the last moment. Take in only that, which helps you improve your strengths. Just do not stress yourself too much because that can curdle your entire two-year preparation. If you are mentally tired, you might even falter in questions on topics that are your strengths.


For April 7 :


For an examination like IIT-JEE, I would recommend you do NOT study on this day. Believe me, you will thank me after the examination if you follow it because you would have solved more questions by not studying on this day than you would have by studying on this very day. Stay away from your confused friends who might call you up to discuss any question. The same applies to your relatives and well-wishers asking about your IIT-JEE preparations. Try to relax and plan your strategy for the next day. Visit your examination center to get its exact location so that you do not panic right before your examination searching for your center. Last but not the least – Go to bed early and sleep well!!!


For April 8 :


I know you must be dead nervous on this day but nervousness actually helps to bring out the best in you. So, it’s ok to be nervous. It just shows you are serious about your examination. If you know how to meditate, do so in the morning. If you don’t know it, close your eyes and take deep breaths for 10 minutes. This should calm you down.


Reach your center early. Just before you start your examination, revise your strategies. Talking about examination strategies let me give you an idea. In IIT-JEE papers, all the three subjects will be in the same paper. Start with the subject you are most confident in. Now for each subject that you start, I would suggest you start with the low risk, high reward topics I mentioned earlier in the article. Increase in confidence at the start is half the battle won.


Time management during examination is one of the primary reasons why good students fail to qualify IIT-JEE. For a three hour paper, one of the time management strategies that held me in good stead during my IIT-JEE is :


Subject 1 – 50 minutes


Subject 2 – 50 minutes


Subject 3 – 50 minutes


This would be done to ensure I clear the cut-offs (set by myself usually close to 30% - 35%) in each subject. The remaining 30 minutes of time would be allocated to the subject I am the strongest in and/or the subject in which the questions are easier for me in the examination (you can make that out during the first 150 minutes), to help me climb the rankings. Even 10 additional marks can better your rank by more than 100. One thing to note here is that if I feel I have not been able to clear the cut-off in any subject, I would actually go for that subject (regardless of anything) in the last 30 minutes because the first thing to ensure is clearing the cut-offs and then improving your ranking.


For filling up the OMR (answer) sheet, I would suggest you solve 10 questions, fill up the OMR; solve another 10 questions, fill up the OMR, and so on. Do not leave filling up the OMR sheet to the last 5 – 10 minutes.


Do not get trapped in your ego or foolishness and keep solving a question that is not ready to budge, thinking how the bloody question dared not to get solved by you or thinking that you have already given the question 15 minutes of time and a couple of more minutes MIGHT help you solve it. Leave it and move ahead. Know which questions to let go of at the right time.


There will be a gap of about 2 hours between Papers I and II. Avoid discussing Paper I and going through formulas and results during this interval.


To wrap up my gyan, read the examination instructions carefully and say to yourself, “I will do the best I can and I will qualify this examination because if I can’t, nobody else can.” Know one thing for sure, if the paper is difficult, it is difficult for everyone. So, relax. Also know that if the paper is easy, it is easy for everyone. So, in such a case, work faster. During the examination, if you get too tensed, take deep breaths and drink some water. It helps !


I have tried my best to rest the turmoil in your head but if there are still confusions or doubts regarding your last minute preparations, feel free to ask me on www.facebook.com/eduwiser or www.facebook.com/abhishekchandra.v


As a student, on one hand, so many questions would be cropping up in your head and you must be wishing someone could answer them to your satisfaction. On the other hand, your coaching institute counselors, teachers, parents, elder brothers and sisters, etc. would be giving you their piece of mind as answers to your questions. Do not follow anyone or even me blindly but, “Suno sab ki, karo khud ki (listen to everyone but do what you think is right).”