With just about a few weeks left for the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) – Main and Advanced – to commence, it is easily evident that this stretch is probably the most crucial period to make or break one’s preparation up until this point. One of the most important things to do during this time is practice question papers – lots of them, be it mock tests or previous papers. The tactics and experience you gain from simply solving lots of papers will help a lot during the actual exam. That being said, here are a few things to keep in mind while taking the actual exam.
- When you receive the question paper, always start solving it from the subject you are the most comfortable with. My preferred order was CMP, for instance. Make sure you identify what order gives you the best advantage in solving the paper quickly. Note that it is advisable to do physics last as maths and chemistry can be completed fast, and physics involves sums which are relatively more time-consuming.
- There need not be any particular order in solving the questions. My maths teacher used to believe the ideal way is to first skim through all the questions in a subject, identifying the easy questions and solving them first. So typically, each subject can be divided into 2-3 rounds of question-solving based on the difficulty levels. This will surely be a useful thing to do in terms of making the optimum use of time.
- If stuck at a question, do not waste your valuable time trying to solve it. Also, panicking will NOT do you any good. Simply postpone it to later, after finishing other and possibly more do-able questions. This might seem easy to do but it often gets the best of us.
- It is very important to avoid calculation errors, e.g., questions in physics and physical chemistry. One little mistake will simply cost you the answer. Hence, practise a lot to try to reduce your calculation errors. While practising, you might tend to neglect the calculation part of any answer, thinking it is trivial, but calculating the final answer during practice is important to increase calculation efficiency.
- On a similar note, physically put the pen on the paper while calculating the answer. Try to avoid mental calculations in the final stages of deriving the answer.
- Although this is obvious, don’t leave an unattempted question blank if it has no negative marking.
- Lastly, never forget to re-check your answers. You never know when you mistakenly mark a wrong option, or perform silly mistakes.
Bear in mind that all your effort learning concepts and practising problems over the last two years will add up to how you perform in the exam. Sleep well the night before the exam, eat heartily to make you energized for the day, and avoid last minute preparations. So, keep these tips in mind and take the exam with a calm and collected state of mind, and simply give your best! Good luck for those who are appearing in JEE 2017!