After all, who better than the toppers themselves!
Kalpit Veerwal
JEE Main 2017, AIR 1
Mr. Kalpit Veerwal, the all-India topper of JEE Main 2017, talks about how the IIT aspirants much prepare for the exam. Read on.
- JEE Main mainly requires decent speed, accuracy, and problem-solving capacity. All you need is CBSE-level knowledge. Your first step should be to prepare well for boards and know each line of NCERT well.
- Then you should focus on Main when you are confident of each topic at the NCERT level (Main has a lot of focus on NCERT especially in Chemistry). Start by solving previous paper questions to get an idea. Then go for objective questions (try getting good coaching material because it’s better than books).
- Start developing speed by solving papers of 3 hours. Procure some test papers from the internet and friends or whatever. Then go for Main. Try securing a good score to ensure an NIT (a good reading of NCERT + some objective practice is sufficient).
- Books– past papers topic wise of AIEEE and JEE Main, P Bahadur Objective exercise 1, MCQ by D. Mukherjee, RD Sharma objective, etc. I didn’t use these books much, but I guess they are good for Main. Focus more on NCERT and coaching material for JEE Main.
Parth Sharma
JEE Main 2014, AIR 4
Mr. Parth Sharma, AIR 4 of JEE Main 2014, is currently pursuing CS in IIT Kanpur.
- Class 11: Just keep up with the homework (sometimes even missed that). Chilled out a lot with my friends and had epic conversations with them during the breaks and on the way back home. Played Counter strike occasionally and read a lot of books (both fiction and non-fiction).
- On the days when I skipped school, I usually woke up at around 7:30–8:00 and studied till 12:00 with a few breaks when I took a lunch break till 1 pm. After that, I studied until I left for coaching (which was at 2pm or 3:30 pm) . After coming back from the coaching the I had dinner, watched TV, surfed the internet, and read books until around 12 o’clock when I slept. On average, I studied for about 5 hours daily.
- In both years, I never managed to complete any extra book, except the relevant portions of Loney, Irodov (very sloppily!), etc. I did some chapters of TMH for maths but it was riddled with mistakes so I stopped solving it.
- Class 12: Started studying harder (~7 hours) and initially got good results but after a while, my ranks began to drop, paradoxically. Realized I was burning myself out with undue stress and spending more time worrying than actually studying. I was more concerned with the number of hours I studied rather than the actual studying. I also had been cut off from my friends and family as I started studying in my teacher’s office (I went there in the morning and returned after the class).
- Then I started studying less number of hours again and at home with the same schedule as before. Started hanging out with my friends and chilling out when I felt like it. Ranks improved again (although never really got the 1st rank again). I realized that my mental health comes first and I managed (although not perfectly) to stay motivated and happy during the last 6 months.
Rhythm Gupta
JEE Main 2011, AIR 27
Mr. Rhythm Gupta completed his graduation in the computer science branch from IIT Delhi.
To kickstart my preparations, I got myself enrolled for coaching classes after class 10 boards in the month of May. In the initial days, I didn’t focus much. But soon I improved on my schedule by studying apart from the coaching classes.
Motivated to achieve greater heights, I managed to maintain a consistent position in the top 3 by studying harder. However, I had a weaker understanding of Chemistry and I didn’t devote much time to it.
Say it my chance or luck, but we got a new chemistry teacher (Divik Jain) in those days only and he helped me tremendously in understanding the basics of chemistry.
Schedule during class 11
- Apart from school and coaching class, I did 2 hours of self-study each day
- 2 hour of solving problems and numericals
- 1 hour of revision of important concepts taught during the day
- 1 hour of an outdoor activity
In class 12, I started preparing chemistry rigorously. Apart from studying the daily topics from my plan, I used to study class 11 topics for chemistry as well.
Schedule during class 12
- 3 hours of self-study each day
- 2 hours of solving problems, numericals
- 2 hour of revision of important concepts taught during the day
- 1 hour of an outdoor activity
- 1 hour of solving previous year papers and mock tests
The last 4-5 months before the examination are very critical and they create a huge difference. That’s what happened in my case too. My friends who went home during these last months somehow lost the focus and got lenient on preparations which cost them a downgrade of thousands of ranks.
This critical time requires all the undivided attention. That’s why I planned to revise all the study material and concepts effectively.
I also made different notebooks for different purposes.
- For noting down all the silly mistakes
- For writing down all the formulas
- For revision and practice
During 15 days between the 12th boards and JEE, I started solving 1 mock test every day in the real-time environment and in the same time slot as the actual examination. After taking the test, I used to relax for an hour.
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While analyzing the test results afterward, I noted down the mistakes I have committed in the silly mistake notebook and practiced it more. Day after day, I saw continuous improvements in my performance. The mistakes started becoming smaller and unrepetitive.
This same approach of practicing and preparing is followed by myPAT. It provides a personalized experience by letting you practice mock papers daily, identifying the weaker sections and then suggesting the correct learning path.
On final exam day, I was feeling confident and solved the paper calmly.
Source: Quora