Related Topics:

1. IIT JEE 2012 – Chemistry syllabus
2. IIT JEE 2012 – Mathematics syllabus
3. IIT JEE 2012 – Physics syllabus

The 2nd stage examination (Mains) was of much higher difficulty level than Class XI/XII

This required students to prepare for school and ‘IIT JEE coaching’, separately.

Students could not cope up with the dual pressure of school’ and ‘IIT JEE preparation’

Some students neglected their Class XI/XII studies in trying to keep up their preparation for IITJEE. This caused irreparable damage to their careers.

Most students started dropping an year or more after Class XII to prepare for IIT JEE. Over 70% in 2005, who cracked IITJEE had dropped an year or more.

This led to emergence of destinations like Kota. Here students did rote learning, continuously for log hours to crack IIT JEE.

IITs were not happy with the profile of the students who were joining them since the kota phenomenon started. The students from Kota were not very keen on learning. They were burnt out and exhausted under the Kota system. They were not faring very well in IITs.

Kota system also undermines the importance and utility of the school system. In Kota, students who join in Class XI/XII don’t go to schools. They get proxy attendance.

In IITJEE 2006, JAB made the changes in the pattern to deal with these problems. These changes have made a tremendous impact on the admission patterns. Now, almost 70% of the students who get through, are 1st timers. In the new pattern, it is advisable to prepare along with Class XI & XII.

Students cant afford to neglect school studies or drop an year.

Only genuinely good students, who have a flair for PCM get through IIT JEE

These efforts were extremely successful.
1. The number of people going to Kota has reduced dramatically.
2. Coaching institutes had to change the entire course and methodology to suit the new pattern.
3. They started offering tuition for school along with IIT JEE coaching.
4. Most students now prepare along with Class XI – XII

Related Topics:

1. Changes in the IIT JEE Pattern
2. No change in IIT-JEE pattern for 2011
3. “Do you know the new IIT JEE pattern?”

Motivation is a desire that activates us to take action to fulfill that desire.

So, what is your motivation to appear in IIT JEE?

This is a question only you can answer. Whatever the reason, please remember that it is choice you have made. It has not been thrust upon you by somebody else. If you choose to compete for IITs then you should raise your level of performance to be able to crack it.

Considering the level of competition, it calls for a tremendous effort mentally and physically.

If you don’t have a very clearly articulated reason to appear in IIT JEE, you may find it difficult to keep yourself motivated through the period of preparation.

Most people are very enthusiastic and motivated when they start their preparation for IITJEE. However, only those few, who manage to maintain that motivation till the end, crack good ranks in IIT JEE

Create a ‘Motivational Strategy’
Write down all the desires in your life. It is the knowledge of these desires that will propel us towards our success. Be absolutely honest while writing them down. Don’t worry if your desires do not look good when you write them down on paper. Link those desires to your success in IITJEE. Some examples of these desires are:

‘I want to learn’: If we look at ourselves, we have always been very keen and curious on learning new things. This gets lost somewhere during the school education.

IITs provide a great opportunity to satisfy that desire to acquire knowledge.

‘I want to be independent’: We all grow up to be independent adults. Independence can be financial, social and emotional. We live in the protected environment of our households, schools and society.

IITs provide the best grooming environment for professional, sports, academic, cultural and literary growth.

‘I want recognition’: All of us like to be recognized for being good at certain things. It helps us feel good about ourselves.

IITians are recognized the world over for their knowledge and skills. They are treated with respect and love.

Similarly, link all your goals and desires to the positive outcome of what you want to achieve.
This way, you will be able to pull yourself back whenever your enthusiasm is going down.

Secondary Motivation
Sports champions are the most competitive people. Most of them overcame great challenges on the road to championship. In the process of their discovery of life, they found great ways to keep themselves motivated. Read up the quotes and biography of sportsmen. Emulate their strategies.

Motivational Support
Take help from people around us in keeping us motivated.

Self-motivated people also, falter and need help getting back on track.

Setup a motivational support system at home, at school, and at work. The support system may be as simple as a “buddy system” with friends.

Declare your intentions of cracking IIT JEE with good rank, among your family members. Let them know how you are completely focused on it. All those who care about you will, thereafter, automatically support you. They will encourage you to keep putting your best.

Have discussions with them related to IITs and IITJEE. Keeping IIT JEE at the top of your mind helps in keeping the focus. It helps to talk and discuss your problems with your support system. Such conversation help in breaking the monotony and boredom

Check the following sources for motivational support.
* Family members
* Guidance counselors or advisors
* Coaches
* Faculty members
* Classmates

Engage in positive Self-Talk
Self-talk refers to the process of bringing our attitudes to a conscious level. It is what we say to ourselves and it reflects our self-esteem. Self-talk can be negative, positive, or neutral. Learning to engage in encouraging self-talk is an effective motivating strategy. An individual must be his/her own best friend, and to do so involves recognizing one’s assets and reminding oneself of them.

