Dedicate a year to IIT-JEE prep

One year of continuous devotion and focus only on IIT-JEE preparation can enable a student to reach their goal, says Partha Halder

It is the dream of every engineering aspirant to study at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) which is considered to be the finest technical institute in India and hold premium position worldwide too.  But, the path leading to an IIT is quite challenging. To overcome such challenge one must plan early in their career, prepare a systematic plan and most importantly adhere to that plan so as to be able to get closer the goal.

In reality, most often we come across students preparing a half baked plan, hurriedly framed goal, moreover by appearing in IITJEE and Class XII Board exam in the same year further adds a new dimension of challenge making things real difficult. The cumulative effect impacts the overall performance and erodes self confidence. Hence it requires developing an attitude to ‘rise’ from the fall. Over the years, we have seen students who have meticulously planned their goal and are very clear of  ‘which college to join’ and ‘which branch to study’ are the ones who are able to crack the IIT-JEE exam effortlessly. So, does that mean a student should begin fresh with a plan and invest one additional year for IITJEE preparationIJ The answer could be ‘Yes’.

Then, how would you decide if dropping one year for IIT-JEE preparation applies to youIJ

Could not qualify in JEE Main for JEE Advanced: It usually happens due to one and/or combination of the following reasons:

• Couldn’t perform on the day of JEE Main exam.
• Couldn’t revise on time especially Class XI syllabus due to high degree of focus on Class XII Boards.
• lack of practice in simulated test environment.
• lack of exam temperament.
• lack of effective revision notes.
• Neglected NCERT books and inadequate preparation.

Cleared JEE Main for JEE Advanced, but performance in JEE Advanced is below expectation: If you cleared JEE Main, implies that you are good. But to get past JEE Advanced one has to exhibit superlative performance. Hence if the performance is below expectation which usually happens due to one and/or combination of the following reasons:

• Couldn’t perform on the day of the JEE Advanced exam.
• Couldn’t deal with the surprise element especially with the introduction of three column options under matrix match type questions wherein all three column requdn’t handle the pressure.
• Silly ired to be matched which turned out to be little difficult and time consuming too.
• Coulcalculation mistake(s).
• Couldn’t utilise the six to seven weeks time effectively between JEE Main and JEE Advanced in the absence of clear cut study/revision strategy.
• lack of exam temperament.

You focused entirely on Class XII board exam with little and/ or no focus on JEE Main and Advanced:

You thought of giving 100 per cent for Class XII Board exam. Hence, your alignment and orientation in terms of IITJEE preparation couldn’t take up requisite shape.

lack of exposure to competitive exams in junior classes (ie Class VIII onwards) and also in Class XI and XII, preventing development of competitive mindset which is required to do well in IITJEE:

By appearing in competitive exams from an early age, it helps to develop IQ, logical and analytical thinking ability, enables to perform consistently under exam conditions, helps in competitive mindset development and boosts confidence. All of these are essential skills which are required, apart from subject knowledge to do well in IITJEE.

Expectation mismatch in terms of branch of study and/ or choice of colleges: The branch/college options that a student gets based on ‘All India Rank’ at times do not match targeted branch/college.

BENEFITS OF INVESTING ONE MORE YEAR FOR IIT-JEE

• Decrease pressure— single focused approach towards JEE (Advanced and Main)
• Opportunity to learn from previous mistakes and hence avoid them
• Scope for enhanced preparation
• Scope to outshine previous performance (if appeared for JEE Main and Advanced)
• Scope to get into a premium college matching one’s expectation
• Traits of reputed colleges
• Excellent academics
• Excellent faculties
• Excellent research opportunity
• Infrastructure
• Extracurricular and sports facilities
• Excellent placement opportunity for example IIT Delhi tops the chart amongst its peers in terms of placement support for the current batch.
• Enables to keep provision for other good colleges as Plan B.

There are several good engineering institutes like National Institutes of Technology (NITs), Indian Institutes of Information Technology (IIITs) and Government-Funded Technical Institutions (GFTIs) that offers admission to the students who qualify in JEE Main. Students are enrolled into their undergraduate engineering programmes on the basis of their JEE Main ranks.

The decision to invest one more year preparing for IIT-JEE should be a conscious one and shouldn’t be looked as if the only option left arising out of failure. In fact, one should keep in mind that ‘Falling does not mean Failing’. We can only learn from the fall and make necessary changes to avoid repetition in future. But, it is imperative to keep in mind that structured and scientific approach to preparation can see you through and here are few tips from FIITJEE expert on the way forward:

• Don’t drift away from the syllabus/prescribed books: It is the general tendency among students to consult too many study materials and/or test papers as a result they end up studying more than is required. Hence, students should focus only on the syllabus pertaining to IIT-JEE.
• Analyse ‘what’ went wrong and ‘why’ it went wrong in JEE (Main and Advanced)
• Identify the weak areas and consult an expert faculty.
• Start fresh and from scratch with requisite focus on Class XI and XII syllabus.
• Remember, you need a competitive environment while studying, so that you get to learn from the peer group. look out for such a group or join a coaching institute that offers one.
• Prepare weekly study plan with study milestones marked. Stick to it under any circumstances.
• Focus on the fundamental concepts and its application.
• Try to finish the syllabus by December 2017, so that you could revise appropriately.
• Prepare good quality revision notes so that you can engage in quick revision at a later stage. If you are going to re-appear for the boards, ensure you are preparing your model answer and notes too.
• lWrite sufficient number of standard All India mock tests to see how you are progressing. Analyse every test performance. Monitor your percentile in the mocks to see that you are featuring in top category of students consistently. Review it with ‘Rank Potential Index’ — an indicator which enables you to understand the kind of rank you could expect in the actual exam based on the preparation level at the time of writing the mock exam.
• lStrength and weakness analysis: Students reappearing for IIT-JEE will always have an edge since they have already gone through the process/experience of writing the exam before. They would exactly know ‘what to do’ and ‘what not to do’ in the second attempt. Hence, a student should always keep the previous experience of do’s and don’ts in mind.

Realising the previous performance and appearing for the IIT-JEE in the second attempt is not a poor decision. One year of continuous devotion and focus only on IIT-JEE preparation can enable a student to reach their goal.

The writer is Centre Head of FIITJEE Punjabi Bagh