Smart planner for Boards and IIT-JEE

This is a transcript of my article Published in HT Horizons , March 4, 2009 by the same title.

Smart planner for Boards and IIT-JEE
As students sit for their class XII exams, Ambarish Srivastava gives last-minute guidance on
how to balance Boards and IIT-JEE preparation

How to prepare without losing tempo?
As far as Board examinations are concerned,at this stage solving the past 10-year papers would be very helpful in order to prepare well in a short time.
As far as IIT-JEE is concerned,one should solve as many questions as possible from a good source (such as GMP); if time Is less then one may decide to do the odd numbered problems or if one has even lesser time one may choose to attempt the prime number problems. One must understand that the most portion of the syllabus for the Board exams is also a part of the IIT-JEE syllabus and therefore, If one is preparing for IIT-JEE one should be able to handle most numerical problems of Board examinations with relative ease.
IIT-JEE is a low scoring exam; In order to do well, one need not be proficient in
all the topics. In fact, the cutoff may go as low as up to 40-45 per cent So If one has not studied certain topics, one might as well leave them out altogether. If you have thorough understanding of even 70 per cent of the topics, still you may be able to do fairly well In IIT-JEE.


Tips to help you

Examination temperament: What matters really Is not how much we know,' but It Is how much we are able to deliver on the day of the examination. It Is important to get the feel of solving problems In an actual examination situation and for this one must take a number of mock tests.

The good, the bad, the ugly: You need not attempt all the questions on the IIT-JEE examination paper. Even before you start attempting the paper you can classify the questions into 'The good', 'The bad' and 'The ugly". Good questions are those which you feel you will be able to attempt with relative ease. The bad questions are those you think you might be able to answer with some difficulty and ugly ones are those which seem to be too difficult to waste time on in an examination situation. This will save you from time pressure. Even if you are able to attempt just 60 per cent of the questions and do them correctly, you will get a good rank. Many times in a hurry to attempt all the questions, students end up making a lot of silly mistakes and hence get a very low score.

Stay cool: Do not panic. In computer parlance, worry and brooding eat in- to your RAM, and hence your effectiveness in studies will reduce. Understand that even if you are not able to make It to the IITs, it is not end of the world. If you stay cheerful, your grasping ability will double and so also your ability to perform in the actual examination.

Beware of negative marking: If you are not sure of the answer to a question, do not attempt. Know that every single mark counts.

Chemistry should not be neglected: Chemistry is the most scoring paper in IIT-JEE and the one
good thing is that In chemistry, you can score more marks In a relatively small amount of time because many of the questions are simply knowledge based and do not require calculations.

Time management
Time management will differ from Individual to Individual. On an average, the attention span of a JEE-aspirant is about two hours, so it is generally a good idea to take a small break after every two hours. Be selective In your studies. Try to optimise the available time. Do not try to spend a lot of time in solving the same type of problems. Make sure that you have memorised all the standard results so that you don't end up wasting the exam time in deriving the results. For the board examinations, you should memorize the theory part of subjective type questions as per the standard text books.

Comparison of Questions (IIT JEE Vs. Boards)
While the syllabus of the Board examinations is almost a subset of the IIT-JEE syllabus, the nature of the questions asked in the two examinations is different. IITs focus more on conceptual and deep understanding of the subjects while, most of the questions asked in the Board examinations are straight forward, direct applications of the standard results. Hence If one is preparing for IIT JEE, the numerical questions asked in the Board examinations are automatically taken care of. However, there are certain descriptive questions asked in the Boards for which the theory must be memorized from the standard text books. There are also certain topics which are there in the Boards but not In the IIT-JEE syllabus.

PCM
As far as physics is concerned, mechanics is relatively easier. Modern physics and thermodynamics are also scoring topics so one must pay careful attention to them. In chemistry, organic happens to be most scoring and If one understands the principles, the questions can be attempted with relative ease. In mathematics, one should especially have a good understanding of vectors, calculus and the coordinate geometry.

-------------Following part of article was not written by me---------------
"I focussed on Boards in March as I was preparing for IIT-JEE until February. The preparatory leave students get before Board exams are more than enough, provided one has studied during term exams and pre-Boards. Some people consider JEE completely diffferent from the Board exams but this Is not true. Only the focus is different. Board exams are theory-based while JEE calls for a practical approach. On top of it, If you are focussed on JEE, Board's marks shouldn't matter much though I managed to score 90 per cent."

SHASHANK SINGLA
Third-year student BTech (electrical), Indian Institute of
Technology (Delhi)
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Currently Ambarish Srivastava is a Professor of Physics, Faculty Training Coordinator and Centre Coordinator at FIITJEE Limited, Faridabad Centre.