January 15, 2015
Strategy for IIT JEE Preparation - By Ganesh Kumar , B.Tech. ,IIT Kanpur The Examination for selection into the prestigious IITs is considered one of the toughest entrance examinations examinations in the world. The success in this examination requires not only consistent hard work for 2 years , but also smart work in right direction based upon correct strategy. In this article, I would discuss the strategy , successful implementation implementation of which, may may considerably improve improve your your chances of selection in this test . At the outset, let me clarify that there is no single strategy which can suit the style and competency level level of each and every every student . Nevertheless Nevertheless , this article will highlight some of the key points which have been found common in the preparation strategies strat egies of most of the successful successful students students , including including mine. mine. I qualified for IIT JEE , in 1995 , with All India Rank 304 , in my first attempt , without any coaching .
Proces Pr ocesss of Exam -
Since 2013, selection for IIT is through
a 2- stage exam process . In first stage , around around 13 lakh students sit for JEE Main ( conducted by CBSE ) . Around 1.5 lakh top students of this exam are qualified to sit for JEE Advanced exam
( conducted by the IITs ) . Both the exams , Main and Advanced have questions in objective format . The JEE Advanced consist of 2 papers of 3 hours duration duration each each , both both paper carrying carrying 180 marks each. Each paper has 20 questions each from Maths, Physics and Chemistry . Each question is of 3 marks . Some questions carry negative marks also. So in JEE Advanced the maximum marks marks are 360 ( including both b oth the papers ) . Since 2013 , IITs IITs are following policy of fixed cut offs, which is 35% of total marks and 10% marks in each each individual subject ( for General category ). It means anybody who gets minimum 126 marks in total and minimum minimum 12 marks in each subject , will find his name in Combined Merit List of JEE Advanced . In 2014 20 14 , the last rank was 19416 1 9416 , but the total number of students in list was 27,152. This was because at each rank, the students having same total marks and same marks in individual subjects are clubbed clubbed together. together. There are around around 9000 seats in all the IITs IITs , therefore even if your name is included in combined merit list , there are 2/3 chances that you may not get admission into IIT. IIT. Apart Apar t from this , another criteria required for admission into IIT is that the applicant should be either in the top 20 percentile of his board or should have have scored more than 75 % marks in best of 5 subjects in class 12 Board Exams Exams .
Strategy for study 1.
A com commo mon n que quest stion ion by stu stude dent ntss is is how how ma man ny hour hourss sho shoul uld d they study. Though there is no fixed answer to it, 8-10 hours of consistent study should be sufficient. More than the quantity quantity of hours hours,, quality of hours studied studied is important. important. One should target that by November - December his/her syllabus should be over, so that sufficient time can be devoted for practice practice of test series and for the final preparation of board exams exams in February - March March .
2.
Anothe Anot herr con confu fusio sion n co comm mmon on am amon ongg st stud uden ents ts is is,, wh whet ethe herr they should study for CBSE ( board exam ) or for IIT, whether they should study theory or do more numericals etc. In physics, there is no optio option n of, either either/or /or,, between theory or practising numericals. Both should be done simultaneously.. Syllabus for most of the boards and IIT are simultaneously very similar similar,, if not same, so preparation for both can be done simultaneously ( until and unless unless you are one of those students who hav havee decided to skip and take a gap of one year after class 12 and then appear for IIT ). In CBSE board Exams as well as some other Boards, answer writing skills also matter, matter, as there are subjective questions. But, this skill can be practiced and improv improved, ed, simultaneously with preparation of IIT JEE. Anyway Anyway,, with amendment of selection criteria in 2014, students need to be either in top 20 percentile or get 75% marks in Boards, so one should not worry too much about Boards. Boards.
3.
Whilee stu Whil study dyin ingg or sol solvi ving ng pr prob oble lems ms,, don' don'tt con conce cent ntra rate te on only getting the right answer. In subjects such as Maths and Physics, the route to destination is equally important as the destination i.e. the method to solve the problem is as important as the correct answer. You should concentrate and learn the concepts underlying each and every question, rather than rushing to find the correct answer. Remember, you can get the right answer even by wrong method or by taking unjustified assumptions . It may work once or twice, but not always .
4.
You nee need d to to know know mo more re th than an th thee corr correc ectt way way(s (s)) to to solv solvee a problem; you also need to be familiar with many incorrect ways of doing it. Otherwise, in Exams, Exams, when you you see a new problem, there there may be a number of correct-looking approaches to take, and you won't be able to immediately weed out the wrong ones. Struggling a bit with a problem may often lead you down some wrong paths, and this is an essential part of learning learning.. Better to struggle for 4 hours in your home, than to struggle for even 15 minutes during Exams.
5.
To unde underst rstan and d the the con concep cepts ts in in Math Mathss and and Ph Phys ysic ics, s, you not not only have to know what's right about the right things; but also to know what's wrong about the wrong things. Learning takes a serious amount of effort, many wrong turns, and a lot of sweat. There are no short-cuts to understanding Maths and Physics .
Books for study Maths -
In Maths, Maths, practicing problems problems is of utmost
importance. There are many books available in the market, such as those those of TMH or Arihant Publishers, or by by K C Sinha, or by Das Gupta and Prasad, which have have a vast collection collection of problems prob lems.. The exercises exercises in most of these books books are of simil similar ar nature and of similar level. One can can also rely upon the study material of various coaching institutes as they they also have have similar exercises.
Physics 1.
