Remember the time, back in 2009, when 3 Idiots became an anthem – a Bollywood movie which was probably watched by every Indian family? By the use of sarcasm, it explored the stereotypical mindset of the society and of every parent who designates his kid as a to-be-engineer, even before he’s born.
While most of the parents, uncles and aunties could relate themselves with the movie as much as their kid, what they failed to observe was the sarcasm and the underlying moral that the film conveyed. For the same reason, Indian parents still decide their kid’s future and speak the same ridiculous things during his JEE preparation process.
“Look at Sharmaji ka ladka. He studies 15 hours a day. How are you ever gonna make it to IIT with your study habits?”
Right from childhood, there is always at least one kid in the neighborhood who, deliberately or not, has made countless other kids suffer at the hands of their parents. For one thing, you know that he doesn’t study 15 hours a day, but you can’t have a reasonable argument with your parents about it.
Secondly, you don’t actually need to study 15 hours for cracking JEE! Sarvesh Mehtani, AIR 1 JEE 2017 has told in his interviews that he studied only 8 hours a day. A regular and systematic study of 7-8 hours x 7 days a week can work wonders for you.
“Getting into IIT will land you a 1 crore package job.”
There are only a handful of students (about 15 including all IITs) every year who enter the crorepati club. Considering that only 0.1% of the IITians bag a 1 crore package, we can analyse that it is more of a media hype created to add to the pressures of the IITians and IIT aspirants alike.
Besides, the part we don’t get to see is that you don’t actually get 1 crore in hand. The package is inclusive of company stocks, performance-based and insurance payments. Additionally, 150K USD is not same as 1 crore when you’re spending in dollars!
“Only 2 more years. And then you can relax all your life.”
It’s a trap, isn’t it? You have been hearing the same line since forever – class 9, class 11, and you’ll hear it again in college (specially before the placement season), next when you prepare for CAT or MS, once again for their placements. Basically, learning never stops. “2 more years” is the greatest lie I’ve heard as a child!
“Wake up early and study.”
It is known for a fact that mornings are more productive because they’re more peaceful and concentration is better at early hours. However, not every student is the same. There are early birds and then there are night owls. It’s totally a personal preference. Besides, late nights are quiet too. You don’t have to feel bad about yourself if you can’t wake up early and study.
“No TV, internet, Facebook, outing with friends, mobile, blah.. until JEE!”
If you’ve been studying sincerely for hours, you deserve a small break to relax. As long as you don’t spend 2 hours on Facebook chatting with your friends about an upcoming Amazon sale, you’re good! Point here is, take a break, use internet, talk to friends, but only for a limited time, say 30 minutes every day. Try taking out time for some sport as well – an hour of badminton or cricket will give you a much-needed change and help you concentrate better. Additionally, when on social media, check out JEE updates pages, attend webinars by subject experts, read blogs on JEE.
“Have you been consulting only 2 books? You need to read at least 10 of ‘em to crack JEE.”
People have the tendency to judge a student’s preparation by the number of books his study table is stuffed with. Reading 10 books per subject will only be a wastage of your precious time. Instead, focus on clearing the concepts. NCERT, a reference book and an online test series will be sufficient for your JEE preparation.
“Didn’t you start your JEE preparation from 9th? You’re already lagging. I enrolled my son in a 4-year classroom program.”
This list cannot be complete without the nosy padoswali aunty who can’t stop praising her son. What she does not understand is that there is a right time for everything!
Studying for JEE from class 9 will only leave you frustrated and tired when you reach class 11. Besides, half the students are confused until 10th results about what career path they want to choose.
So, the next time your padosi, that nosy uncle or a nagging relative share their ‘expert gyan’ with you…
