It is all very well for a student to decide on being an IITian. It is the series of tough choices that follows this simple decision that confuses, and often confounds, IIT aspirants. In this article, I will analyse the pros and cons of the plethora of choices a student is confronted with on the long and winding road of his JEE Advanced preparation.
Who should prepare for JEE Advanced ?
Admission to the IITs is through a Joint Entrance Examination Advanced (JEE Advanced) and being successful in JEE Advanced is a hallmark of distinction a student can aspire to. Approximately 9.5 lakh students appear for this exam, and about 13674 are finally chosen.
Currently there are 23 IITs in India located at Mumbai, New Delhi, Guwahati, Kanpur, Kharagpur, Roorkee, Chennai, Varanasi, Bhilai, Bhubaneswar, Dhanbad, Dharwad, Gandhinagar, Goa, Hyderabad, Indore, Jammu, Jodhpur, Mandi, Palakkad, Patna, Ropar, and Tirupati. The JEE Advanced syllabus covers a vast range of topics in the subjects of Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics. The questions asked in the JEE Advanced are mostly numerical problems. These problems are tough and thought-provoking. They need to be solved in double-quick time. This means that there are plenty of concepts to be learnt and hundreds of problems to be solved. Apart from this, there is preparation to be done for the school final exams. For this, a student must be on his/her toes, right from the beginning and should be able to do the balancing act.
Clearly, two factors contribute to the difficulty level seen at the JEE Advanced. The intrinsic reason for the toughness of this examination is that the level of questions needed to be cracked requires a very thorough understanding of and ease with concepts and problems in physics, mathematics and chemistry. The extrinsic reason is that simply so many good, well-prepared aspirants are competing for so few seats.
While the level of preparation required to answer these challenges can be developed through motivation, guidance, perseverance and training, the basic raw material of intelligence needs to be present in an aspirant, to begin with. While board examinations do not provide a 100% accurate estimate of this crucial requirement, they do provide the only measurement variable on which candidates from across the country may be compared. So a rough evaluation criterion based on your 10th board marks can answer the question of whether or not you should even bother thinking of making JEE Advanced the aim of your preparation.
If your Maths and Science scores in 10th boards combine to give a percentage of 75 or above, you can safely assume you have the raw material to succeed at the JEE Advanced. Remember, this percentage is no guarantee that you will definitely make it through! But it does indicate that if you are disciplined enough, you do have the potential to do so.
For those who score between 65% and 75%, it is a matter of judgment. Ask yourself if you could have scored more than you actually did somehow. If you think you could have, why didn’t you? Was it because you could not prepare well due to something beyond your control, say illness? Was it because you were not getting the correct guidance from your school? Or was it simply a case of your own laziness. If you think you could have scored higher but didn’t because of your own tardiness, that is also a serious hurdle. Do you think you can be more disciplined towards your studies than you have been till now? Do you think you are willing to forgo TV, movies, sports, going out with friends etc. to devote 8-10 hours of studies on a daily basis, for a year or longer? So if you fall in the 65-75% bracket, it is a judgment call.
The JEE Advanced is probably not the best choice for those who have scored below 65% in Maths and Science in their 10th boards, barring exceptional circumstances like illness. But don’t despair, there are several other avenues open to those who wish to get into good engineering colleges. For instance, the JEE Main offers admission to some of the most prestigious engineering institutes in India other than the IITs, for instance – the 31 prestigious National Institute of Technology (NITs), IIITs, and CFTIs. There are also other entrance exams for universities like CPU, BITS Pilani (BITSAT) that you can compete in. Sometimes it is better to get a good engineering branch at a decent non-IIT institution than to get a lousy branch at the IITs. So think about the numerous career options apart from the IITs that are available to you.
When is the right time to prepare for JEE Advanced?
The syllabus of the JEE Advanced is nearly the same as the combined syllabus for Classes 11 and 12 in CBSE Boards. The only difference lies in the approach. In JEE , stress is primarily laid on a deep understanding of concepts and therefore a student is required to solve problems based on a thorough understanding of the subject, while in the CBSE Board exams, stress is given on reproducing the facts. The best method of managing both is to be regular in classes and to ensure proper time management.