Related Topics:

1. Tips for IIT JEE Success # 5 – Create a competitive study group
2. Tips for IIT JEE Success #4– Attending lectures and taking notes
3. Tips for IIT JEE Success #3 – Develop a System- The Ultimate Weapon

Setup a Routine: The 1st step of smart and successful studying is to build a routine. A lot of our time and energy gets lost in deciding about the time and place of work. It is easy to procrastinate (postpone work) in absence of a routine.

• Place: Find a quiet place, away from distractions, with ample room to work. It could be a desk in your room, the dining table, or the local library.
• Time: Figure out what time of day you can concentrate best, and what works into your schedule. Use that time every day to study.
• Every day: Make a time table to study at the same place at the same time, every day.

Posture: Sit in an alert posture

We can’t study effectively if we are not alert. If you are sprawled on the bed or sitting in a reclining posture, your body gets the message that it is time to rest. The mind stops working or becomes slow. Typically, the effectiveness becomes less than 25%. 1 hour of such study is equal to 15 minutes of study in an alert posture on your table and chair.

Do not fool yourself by counting such time as study. It is similar to us not being able to sleep while standing. When we are standing, the body gets a message that this is not the time to sleep.

Stay healthy : Achieving and maintaining high levels of performance (critical for success in IIT JEE) are difficult if an individual is in poor physical or mental health. It is important that one gets adequate rest, exercise, and nutrition.

Good mental performance can be achieved only with good physical health. Spending some time regularly in outdoor, physical activity like sports, running walking etc. is absolutely essential. Relaxation and concentration techniques of Yoga are very useful.

Organize study material: Keep all your homework material in one place, ready to be used. Keep it organized, and you won’t need to waste your time searching for it when you get down to studying.

Decide upon the material that you are planning to study during your preparations. Most of us don’t have enough time to complete even one set of IIT JEE course material. Collecting more than one set is a wastage of time. It also ends up confusing the student. Most of the coaching have very similar course material. A little better material does not make much of the difference. As a matter of habit, do the following in your study of the material*

• Complete the reading of the text books
• Writing and compile your notes
• Read and understand solved examples
• Attempt numerical problems
• Mark unsolved problems for 2nd attempt
• Take tests
• Revise

*Set yourself a deadline for completing each component and make sure you stick to it.

Distractions: Cell-phones, friends, SMS, TV, Video games, surfing, chatting are some of the biggest time drains. Most of the students lose maximum amount of time in these activities. These activities do not require much effort (unlike sports) and they can go on for a long time. There is nothing wrong in indulging in such activities for entertainment. However, it is important to watch the time that gets consumed.

Some methods of dealing with distractions are:

• Turn the cell-phone ringer and SMS alert tome to ‘Silent’. Respond to your friends but only as per your schedule. This will send the message that you are serious about not being disturbed.
• Schedule a fix amount of time for TV, Video games, Internet combined. Typically, the time spent should not exceed 45 minutes. You can check your mail in 15 minutes. Watch your favorite TV program in 30 minutes.
• Fix just one day in a week for video games. Don’t try to mix any of these activities with studies. This will spoil the fun in both.

Avoid ‘Marathon’ sessions: Marathon study sessions (longer than 1 hour) are the least productive way to study. Typically, most of us have attention spans ranging from 30 minutes to 60 minutes. The mind starts getting distracted after this attention span. It is good idea to unwind and take 10-15 minute breaks after every study session.

Related Topics:

1. Tips for IIT JEE Success # 5 – Create a competitive study group
2. Tips for IIT JEE Success #3 – Develop a System- The Ultimate Weapon
3. Tips for IIT JEE Success #1 – Motivation

Compile the study material

Some questions that come to our mind are:

• How much material?
• What IIT JEE courses material should I use?
• Should I study from the school textbook or the one recommended by the tuition teacher?

There is little time to complete one set of textbooks. It is next to impossible to complete two different sets. Keep just one set of text books for studying the theory (concepts, definitions) and basic problems.

The new pattern of IITJEE has brought it much closer to the school syllabus. So, ideally, it should be the textbook recommended as part of your school syllabus. There is very little difference in the theory presented from one textbook to another. After one set of textbooks is completed, students can look at other books as reference.

Similarly, keep just one set of IITJEE course material.

Note: Collecting too much material is a recipe for disaster

After you have chosen the material that is best for you, how do you put it to the best use? There are as many different ways to study, as there are different people. The trick is to find the study style that works best for you.

Read

This is one of the most useful activity. It takes minimum effort and brings maximum result. Students, who are used to studying from coaching notes, tend to avoid reading. This is the single biggest reason for their failure. No coaching notes can replace reading of textbooks.  The information you gain from reading is important. If you just “do it” without learning something, it is a waste of time. Train your mind to learn!

