JEE Preparation — An era prior to the Multiple Choice Questions exams
The 90s
Those who study in India, know how glamorous IITs (Indian Institute of Technology) are as engineering schools. No wonder, there is a huge rush of students to prepare specifically for its entrance examination. To write the JEE (Joint Entrance Examination), which is the exam for IIT entrance, many education centers opened in the 80s — 90s for which Kota city, Rajasthan became the hub. Many good teachers specializing in Maths, Chemistry, and Physics flocked to Kota to teach while earning big bucks.
Kota - The JEE hub
Major attention to Kota came as an education center, Bansal Classes, led students to score top-10 AIR (All India Rank) in JEE. This happened in the late 90s and since then the clock never turned back. Bansal Classes was founded after a few employees started teaching students as the company in which they were earlier working had shut down. During this time, the protagonist-teacher met with an accident that paralyzed his body partially. As I recall, someone who studied under him, passed JEE, went to IIT, and settled in the US, gifted an advanced robotic chair to assist him in teaching.
My Neighbors
Prior to and during the 2000s, I used to regularly meet students (older than me) from various parts of India. I had the opportunity to observe their journeys as a neighbor and while many went on to achieve great things, others in spite of studying very hard, just couldn’t make it.
Joining Bansal Classes
So, when my turn came in 2001, I was in 10th grade, I joined an education center to appear for advanced learning. This helped me crack the Level 1 of NTSE (National Talent Search Examination) in 2002. The same year, I decided to prepare for JEE and so wrote for Bansal Classes which resulted in me joining the 4th batch (P4) based on my performance.
I was more confident in Maths and Chemistry than Physics, and so through hard work, luck, and perseverance I jumped to the 1st batch (P1) after a few months. Our exams at Bansal classes used to be theoretical and so we had to solve all the problems by hand. I remember buying many different books including but not limited to Irodov, S L Loney, Resnik Haleday, HC Verma, etc.
Being in P1 was a different experience as all bright students from India were part of it. My journey in 2002–03 was only confined to studies with some cricket on weekends. So, by the time my first year at Bansal classes ended, I scored badly in the final exam and was demoted to the second batch (A2).
The Final Year (2003–04)
Further in the final year, 2003–04, things changed as I had new neighbors who had also joined Bansal classes. It was great as they had a year extra experience than me, as they were attempting JEE for the second time. If one guy was brilliant in Maths, the other was in Physics while the third guy was an allrounder.
My time around them increased as we used to solve different problems together and play lots of cricket. Yes, the time I spent on cricket also increased that year. But, then the problems had also become tougher in the final year, but it was fun. I remember getting Malaria once and attending classes with a needle poked in my arm.
The Tests
In early 2004, I appeared for the preliminary screening exam and came out of the examination hall with confidence. I was expecting a rank within top 500, being from Bansal Classes, but ended up getting 5000. On the other hand, there were not one but two or three students that year who had scored Rank 1. So the competition was very high.
Later, I sat down quietly and tightly in the final two months between the screening and the main exam and tried my best to further clear my concepts. Of course, I was nervous as I knew that this was the only chance I was giving myself. I remember traveling to Jaipur and revising the concepts one day before the exam. I didn’t see any TV, avoided distractions, and wrote JEE the next day.
The End or the Beginning
I was happy after it ended and felt very relaxed as if I had won a hard-fought battle. The results came that summer and I had passed with an AIR of 840. Well, it was time to study at the IITs!
Originally published at https://www.rohiteshgupta.com on September 5, 2023.
