5 Things Which Defined My JEE Journey

A fundamental question I thought about before writing this post was – “What will someone take away with them after reading this?” It is a tricky question, because there are hundreds, if not thousands of similar posts, scattered across blogs, QnA sites and YouTube channels. Each gives in complete detail which books to use, how many hours to put in, what is considered ‘enough’ for JEE. There are also people who have secured a better rank than me, and whose inputs are perhaps a bit more valuable than mine.

So, I decided to focus a bit more on what made my JEE journey unique – in this post, I will highlight the five things I felt stand out the most out of the last two (and a half, thanks to COVID!) years of my life, and had the most impact on my preparation as well as me as a person. Here goes!

1. Overcoming Tricky Beginnings

I took admission into FIITJEE South Delhi’s integrated school program in class 11^th. Ultimately it turned out to be a good decision because it helped me cut a lot of travelling time and gave me ample time for self -study. At the outset though, the decision wasn’t so easy, because classroom programmes were a lot more popular. Since most of my good friends had chosen them, I felt a bit reluctant in leaving them, knowing it would be difficult to see them over the next two years.

On joining the programme, the first few days went smoothly with relatively simple topics such as sets, stoichiometry and vectors being covered. Then came something which I was not prepared for. The physics teacher wanted to start a topic called kinematics which required that we know a bit of calculus. As difficult as that was, since a lot of my batch-mates had already covered that topic, I felt it was rushed over. I felt confused and just plain overwhelmed, and there was even a point when I felt like quitting the course. It took my parents to finally calm me down and figure out what course of action to take.

I decided I had to put a bit of extra effort; a few days later I was doing much better. I hadn’t mastered the topic, but just hanging in there helped a lot. I think the beginning is the most turbulent phase of JEE preparation, which can make or break. Later on, everything tends to smoothen out and “settle” – but the ‘never give up’ attitude which you get at this point is crucial. (By the way, calculus became my favourite topic in class 12)

2. Sunday Evenings Off

Although this sounds alarmingly contrary to the advice given by teachers and mentors, I adopted this policy quite early into my preparation. I used to keep a “cut-off time” on Sundays, usually around 5-6 PM after which I wouldn’t touch my books or talk about anything related to JEE. I used to go out on a drive somewhere with my parents, watch a movie, enjoy sports, listen to music, etc.

I think this really helped ‘reset’ my mind, and prevented fatigue or burnout. It also helped me work much harder on the rest of the days of the week. When the mind is refreshed, studying for 10-12 hours a day doesn’t seem too difficult.

Although you may feel you are wasting a bit of time, when you think about the big picture, the advantages seem clear. Suppose you study for 10 hours a day on average. On Sunday, say you only study for 6 hours. You think that you studied only for 66 hours instead of the possible 70. But remember, these 66 hours are going to be much more productive as compared to the 70 you are going to have the next week. The effect is going to continue to get magnified over time. So, taking a break of reasonable length is definitely important.

Everyone may not need to take an entire evening off. Some may feel a few hours are enough. Some may not even feel like taking a break till they feel their efficiency is truly down. It varies from person to person, and I recommend finding what suits you best.

3. Overcoming my Math hang-up

I recently read a document in which math was called “the great divider” - there are those who love it, and then there are those who just can’t stand it. I don’t think I belonged to either category when I began my JEE preparation, which was why my marks in math were lukewarm – not great, not terrible.

In tests held by my institute, I would score around 60-70% in chemistry, but only around 40-50% in math. I realized I needed to improve this, and as most readers would know, there is only one way to do so – practice.

Math problems, especially the ones in the JEE, require one to have a certain aptitude or mentality of problem solving. It is not hard to acquire, but it takes time. One of the major challenges I faced due to starting in class 11 was that a lot of my peers were adept at this, having started early. Often, I found myself asking them, “how in the world did you think of this?”

Later on, I discovered that it was not possible to build this aptitude just by solving simple problems (which too is necessary!) but rather brainstorm on tougher problems. Early on, it is important to give sufficient time to difficult problems, and only read the solution after giving it all possible attempts. It somehow unlocks different ‘pathways’ in the brain. It is a slow process, but with great results. It may even take a few months, but if you stick at it, you will begin to surprise yourself by solving problems you may have thought as impossible a few weeks ago.