Read the following:

1. Title
2. Core text and examples
3. Introduction and Summary
4. Heading and subheading
5. Graphics – charts, maps, diagrams, etc. are there to make a point – don’t miss them.
6. Reading aids – italics, bold face print, chapter objective, end-of -chapter questions

Understand

You must understand thoroughly the major ideas and concepts presented. Without such a conceptual framework, you will find yourself faced with the impossible task of trying to cram hundreds of isolated facts into your memory.

* Locate and note down the new terms, which are introduced in the chapter.
* Note down statements, definitions, formulas, etc. which you must remember completely and precisely.
* If you are not able to figure out the meaning, then look it up in the glossary or dictionary.
* Study charts and figures. They usually summarize in graphic form the major ideas and facts of the chapter.

Note: It is a good idea to keep a glossary of your own in the front page of the book. Record the terms and their definition or the page number where the definition is located. This is an excellent aid to refer to when you are reviewing for an examination, as it provides a convenient outline of the course.

Ask question
Ask questions and keep trying to answer them as you read the chapters. The more the questions, the better your comprehension is likely to be. You may always add further questions as you proceed. When your mind is actively searching for answers to questions it becomes engaged in learning.

* Write down the key takeaways (learning) from every topic (make notes)
* Write down the questions that you cannot answer?
* Mark sections for clarification wherever necessary
* Review the key takeaways (notes) after completion

Related Topics:

1. Tips for IIT JEE Success #4– Attending lectures and taking notes
2. Tips for IIT JEE Success #2 – Study Hard & Smart
3. Tips for IIT JEE Success # 6 – Manage Your Most Valuable Asset – Time

A student spends about 25 hours per week, in coaching and school, attending classes of Physics, Chemistry and mathematics.

Taking Notes From Lectures

Taking notes during a lecture can be a frustrating, almost overwhelming, job.

What should your notebook look like after a lecture?

In general, it should look a little like an outline with clear main ideas and some sub-points with a moderate amount of details and examples. There should probably be some white space so that you add notes from your text or from the next day’s lecture.

• Sit near the front and center of the class. You will have the most direct communication with your professor, and you will less likely be distracted.
• Read the chapter from the textbook before  the lecture. It makes a tremendous difference to the understanding of the lecture. This way, a student can focus on the difficult parts of the chapter and ask questions.
  
• Learn to identify main points. Professors often give cues to what’s important by repeating information, changing their voices or rate of delivery, listing items in order of importance, and, of course, by writing on the chalkboard. What key point is the professor making?
• Maintain eye contact with the instructor. Of course you will need to look at your notebook to write your notes, but eye contact keeps you focused on the job at hand and keeps you involved in the lecture.
• Stay active by asking questions. Active listening keeps you on your toes. Whenever you have a doubt, immediately ask for clarification. Get very specific in the question that you ask.
• Try to anticipate what the professor is going to say. It keeps the mind involved and active  in the learning process. Your mind does have the capacity to listen, think, write and ponder at the same time, but it does take practice. You can think faster than the lecturer can talk.
  
• If the classroom is too hot or too cold, wear appropriate clothes to deal with it.
  

An essential skill for good note taking is good listening.

Hearing vs. Listening
Is there a difference between hearing and listening?

Yes, there is! Hearing is simply the act of perceiving sound by the ear. If you are not hearing-impaired, hearing simply happens.

Listening, however, is something you consciously choose to do. Listening requires concentration so that your brain processes meaning from words and sentences. Listening leads to learning. Most people tend to be “hard of listening” rather than “hard of hearing.”

Receiving an online education could help you maintain the important material given by professors more organized than when you have to attend to class lectures. This is one of the reasons why students are considering online universities.

Related Topics:

1. Tips for IIT JEE Success #3 – Develop a System- The Ultimate Weapon
2. Tips for IIT JEE Success # 6 – Manage Your Most Valuable Asset – Time
3. Tips for IIT JEE Success #1 – Motivation

Your best source of cooperation is your competition. Working with a competitive study group goes a very long way in the successful preparation of IITJEE. When you decide to study in groups, you recreate a cooperative environment to multiply your knowledge exponentially. Students can learn very quickly by sharing their knowledge, skills and resources.

Group formation guidelines

• Look for people who are experts in certain subjects and topics.
• Seek diversity in expertise. There should be at least one expert from each subject. Within a subject, look for experts in different areas like organic chemistry, physical chemistry, calculus, co-ordinate, electricity and magnetism, thermodynamics etc.
• This could lead to having a group that is very diverse. It is good because you may also have different learning styles represented in your group.
• It may not be possible to find all experts from the friend circle itself.  So, it is important to seek out experts from other areas.
• Make a study group of five to seven people (Larger groups get unwieldy. Groups with less than 5 are difficult to sustain)

How to study in groups?

