Story of My JEE preparation.
Hello,
My name is Divyansh Pandey , I am 18 years old and have recently finished my entrance exams , JEE to be precise. I wanted to share the entire journey and hence the idea of this blog materialized.
I would like to divide this blogpost into two parts.
1. Part A — My own experience of JEE preparation
2. Part B- Tips / important points for any upcoming aspirant
PART — A
With respect to the exams , my credentials are :
· KVPY SX Fellow ( AIR 1136)
· JEE Mains AIR 1709 (99.82 percentile)
· JEE Advanced AIR 2248
· TS Eamcet AIR 363
The start of the journey
I started my JEE preparation formally from class 11. In class 10th I was enrolled in a foundation course but they didn’t stress specifically on JEE. On 18th March 2020 , our board exams of class 10th came to an end and I was very excited because I would now get the opportunity to study physics of “higher level”. At that point , I didn’t think or had any inclination towards JEE .
I just wanted to study physics because I was fascinated by that subject. So I came home took some rest , and then I started reading the first chapter of physics from my sister’s NCERT textbook. It was highly unconventional for a teenager to start studying class 11 physics on the evening when their board exam concluded but I did not mind it. I liked what I was doing.
Slowly , I started reading other subjects as well. The COVID-19 lockdown which came into picture almost at that time gave me more time to study as schools were shut down. I had taken admission in Aakash institute even before my board exams had started and the classes began around May. At first it was very difficult to adjust to the online environment . I had to cope with around 50 other students who took a lot of time to grasp even the most elementary concepts ,hence the pace of the classes were too slow. I started studying syllabus on my own and I enjoyed doing that.
Most students struggle in the beginning of 11th as everything is radically different from what they studied in previous classes. But since I had attended foundation classes , it was much more comfortable for me. 11th was going really well , my performance in the tests was satisfactory and I kept trying to score more and more.
Experience with KVPY:
When I was in class 10th , I had come to know about an exam called as the Kishore Vaigyanik Protsahan Yojna ( KVPY )
I was fascinated by the prospective of the exam and it’s value in the scientific society and I was determined to crack it in class 11. Since the SA stream (class 11) also included biology , I took out some time to read class 11 and 12 biology as well. The exam was scheduled on 31st January 2021.
Little did I know that this day would become a turning point in my life.
My preparation was upto the mark , I was doing well in the mock tests . On the exam day however , I was overwhelmed by the idea of an actual national level exam and my nervousness got the better of me. I couldn’t solve the simplest questions and I also fell prey to the lengthy “trap” questions. Having considered physics as my strength I was ego driven to solve more questions in it which costed me a lot of time with no positive outcome. The exam felt like a complete disappointment , the results came out and I was not in the merit list which was really heartbreaking for me because the cutoff (52/100) wasn’t very high.
One month later I got to know my score — 51.5/100. The fact that I had missed the cutoff by 0.5 marks was very heartbreaking for me and opened my eyes to the fact that these exams are not just about solving questions in comfort of your home. You need to develop an exam temperament for the actual situation.
Class 12th :
Having worked hard in class 11 , class 12th felt like a breeze. The syllabus was certainly tougher but the momentum of just finishing chapters which one develops by studying consistently for a long period makes it very comfortable. I was focussing more on building exam temperament at this time. The home screen of my phone was my KVPY scorecard which reflected the 0.5 marks which I missed out on.
But preparation for JEE was furthermore complicated by the introduction of two board exams. The first term was much better than the second because of objective questions and didn’t pose a lot of problem.The second one however clashed with all entrance exams and I had mentally decided that I would not spend a lot of time on it.The exam season was approaching and we were still yet to know the tentative dates of any exam which became very frustrating. The months of January , February , March , April had no entrance exams which was really shocking. The first exam was KVPY SX stream which was on 22nd May 2022 . This exam held a lot of importance for me because I had to regain my confidence before JEE. This time , the paper was really difficult .The section 2 of physics was rated as a nightmare , more difficult than JEE Advanced papers as well.
But that day I was determined to not loose my confidence during the exam. I attempted the seemingly nightmarish paper with calm nerves and even attempted 6/10 questions in section 2 Physics ( out of which 5 were correct). I was really happy as I had performed to my full potential and this time I was in the merit list by a good margin.
I gave a couple of other exams ( UGEE — 106.5/150;didn’t clear interview , BITSAT — 300/390 , TS Eamcet ) and even the board exams which lied in between the other exams , fortunately they went well too. Then came the first major exam , JEE Mains June attempt , paper was moderate but I made a lot of mistakes and got 99.6 percentile , good but not enough for me, in the next attempt I got 99.82 percentile at 262/300 ( which was a little less than expected but good). At this point , I was completely thorough with the syllabus and even a little burnt out at this point. The exams had been delayed too much and it was becoming monotonous to just keep revising and giving tests again and again.
JEE advanced was scheduled on 28th August 2022. The D-day finally arrived and a lot of unexpected difficulties fell on me. To keep the story short , I faced a major technical issue which wasn’t resolved for the entire paper 1 reducing my score by atleast 20–30 marks.
