When it comes to JEE preparation, we all are ready to put in as much effort as possible but still, we end up doing bad at times. Why? The fear of test papers.
Well, in this post I
will describe my strategy – how I tackled the paper.
Important note: This is my strategy,
it worked for me, it might not work for you. Experiment with all of this on a
usual coaching exam. Do not change your strategy on the final day of the exam. So,
to make it interesting, let’s do it in a Q/A format.
What was your sequence
of solving the paper?
Initially it varied a great
deal. But by the end, I decided on one.
First was Physics followed by Chemistry and Maths in the end. I followed
this pattern for both, JEE Main and Advanced.
-Why Physics first?
Well, I was strongest
at Physics. I am usually able to do 90% of the Physics paper in 45 minutes.
-Why Mathematics in the
end?
Maths consumes a lot of
time. If the maths papers is hard, you can end up wasting a lot of time and so,
you might end up spoiling the other 2 subjects.
-Why Chemistry in
between?
It’s obvious that
Physics is first and Maths is last so Chemistry has to come in between. Usually
the chemistry paper acts as a boost. You can solve almost all of it in 30
minutes and so, this is a relief of sorts that more than 1.5 hours remain for
maths.
This used to be my
usual tendency, but I was always ready to change it, in case Physics section is
real hard.
However, having solve
the hardest of problems in FIITJEE AITS, I was confident that Physics paper
cannot so hard that I have to solve Chemistry/Maths first. I had realized that
Physics was my strength and so, irrespective of the difficulty, I solved it
first. This realization wasn’t made in the beginning, but made after lots of
experience of solving papers of varying difficulty levels.
-What was your strategy
to tackle the paper?
I used to solve the
paper in rounds. In the first round, I used to solve those questions, whose
solution used to strike me at once, without even a minute of thinking. For me,
such questions made up around 70% of the paper. This round would usually last
for 2 hours. (Note that this varies from student to student. Something which
strikes you easily might not be clear to me at all!)
Simply read the
question, think for 30 seconds on what to do, solve it!
The second round lasts
for 1 hour towards the end of paper. You solve those questions first which are
lengthy (but you know the method) and so you left them in round 1.
At least for Chemistry
(organic and inorganic), you either know the answer, or you don’t. It is rarely
the case that you can “think” and then answer “strikes”
you. So, organic and inorganic chemistry can really be solved in 15 minutes –
be it JEE level or FIITJEE AITS level.
For Maths, Physics and Physical
Chemistry, if you are prepared well enough, you will be ready with a solution
immediately after reading the problem and then you should spend a few seconds
to plan the approach/scribble on paper.
Then you move on to
those, which are probably hard and the solution isn’t trivial. They require
great understanding of the concepts and maybe super hard to think.
An average student
might not be able to come up with the solution to those problems easily. You
really have to be above average to solve those problems – well, such questions
have to be present else there won’t be any difference between AIR 1 and the guy
who isn’t selected.
You can be patient in
round 2. It might happen that you are just sitting for 5 minutes, doing nothing
but wondering which question to do – all seem to be hard. Don’t worry, do not
panic, here is a method:
·
If
you are completely stuck in round 2 and you aren’t able to solve ANY problem
now, then move to the subject at which you are strongest.
·
You
might be unlucky and it might happen that the subject at which you are
strongest is the hardest this time. In this case, make a wise decision between
your strongest subject and the subject which is the easiest (you are well aware
of paper’s difficulty level because you completed round 1.
·
Now
stick to a few questions of the subject chosen above. You are more likely to
solve the questions of this subject. You can make intelligent guesses seeing
the options. You can eliminate choices. Do not make blind guesses in questions
which have negative marking (now the whole paper has negative marking, so
better to rather avoid guess work)
·
You
should be able to increase your score by around 10% in round 2. If you are able
to solve 80% of the paper, you can be assured of a good rank.
·
If
nothing works and you are just not getting anything in round 2, don’t panic.
You can revise the questions of round 1 (especially the lengthy, calculation
intensive ones)
Once the
paper ends, here comes the most important part:
·
Anyhow
arrange the solutions/answer keys
·
Find
out where you lost marks
·
Is
there a specific subject at which you did really bad?
·
If
yes, then did you perform poorly in specific type of questions?
·
Did
you commit silly mistakes?
·
Did
you read the question incorrectly?
·
Did
you misunderstand question’s wordings?
·
Did
a particular question have a shorter trick which you didn’t know?
These
questions help you actually improve. They are the ones which will help you to
evaluate yourself. It is your responsibility to ensure that you do not make the
same mistakes again.