Res esni nick ck an and d Hal Halli lida dayy - Th This is is an ol old d cla classi ssicc sin since ce ag ages es.. Some students find its language too difficult , but I think the concepts are well explained. Over the years, the language of this book has been considerably considerably simplified . The present present version of the book is a highly simplified version of the original, which used to come in 2 volumes during the 1990's, and had tough problems .
2.
H C Verm Vermaa - Th This is is an anot othe herr sta stand ndar ard d boo bookk wit with h lot lotss of of good exercises. But some students find this also too difficult, but I think think the level level of difficu difficulty lty of this book is just just right for for IIT JEE.
3.
Irodov
4.
Kroto Krot ov - Th Thes esee 2 bo book okss ha havve a va vast st co coll llec ecti tion on of to toug ugh h problems, so one should be very selective in solving these problems.
In recent years , the questions asked in Physics paper are considerably simpler than those asked in previous years . But even then , One should not completely neglect a tough problem or a problem which has a novel solution or uses a new concept. The solution solution of a tough problem problem , consist consistss of 3-4 or more steps steps , each step of the problem can be asked as an independent problem in IIT exam . Never ever waste your time on cheap books like, objective Physics or object objective ive Maths by so and so author author.. Althoug Although, h, questions questi ons in JEE are are of object objective ive type , but the solution solution of each question is very much much like that that of a subjective question. Therefore, the nomenclature objective question is a misnomer and misleading one. So, don't harm your concept building process and waste your time by reading books which have just objective questions . Generally , students find Maths paper tougher than the paper of other two subjects. Even the IIT examination board recognizes and accepts accepts this, because because for the purpose of tie-br tie-breaking eaking,, if more than one students have same marks, then the student getting higher marks in Maths Maths is given higher rank . If marks in
Maths are same, then the student getting higher marks in Physics is given higher rank . Therefore it will not be an unwise decision to practice lots of Maths problems, problems, because in Maths, the paperpapersetter has endless endless opportunity to ask problems problems of different types and of differ different ent level levelss of difficu difficulty lty .
Strategy and Tips during Exam day 1.
Four fr frie iend ndss are are lo lost st in a jun jungle gle.. Sud Sudde denl nlyy the theyy hea hearr roar roar of a lion . One friend starts tying his shoe laces . When others ask the reason , he replies so that he can run fast . " Do you think you can run faster than the Lion " , asked his friends. " Who has to run faster than the lion , I only have to run faster than you three three ", replied the man. The situation of an IIT aspirant is exactly the same. Don't try to beat the lion and waste your time by struggling with a tough/ tricky problem for long . Remember , till now no one has scored more than 95 % marks in JEE . In 2014 , the topper got 334 out of maximum 360 . Only 26 students got more than than 300 marks, and to be in top 100, you just needed 278 marks. So don't make it a matter of pride to solve a tough problem. You can optimally utilize this time to solve other problems .
2.
In cr cric icke kett Wor World ld Cup Cup,, sup suppos posee Ind India ia los loses es ea easy sy ma matc tche hess against weak teams like Kenya , Canada . Then in order to be even even in reckoning to qualify for semi-finals semi-finals , India will
have to win all matches against tough teams like Australia, South Africa . Similarly Similarly in exam, the different problems are are of different levels of difficulty difficulty.. Thus you can afford afford to miss on a tough problem, because others are also more likely to miss it than to solve it. But you can't afford to make mistake in easy problems, because then you will be pushed below the average performer, performer, and it will be difficult to make up for this loss . 3.
Whilee pre Whil prepar parat atio ion, n, wh when en you try to do an ex exer erci cise se fr from om a given chapter, chapter, the very location of it tells you what methods should be used to solve the problem . But in an exam , there is no such hint. It is for you to first figure out which area they belong to and then what methods are likely to give the solution. After the problem is correctly diagnosed and the method decided upon, rest is very easy simple computation. And as in medical medical practice, correct diagnosis is half the solution.
4.
Give a try to as ma Give man ny app appro roac ache hess as as you you ca can n thi think nk of of,, without spending too much time on any particular one ( except when one approach is quickly leading to solution ) . Do not neglect the straight forward approach. It is a common misconception that every problem has some catch to it. Many problems don't have any catch or trick involved.
5.
If no none ne of th thee app apprroa oacche hess you you ca can n th thin inkk of ap appe pear arss lik likel elyy to succeed succeed , see if you can can modify modify any one one of them or can can think of a new one. If you can do so quickly, quickly, well and good.
Otherwise you are probably missing a key idea and merely trying the same thing in different ways. In such cases, leave the problem temporarily and return to it later with a fresh mind. 6.
In ob obje ject ctiv ivee que quest stio ions ns,, som somee tric tricks ks su such ch as ch chec ecki king ng th thee limiting case, or checking the options given for some particular values of variable etc, can can be used to eliminate eliminate some of the wrong wrong options. options. If the question question carries carries no negative marks and and you are running short of time, using this approach , you can randomly tick the options left left after elimination.
Many of these strategies and tricks to successfully counter objective type questions will be discussed in detail in my subsequent articles . But it is worth mentioning , that you should not rely rely too much on short-cuts short-cuts and tricks. Of late late,, IIT paperpapersetters have started giving numerical values to variables, specially in Physics paper, and the options are also numbers rather than algebraic expressions. In such questions many many of the short-cuts and tricks are useless. Remember these short-cuts and tricks are like unorthodox batting batting shots used in slog overs overs of one day cricket or 20-20 match . They are no substitute to the technically correct shots required in Test Matches . And IIT JEE Advanced Exam, is a Test Match , although it is played on a single sing le day .
Best of luck for your exam and and happy preparation for it . In case of any queries queries feel free free to contact contact . Contact me at google.com/+GaneshKumarIIT
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