Ambarish Srivastava quoted in India Today

I was quoted in an article in India today:

copied from: http://www.indiatoday.intoday.in/site/Story/90665/Aspire/Engineer+a+dream.html

It was April 2009 and Rahul's mother was helping him prepare for the most important exam of his life. The gods had been pleased, the tilak was in place and the yogurt tasting ceremony had been wrapped up. What could go wrong? Unfortunately for Rahul, the aforementioned ammunition failed and a lot did go wrong. Several sleepless nights, poor diet and nicotine ensured that Rahul's concentration levels dipped to an all time low during the six-hour long exam. And without acute sharpness, one can forget about cracking the most competitive exam of the country- Indian Institute of Technology Joint Entrance Examination (IIT JEE). A total of 3.85 lakh candidates appeared for the IIT JEE in 2009 and out of these only 10,035 qualified for admissions in the 15 IITs. This year the number is predicted to climb higher. Faced with such competition it would be unwise to leave anything to chance. A thorough knowledge of physics, chemistry and mathematics should be the cornerstone of your preparation. A detailed syllabus is available on IIT websites. At the same time you cannot afford to ignore board examinations. A minimum of 60 per cent is required by candidates in order to be eligible for the test. Balancing both school and IIT preparation can prove to be a major hurdle for many students. "A solution to this could be to go for the school integrated programmes offered by institutes such as FIITJEE (called the Pinnacle programme) wherein the inputs for IIT JEE are clubbed together with the inputs for board examinations," says Ambarish Srivastava, professor and faculty training coordinator, FIITJEE. All India Engineering Entrance Examination (AIEEE) is another gateway to prominent engineering colleges in the country. For B.E and B.Tech, the compulsory subjects are physics and mathematics. The third subject can be any one of the following: chemistry, computer science, bio-technology or biology. The number of attempts which a candidate can avail are limited to three. "There is a perception that AIEEE is tilted towards testing rotelearning, but I feel that getting your fundamentals right are crucial for both IIT and AIEEE. At the same time the important results should always be on one's fingertips, because in an objective type exam one cannot afford to derive the results on the spot," explains Srivastava. Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS), Pilani, conducts a computer-based entrance exam called the BITSAT. It is a three-hour test and has 150 question on physics, chemistry, mathematics, logical reasoning and English. The exam is conducted across the country over a period of 30 days. This gives the candidates the luxury to choose a venue and date according to their convenience. In order to ensure that students focus on their school studies, candidates are required to have a minimum aggregate of 80 per cent in physics, chemistry and mathematics. "Our syllabus is based entirely on the 10+2 pattern and N.C.E.R.T textbooks," says S Gurunarayanan, dean, admissions, BITS, Pilani. When it comes to joining a coaching institute, most feel that word of mouth publicity is the best guide. Get a feedback from previous students on the competency of teachers, speed of teaching, student-teacher ratio and quality and regularity of mock tests. Taking frequent mock tests is essential if you wish to attain confidence on the D-day. But are coaching institutes mandatory? Most experts feel that students can do without them. But sometimes the teachers at school are not trained enough to handle or impart the approach needed to crack entrance exams. "Many students come to us without seeking help from such centres. I suppose coaching outside the school can help if you are preparing for multiple exams along with handling the pressure to perform well in boards," says Gurunarayanan. To sum it up, outline your strategy at least a year before the exam. This is the only way you can minimise the luck factor. Gunaa A V RANKED 16TH IN IITJEE-2009 One of the factors which should be given crucial importance is the person's health. I do not think I would have been able to achieve my dream if I had followed an erratic sleep pattern or skipped my meals, which many of my peers did. My strategy was to utilise my active and energetic hours for my studies and the rest of the day for relaxation or leisure. When getting admission into an IIT becomes your ambition, you are in for a long haul. There would be a lot of ups and downs. Do not get discouraged by small failures and use them to push yourself towards improvement. Plan your studies well, so that your entire syllabus is covered well before the exam and the final few weeks can be devoted solely to revision and solving sample papers. The D-day and the night before are crucial. If you do not click on that one day, all your effort goes down the drain. So maintain proper sleep pattern and try not to get too worked up in the examination hall. While attempting the paper, do not linger on a particular question for too long. Keep moving or you might miss the easier questions at the back due to lack of time. I would also want to emphasise that during my preparation I did not leave anything to luck. I do not believe that there is anything that cannot be overcome by hard work.