The results came out on the day I turned 18 , I got a rank better than what I expected after the uneventful turn of events on the day of JEE Advanced and I was happy. It wasn’t the best end to the journey but I was glad that it did come to an end that I can’t complain much about.
PART — B
Here are some general insights I have after preparing for JEE. Some of them are very general and can be found in any JEE preparation article but they do hold their importance and can’t be omitted.
Books used :
I am saving physics for the last because that would be the most elaborate discussion.It is understood that apart from these all the coaching material is also to be solved.Also , keep in mind that solving books shouldn’t be your target. Most of the times our targets are oriented to solve X number of questions from a book and get lots of “tick marks” in it. That’s not the point. You have to develop your chapter knowledge through them. That doesn’t come by just “ticking” more questions. Ask yourself did you actually get this question with the proper Concept and method? This is what a book should be used for.
Chemistry :
· For physical chemistry ,I primarily used N.Awasthi’s problem book . It covers all the kinds of questions you can expect in physical chemistry and It is highly recommended.
· For Organic chemistry , I used Solomons and Frylhe’s Organic chemistry ( Indian adaptation) for reference purposed and used MS Chauhan’s problem book for practice. The former is mildly recommended and the latter is recommended strongly.
· For inorganic chemistry, I didn’t have any reference books except for JD LEE which I hardly used in the 2 years. I would not recommend it much. NCERT and class content should be enough.
Maths:
I mostly used coaching modules for maths and Vikas joshi’s Black book for additional practice. PYQ’s serve a lot of importance for maths. You can go for Arihant / Cengage series for all chapters ( I recommend Cengage having used Algebra and Coordinate geometry).
Physics:
I mostly want to talk about 2 books in physics that I absolutely adore.
1)Concepts of Physics by HC Verma — The work of the legend himself , this book is often referred to as the “Bhagwad Geeta” of JEE Physics. It focuses on building basic concepts of each chapter through a variety of questions curated specially for the Indian reader. The short answer questions of this book are a stroke of genius. They will allow you to think and explore more of any concept. They are expected to be discussed and debated upon with no solutions available.
2) Problems in general physics by I.E.Irodov — Another famous book in the JEE community , the Russian physicist left no stone unturned to provide us with some of the best questions to challenge a physics lover. Most people tend to get scared by it , but my personal experience says that the difficulty of Irodov is a bit overhyped. After a point it becomes completely doable . The mathematics skills required for this book is a bit calculus intensive so you need to be well versed with the different tools of calculus before attempting it.
I would also like to mention a book called Pathfinder(by Arvind Tiwari and Sachin Singh). The level of this book is much above JEE advanced difficulty. It is mainly curated for Olympiads. Solving it can be really demotivating. I would advise one to try it only if they have a lot of free time and an interest in Physics. I had this book but I solved only 10% of it. But I still keep it with me even after JEE because I want to keep solving it.
Needless to say apart from all these books NCERT is a must do for Physics and Chemistry ( not Maths).
General tips :
· Consistency: I strongly believe this is the key to success anywhere. Your efforts , no matter how small , if applied consistently will always yield positive outcomes ( They can name a law after me )
· Tests : Give A LOT of tests. And analyze them. I can only say that it is very important ( even more than knowing concepts ) but this is a very common point so I wont stress much on it
· Exam temperament : Throughout your preparation , keep developing your exam temperament. What it basically means is to perform the same way in the exam hall as you would at your home. This comes by practice and developing that mentality. Paper is difficult? IT IS difficult for everyone. In 2021 142/360 would have fetched you 7000–8000 rank. In 2022 (one of the toughest papers) It got me AIR 2248. So panicking or being nervous won’t help. Just do what you can no matter how less. You can never predict the outcome. Also brace yourself for an easy paper. If you ever feel the paper is easy , Be extra careful . One does more mistakes in an easy paper than a tough one because of haste and overconfidence
· Motivation: Find your source of motivation . It can be in any tangible / non tangible form. Something which can help you relax when you are tensed. And take breaks when you feel like it (just don’t overdo it)
Conclusion :
Overall , this journey has been a huge learning for me. Time management , hardwork , coping with stress , failure , handling the unexpected , celebrating success , It has taught me everything and I believe it is a lesson which would come handy throughout my life.JEE is a very difficult and challenging journey. A mere difference of 4 marks can make a difference of hundred or even thousands of ranks. There is not a lot of difference between people who scored AIR 500 or AIR 1000 or AIR 2000. Some of them had better test taking skills and perhaps even better luck on their side. Quantitatively , they just have a difference of 5–6 questions.
So JEE can be really good for you or it can go really bad even when you have worked hard.
Life is unpredictable in many ways. But as the cliche saying goes( very cliche), “ It’s not the end”. There is much more to accomplish in life than just a college entrance test.
Don’t be demotivated , give your best and leave it on god for the rest.
After the exams I opted for multiple counsellings and got IIT-BHU Maths and Computing IDD , NSUT Delhi CSAI , BitsH CSE , IIITH CSE.
I decided to join IIITH-CSE at the end and I am happy with my decision!
— Divyansh Pandey
