The fact that this exam is one of the toughest exams you will sit for is already known to you, but students exactly like you crack it. It is not always the case that they are toppers and they have always been good at studying but then, how do they do well in this exam? What is it that toppers are doing right and you’re maybe not? You may have a lot of questions, especially if you are just starting out your preparation and want to appear for IIT JEE 2020. You have all the motivation for it, you are hardworking but you still feel that you can do much better than you are right now, or that, you still don’t know the right ‘mantra’ to get a good rank at this exam- how many hours do you need to study in a day, what should your daily schedule look like, etc. Well, look no further. This article will take you through all these points and more into understanding how toppers have studied for this examination and the tips you should incorporate in your studies if you haven’t already.
Why do you need a schedule for this exam?
We all have that friend who waits till the very last moment and studies a night before the exam and yet, scores good marks for someone who just opened their books last night. Well, rest assured this is not the kind of examination where you can study for a few nights and expect to pass, let alone get a good rank. This is only because of the sheer vastness of the syllabus, the level of difficulty and the competition that surrounds this exam makes it so difficult to crack. This why you need a proper strategy in place to tackle all these problems, which can only happen if you have a certain discipline and passion to clear this entrance exam. It will ask a lot from you, so you have to be systematic and smart about your approach. You have to study hard and smart. It’ s not just your hard work that will make you clear this exam, it is also the tips and tricks you need to know, even if it is just about solving the paper itself.
Whether you decide to enrol in a coaching institute or an online coaching forum, you have to stick to a schedule and please, do not change it in the middle just because you see someone else following it. That change may not work for you at all and you will end up losing precious time.
What is a Topper’s study schedule for IIT JEE 2020?
You have so much going on- school, coaching, and you still have to go about starting your preparation. What do you do in this case? Here is an example of how a topper has and have been preparing for this exam. You follow a time table that accommodates everything. A schedule for your regular school days and the other, for your weekends and other vacation days.
For your regular school days-
- 6:00 am- 7:00 am: Wake up an hour before your usual time. If you get up at 7:00 am for school, wake up at 6:00 am. Start your day with Maths. Your mind is fresh and you will be able to concentrate the most in this one hour.
- 3:00 pm- 5:00 pm: When you come back from school- Rest for an hour, have your lunch, etc. From 3:00 pm to 5:00 pm- study
- 5:00 pm- 5:30 pm- Rest
- 5:30 pm- 6:30 pm: Take a break for half an hour- Start again from 5:30 pm and devote time to equations and formulae. Keep making short notes that will come in handy when you are revising or are in the final leg of your preparation. (How do you make efficient notes? You have to follow the rule of 10. That means if there is an explanation of 200 words, your notes only need to have 20 words describing that entire important point. This will make you understand what is actually important in that entire explanation. The rest is not needed). Do this for an hour only daily.
- 6:30 pm- 8:30 pm: Don’t stop there- Evenings are usually when you would normally relax and unwind but that needs to be shifted to another time slot and will be elaborated on later. Study the third subject for the day. It could be Physics or Chemistry because you started your day with Maths, and then, focused on the formulae which can also be for Maths.
- 8:30 pm- 9:15 pm- Dinner. Watch some T.V series, talk to your family, just unwind during this time.
- 9:15 pm- 11:15 pm: Study a new concept in Maths that you will practice in the morning again before going to school
You need to sleep by 12:00 am, you can listen to music, go up on YouTube or just talk to your friends. Don’t be too hard on yourself. If you think studying for hours into the night and not sleeping will help finish your syllabus faster, you will just burn yourself out. You need to be realistic with your planning and this is a time table that is doable but you have to keep pushing. Follow a time table that is sustainable and can become a lifestyle change because that is exactly what is required for this exam.
For the weekends and other vacation days-
The only change that will take place is that all the time that you spend in school during the weekdays, that is 8:00 am- 2:00 pm will be substituted with you revising everything you have studied in that week. You don’t need to start a new topic until a proper revision has not been made. You have to revise by solving questions pertaining to those topics and giving selective mock tests as well. Practise solving short answers to make sure you have every minute detail with you.
At max, you can take 2 hours of rest spaced out during that 8:00 am to 2:00 pm period and nothing else because once you have your syllabus in front of you, you will see yourself that you don’t have a lot of time on your hands.
What are some of the topper’s tips and tricks for IIT JEE?
- Concentrate: This is a very basic ‘tip’ but you absolutely have to be involved with the subject when you are studying it. You have to try and enjoy this journey because you are ultimately learning a lot and developing skills that are bound to help you in the long run. So, concentrate on the subject when you are studying and not on the fact that this is for a prestigious college only. Yes, that is the ultimate goal but you need to concentrate on the steps before that.
- Get rid of distractions- You don’t have to give up your phone and study throughout the day. But, you have to get rid of distractions. One of the major distractions people have today is social media. You have to get off all social media platforms. Keep the bigger picture in mind. That Instagram story, your Snapchat streaks and FaceBook DMs are not important at this point. Text your friends when you’re taking a break. That is it.
- Teachers are important- You may have the best books possible to prepare for this exam but you need to a good teacher to guide you through this process because you do need someone to teach you the concepts and clear your doubts. They are the best guides at the end of the day, so listen to what they have to say. They can really improve your concepts.
- Treat this exam as an exam- Yes, you are working extremely hard to doing well at JEE but you need to be aware of certain facts that are not in your control- the extreme competition and the difficulty of the paper. Whatever the result may be, you have to be happy with the kind of preparation you had, nothing else. Whatever you are studying for this exam will be taught in your engineering degree wherever you go, so have a strong base.
- Mock Tests- You have to rely on mock tests heavily for your revisions because they will make you revise all your concepts inside out. Whether you take mock tests online or solve previous years’ papers, they will only show you the level that you are at and the areas where you are going wrong because the way you perform in a pressured time- bound situation is different than how you would normally attempt to solve a problem.
- Discipline- Follow your schedule, whatever you may decide to follow and have the rigour to complete the entire journey. No teacher or coaching can instil that motivation in you. You need to have that drive to study and out- do what even you thought you would perform in this exam.