Strategies for preparing for JEE mains exam

The JEE Main is the first challenge in a student's journey to enter the prestigious Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT). JEE Main is attempted by over 10 lakh students every year. Only the top 2.5 lakh students qualify for JEE Advanced. Given the highly competitive nature of the exam, it is imperative for aspiring students to have a clear strategy to succeed. A JEE Main preparation framework for students is presented here.

General pointers

♦ JEE Main tests students on an almost equal percentage of concepts from grades 11 and 12. Students should make sure that they revise grade 11 topics at regular intervals.

♦ Based on the experience of past few years , there are around 135 easy to moderate questions in exam. The cut-off for qualification is 80 – 95. A well-prepared student can qualify quite comfortably.

♦ Begin preparations by making a weekly plan. Set achievable targets. Always set aside one day in a week for revision. Be well versed in the basics of all the subjects.

♦ Break down your study sessions into 3-hour time slots. Get into the habit of making notes. Ensure that you highlight important points in your notes. The notes will be invaluable in your final revision sessions.

♦ Attempt chapter wise and full syllabus mock tests. Steadily increase your mock test count week after week. NTA Abhyas is also a useful resource for your preparation. Graduate to previous years' question papers after you have finished a sizable number of mock tests.

♦ Good guidance from teachers is invaluable. Ensure that you choose a good institute for your preparations.

♦ Data shows that only 5% of students diligently follow their study schedule.

♦ It is usually these students who qualify for IIT. Consistency is the key to success.

♦ Finally, limit social media use. Keep away from phones, laptops, and the internet during your deep study sessions.

Beyond these general good practices, you can employ specific preparation strategies for each subject. These strategies will help maximize your chances of scoring above the cut off marks.

Chemistry

Breakdown your preparation for inorganic, organic and physical chemistry in the following way:

♦ Inorganic Chemistry

1) Read 1 chapter a day from NCERT. Repeat this practice until the final exam.

2) Making short notes which consists of orders, compositions, and periodic trends.

3) Focusing more on chemical bond, complex compounds, metallurgy, salt analysis

4) Practice only NCERT problems.

♦ Physical Chemistry

1) Be well versed with all

formulas from physical chemistry chapters

2) Focusing more on concepts

3) Carefully analyse graphs.

4) Practice 10 problems of mixed concepts every day.

5) Solving questions without using calculator

6) Practice reading "incorrect & correct" carefully in the questions.

♦ Organic Chemistry

1) Revise memory-based topics for half an hour every day.

2) Practicing 5 fresh questions daily.

3) Focus on the errors from your mock tests and Grant tests. List the errors and revisit them frequently to ensure that you do not repeat mistakes.

Physics

Identify your strong and weak topics. Arrange them in order of their importance in JEE Main and the ease of topics.

1) First complete revision of strong topics in the order of list prepared by following the steps listed below:

i) Go through every single concept as fast as possible from your notes and NCERT textbook.

ii) Make short notes of important topics from each chapter, formulae and equations which will help in final preparation before the final exam.

iii) Solve tough questions identified and marked during first phase of your preparation

iv) Solve NCERT exemplars (if possible) but cover previous year questions most importantly 2019, 2020, and 2021 papers conducted by NTA, chapter wise.

2) After completion of strong topics, begin focussing on your weak areas. Follow the steps below:

i) Cover the important concepts from notes and NCERT textbook.

ii) Complete previous year questions from JEE Mains 2019, 2020 & 2021, as necessary.

iii) Solve only questions that are already solved or for which solution is available.

iv) Avoid practicing unsolved questions.

v) Use the books and notes used in the last two years to practice for the exams.

3) Some topics are important for JEE Main. Focus more on the ones listed here.

i) Semiconductors

ii) Communication system

iii) EM-Waves

iv) Forced & Damped oscillations

v) Classical magnetism

vi) Diffraction & Polarisation

vii) Optical instruments

4) For other topics, reading highlighted notes and NCERT textbook is especially important.

5) Solving previous JEE Mains questions thoroughly is sufficient.

Mathematics

Understand the JEE Main pattern. List down the weightage for each chapter and familiarize yourself with the type of questions that will be asked.

1) Complete the NCERT textbook thoroughly first and then pick the reference books.

2) Spend most of your time for understanding the high weightage concepts and topics.

3) Prepare short notes while studying which will be helpful for the final revision.

4) Revise previous years' papers. Carefully observe and note the type of questions, their wording and level.

5) Practice mock tests, DPPs & previous year papers. Solving mock tests help you evaluate JEE Main preparation level and improve your time management skills

6) In mock tests, make a habit of attempting simple questions first. Consciously avoid spending a long time on any single question. You can always come back to a tricky question later.

7) Meticulously note your errors

8) Revise the concepts where errors were committed

The strategies listed here can are sufficient for any student to qualify for JEE Main. The key is to be consistent in implementing the above strategy. Any student who can do so will succeed in making it to the IIT's.

(The author is the Core Dean, The Narayana Group)