With only a few days left for JEE Advance 2014, students need to follow a strategic approach in preparing for the exam. They need to take a lot of mock tests to get familiar with the pattern, says Ramesh Batlish
The JEE Advanced (formerly known as IIT-JEE ) is an annual college entrance examination of the IITs in India. It is one of the toughest engineering entrance exams in the world. About 1.5 lakh students will be shortlisted from JEE (Main) to appear for the JEE (Advanced) 2014 on May 25, 2014. The syllabi of Class 11 and Class 12 contribute about 45 per cent and 55 per cent of IIT-JEE question papers respectively.
Those who also qualify to be in the top 20 percentile of their respective Class XII boards and clear the JEE(Advanced) will make it to the final merit list of the IITs. For cracking JEE Advanced 2014, students must focus on three things while preparing for it i.e. building the concepts, proper applications of concepts and practice of JEE level problems.
The correct approach is to stick to one source and not to refer to multitude of books/ study material available in the market. For example, it’s sufficient to go through study-packages, IIT-JEE archives, review-packages, work-books, grand masters package or equivalent, AITS/AIITS series etc, supplied by FIITJEE if the student is enrolled in any of its programmes. To reap benefits, the students, throughout preparation period, should remain focused with a positive attitude to study with utmost concentration.
Strategy for attempting the questions
Positive attitude and harnessing the examination temperament built during preparation Read and follow all the instructions given in the question papers very carefully
Plan your time, keeping extra time in hand for revision Prioritise after a quick glance and start answering with the question you know best and move progressively to the ones you find difficult after attempting the complete paper.
You must attempt questions carrying no negative marks Don’t be nervous if you find the paper tough since it is the relative performance that counts. Hence put your best analytical mind to work, it will take you ahead.
Cracking the JEE (ADVANCED) 2014
All the three subjects are important; the student must devote equal time for all subjects. Major focus must be on the topics of Class XII boards and then revision of Class XI topics must follow. 2 to 3 hours per subject is the minimum time one must put on daily basis solving JEE level problems. Students are advised to avoid selective study in Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics. The reason being, the number of questions is more in the objective papers where there is intermingling of concepts from various topics.
Majority of the topics of JEE are also covered in Boards, hence it is recommended that one must prepare for both the exams simultaneously. The student must practice all NCERT problems.
Stay focussed and maintain a positive attitude.
Develop speed. Refer to reputed mock-test series to build a winning exam temperament. Solve the past year’s IIT-JEE papers. Focus on your weak areas and improve upon your concepts.
While studying, short breaks of 5 to 10 minutes every 1 to 2 hours of serious study is required. Completely relax when you take a break.
Five to six hours of sleep every night is a must, especially three-four days before IIT-JEE to keep you physically and mentally fit.
Students should prepare the chapter-wise, topic-wise revision schedule. They should create short notes, list all formulae and points to remember.
MATHEMATICS
More attention should be paid to topics like vectors and 3-D than probability or indefinite integration as vectors and 3-D offers very less scope to examiner, as far as variety in problem is concerned. Also every year 2 to 3 problems of complex numbers are asked. Hence mastering complex numbers, vectors, 3-D and definite integral must be on top priority.
Algebra can be made easier if you’ve the ability to picture functions as graphs and are good at applying vertical and horizontal origin shifts carefully as zeroes of functions and other specific values can be done in much less time using these techniques. Differential calculus again relates well to roots of equations, especially if you use the Rolle’s and lagrange’s theorems.
Combination and probability is another important topic in algebra. You need to be thorough with the basics of Bayes theorem, derangements and various ways of distribution, taking care of cases where objects are identical and when they aren’t. Matrices can be related to equations, hence a 3x3 matrix can actually be visualised as being three-planed in 3D geometry. Determinants have some very nice properties, for instance, the ability to break them into two using a common summand from a row/ column, which should be made use of in tougher questions. Integral calculus can be simplified using tricks and keeping in mind some basic varieties of integrable functions. Remembering the properties and applying them wisely saves lot of time.
Coordinate geometry requires a good working knowledge of the parametric forms of various conic sections and an ability to convert the other, tougher ones to these basic forms and then interpret the solutions accordingly.
CHEMISTRY
Conceptual clarity, application skills and awareness to the prescribed syllabus should be the main focus. Practice the most relevant numerical daily to develop speed. Pay special attention to the topics like mole concept, chemical equilibrium and electrochemistry. Take a careful and patient approach for organic chemistry giving particular attention to the topics like stereochemistry, GOC (General Organic Chemistry) and functional group analysis.
In inorganic chemistry most of the questions which are asked are really conceptual, concerned with structures, processes and applications.
PHYSICS
Mechanics is one topic of Physics that is considered less scoring by most experts. However, to add to the dilemma this is also the topic that forms the major portion of the JEE Advance in terms of marks. So this topic cannot be neglected.
One must also try to concentrate on other scoring topics to ensure a better performance, for example optics, electricity and magnetism, etc.
Kinematics and particle dynamics are important topics of mechanics that make regular appearance in the JEE papers. According to the general trends, mechanics and electricity and magnetism are the most important topics in terms of the number of questions asked in JEE of previous years. Thermodynamics is important from the terms of both physics and chemistry so concentrate on that as well.
It is wise to cover wave optics first in optics topic. The reason is that the portion is smaller compared to ray optics thus quick to cover.
The writer is FIITJEE counselor and expert.