Overall, I became much more confident in math in the 2^nd half of my preparation. Perhaps the peak moment was when I scored 100/100 in the JEE Main September session in math.

 4. Lockdown – getting stuff done

I think the biggest test for this years’ aspirants was the lockdown due to COVID-19. Initially, the extra time to study and revise felt like a boon, but as time progressed, it became increasingly clear that exams were not going to be held anytime soon. Those five months were an extreme test of everyone’s patience, but I think those who were consistent really benefitted from it.

Personally, the lockdown consisted of two of the most productive periods of my preparation. In April, I kept a target of revising the complete JEE syllabus thoroughly in one month, with a proper daily schedule consisting of which topics to study, and how much time each topic had to be given. I was extremely happy that I was able to set a target and get it done, and it gave me a lot of confidence, which rubbed off in my review test results as well.

The second most productive period were the months of May & June when I did extensive testing and analysis. I was giving at least two JEE Advanced pattern papers a day, and a third paper which was either Advanced or Main pattern. The best day was one in which I solved 4 papers. (yes, that’s 12 hours of testing!) Putting in that kind of effort just felt incredible and I think it helped increase my exam day stamina.

It did have its downsides though, because through this effort I was preparing to peak in July when the JEE Main was supposed to be held, but it was postponed a second time, causing a bit of fatigue. I got over this by just reducing the intensity a bit for a few days and then getting back into the groove closer to the exam. I was also a bit disappointed due to continuous postponement of the exam, and also the online propaganda which started in late August. Talking to my parents and a couple of good friends definitely helped me a lot in dealing with it.

5. Handling Pressure

This was probably the most important thing in my JEE preparation. Pressure can do strange things. I have seen it happen countless times in sport, and so have you probably. JEE is not too different from that.

We all feel pressure, and it is impossible to reduce it to zero, nor is it advisable to do so. We perform our best under optimum pressure. Remove the pressure and we become casual. The chances of silly mistakes increase. On the other hand, if there is too much pressure, the body becomes tense, the breathing becomes jagged and we start forgetting things we are expected to remember.

JEE questions can sometimes even seem simple at a casual glance. But looking at the question paper in the comforts of home is many times easier than looking at it in the examination hall. Examination pressure is real, and you can mess up big time if you haven’t faced it before, or do not know how to handle it.

I can’t claim to have mastered handling pressure. Even I made a few mistakes in JEE which I may not have made normally, but that’s the point – don’t expect that your paper should go as normal, or as per some pre-decided image of how you think it should go. I tried my best to follow the routines I normally follow and kept confidence in my preparation, such that even if I gave an average performance, I knew I would do well.

I think creating an unreasonable expectation of having a ‘perfect performance’ can end up creating too much pressure. You can only prepare for any target with your preparation, and as long as that is good, be confident that you will perform reasonably well. Don’t get me wrong - while preparing, always keeping high targets. That ensures that even if you miss you still end up in a good situation. But once you’re sitting in the exam hall, forget about your targets and only focus on the basics like reading the question carefully, etc.

Bonus: Books I followed

For those interested in which books I used for my JEE preparation, here you go.

Mathematics:

1.      Cengage Math for JEE Advanced by G. Tewani

2.      Advanced Problems in Mathematics by Vikas Gupta (Black Book)

3.      Problems in Calculus by Sameer Bansal

Physics:

1.      Concepts of Physics by HC Verma

2.      JEE Physics by DC Pandey

3.      Problems in General Physics by I.E. Irodov

4.      Science for Everyone by SS. Krotov (Only Mechanics)

Chemistry:

1.      Physical Chemistry: N Awasthi, Cengage DPPs

2.      Inorganic Chemistry: VK Jaiswal

3.      Organic Chemistry: Cengage (theory), MS Chouhan (for problems)

I also solved FIITJEE packages and sheets, and previous year problems for all subjects. 

Hopefully I achieved what I set out to do, and you found something of value in my post. It will be great to know if you have views on it. How do you think one can handle pressure in a better way? Be sure to express your thoughts down below in the comments. Have a great day.