• Ask your friends for clarifications of doubts.
• Quiz and challenge each other with questions from the IITJEE syllabus.
• Share useful concepts and questions
• Be very eager to help. Answer and teach whenever somebody has a problem.
• If you have to teach a concept, you have to have complete clarity and understanding of the concept. So you are not only helping the other group members, but also you are reinforcing your own knowledge.
• Someone should take the role of the session leader to keep the session productive.
• Take a few minutes at the end of the session to evaluate what you’ve done.
• Don’t meet more than once in two weeks
• Meet at least once a month
• Don’t meet without a clear agenda for the meeting

Related Topics:

1. Tips for IIT JEE Success #2 – Study Hard & Smart
2. Tips for IIT JEE Success #1 – Motivation
3. Tips for IIT JEE Success #3 – Develop a System- The Ultimate Weapon

You have so many competing demands on your time: School, coaching, homework, assignments, reading etc. There seems to be a perennial shortage of time. How can you come to grips with all of it?

Time really can’t be managed. You can’t slow it down or speed it up or manufacture it. It just is. Time management is MANAGING YOURSELF when following some basic time management principles

First thing is to determine how you are spending your time now. Capture the last entire week on a piece of paper and see the timetable you followed. Count the total number of hours spent in self study during the entire week.

Once you have completed such an analysis you can begin to change the way you manage yourself in relation to time.

Some time saving tips

1. Identify “Best Time” for Studying: Everyone has high and low periods of attention and concentration. Are you a “morning person” or a “night person”. Use your power times to study; use the down times for routines such as laundry and shopping.

2. Study difficult topics First: When you are fresh, you can process information more quickly and save time as a result.

3. Use Distributed Learning and Practice: Study in shorter time blocks with short breaks between. This keeps you from getting fatigued and “wasting time.” This type of studying is efficient because while you are taking a break, the brain is still processing the information.

4. Make Sure the Surroundings are Conducive to Studying: This will allow you to reduce distractions that can “waste time.” If there are times in your hostel or apartment when you know there will be noise and commotion, use that time for mindless tasks.

5. Combine Activities: Use the “Two for one” concept. While sitting in school, finish readings of the textbooks whenever you get time. If you are spending time at the barber’s shop, bring some numerical to solve. If you are traveling to or from the institute in a public transport, bring your notes to study and memorize.

Goal Setting

Ask any successful person, the secret behind his success, and very likely the answer will be “goals”. Goal Setting is extremely important to success.

The personal goal chart is a strategy for setting realistic goals for studying and carefully evaluating the ways by which those goals will be achieved. It takes into account one’s motivations for fulfilling particular goals. It is said that “desire to learn” gives “success” and “success” gives “desire to learn”… so it sounds circular!! But once you get into this circle nothing can stop you from achieving what you want. You might have heard that “nothing succeeds like success”. What that means that it is important for one to get some success to achieve more of it.

Long term plan (Annual) should be made with a view of exams, holidays and school. It creates a overall structure under which smaller milestones are set. In absence of a long term plan,  you suddenly find shortage of time when your exams and tests are close by and you have no alternative.

Deciding on a short-term plan calls for daily and weekly planning. These plans are the most effective because they are more realizable as compared to long-term plans.

You can also make achievable short plans like:

“Completing 25 questions on determinants this Tuesday evening”,

“Revising volumetric chemistry on Monday”, etc.

Related Topics:

1. Tips for IIT JEE Success #1 – Motivation
2. Tips for IIT JEE Success #3 – Develop a System- The Ultimate Weapon
3. Tips for IIT JEE Success #2 – Study Hard & Smart

Measuring our work in this manner will give us a sense of achievement on a regular basis. This will also give us a continuous view of the work that is remaining.

We have pasted, for the benefit of the students, a saI didmple checklist or activity trakcer.

Students realize, after filling this table that, the topics where they are weak belong to the category where the required activities have not been done.

Activity tracker: Please put a tick mark (?) in front of all the activities you have completed.

Related Topics:

1. Tools for measuring IIT JEE preparation: Self Assessment
2. IIT JEE Study Planner: Minimum recommended time for self study
3. Last minute preparation tips for IIT JEE

You should give yourself a score of 5 when you are among the top 5% in your peer group.

You should give yourself a score of 1 when you are among the bottom 50% in your peer group.

In order to get a good rank in IITJEE, you should target a score of 5 in every topic.

You may notice that the topics where you have scored 3 or less are the ones where you have not completed the activities as per the plan.

Prepare a new plan to study the topics, where you have scored 3 or less. Identify sub-topics, concepts which are causing problems.

Related Topics:

1. Tools for measuring IIT JEE preparation: Activity tracking checklist
2. IIT JEE Study Planner: Minimum recommended time for self study
3. Last minute preparation tips for IIT JEE