- After Class 12
Starting your JEE Advanced preparations after completing your 12th boards is a high risk – high return strategy. You have the advantage of not being burdened with the preoccupation of Board examinations or attending school. This means that you can focus better on your JEE preparation. But it also means that you will either miss out on preparing well for the first year graduation examination in whichever stream you have opted for, or worse, you may have to altogether forgo joining any graduate course and put all your bets on getting selected to the IITs. If you do get selected to the IITs, your gamble would have reaped rich dividends, but if you do not qualify, you would effectively end up wasting a year of your productive life.
The good news is that you would have been introduced to a majority of the concepts and topics in the JEE Advanced syllabus in Class 11 and 12 and the studies might therefore not intimidate you as much as they would someone who is currently in Class 11 or 12.
For students who attempted the JEE Advanced in the year of their 12th boards, but did not qualify, the stakes are obviously higher, since they are attempting the JEE Advanced for the second time.
- After Class 11
If you start your preparation in 12th class, the amount of hard work is increased manifold due to the additional pressure of 12th boards, so chances of getting a high rank in JEE Advanced are slimmer. There is a big transition from the mugging up study of 10th class to the understanding based study of 11th class. So seeing the level of complexity in JEE Advanced exam shouldn’t bog you down.
One advantage of starting JEE preparation in Class 12 is that the concepts of differentiation and integration, so crucial to understanding most topics in the JEE syllabus, are introduced in Class 11 Several other concepts are also introduced for the first time in Class 11, and a familiarity with these concepts comes in handy in tackling the JEE syllabus head-on.
It is not to say that these advantages outweigh the intrinsic lead students starting preparation after 10th boards have, but it does mean that there is no need to despair even if you have missed the opportunity of starting your preparation earlier. You can still make up for the lost time by putting in additional efforts.
- After 10th Boards
The ideal time to start preparation for JEE is at the beginning of 11th class. Students are fresh after the break after boards, and a lot more can be learnt. Students who start late often end up leaving some key topics of 11th class JEE syllabus.
The first two or three months should be spent in revising your basic concepts (topics like algebra, mechanics) that had been taught in 9th class. Concepts in topics like algebra, mechanics and stoichiometry should be studied in great detail as they also form the basis for other topics and are very scoring. There should be no doubt in your mind about these concepts. For this purpose, develop the habit of inquisition. Clear all your doubts so that mentally you feel confident tackling any concept. A key in this area is problem-solving. Regular problem solving not only strengthens your concepts, but also increases your mental sharpness, which is a must for JEE Advanced.
Initially, problems of a lower level should be tried, and only when you have mastered them, you should go on to solving intricate JEE Advanced type problems. You should have a systematic plan for the preparation of JEE Advanced. Regular hours should be allotted to mastering concepts and problem-solving. It is not necessary to memorise the lessons and formulae. Understand the derivations of formulae and apply the formulae to solving problems. Slowly these formulae will settle down in your brain, and you will be able to recall them under any situation. What is required is a clear understanding and an easy familiarity with the concepts and laws.
Maximum attention should be paid to solving problems. Try to be analytical rather than being intuitive. Remember that hard work pays! You should first take up a problem and try to solve it yourself. You should understand what is given and what is required, recall what principles, laws, equations are involved. Don’t hurry to see the solution, as it doesn’t help you to learn. Only when you’ve pondered over it for a long time and are unable to see any light, should you see the solutions. You would be insulting yourself and seriously hurting your chances of success if you skip these problems or make half-hearted attempts at solving them
This article answers the ‘Who’ and ‘When’ of JEE Advanced preparation. In the subsequent article, I shall deal with even more crucial questions – the ‘How’ and ‘Where’ of JEE preparation. Look out for the pros and cons of the various modes of JEE preparation, and for answers to the dilemma of which road leads to the hallowed portals of IIT, in that article. Don’t miss it!
