JEE Mains is an entrance exam that was initially conducted by CBSE but later was taken over by National Talent Agency (NTA). This exam is very important for students who aspire to become an engineer. You are eligible to further appear for JEE Advanced only if you clear JEE mains first. If you want to crack your JEE with one to two attempts, here are some tips to help you out.
- Exam Pattern
~ NTA conducts JEE Mains exams twice a year approximately in the months of January and April. Students could appear for both and their rank will be finalized considering in which attempt you got the best score. However, you can also appear one time and your rank will be decided on the basis of that attempt only. You can appear for JEE Mains for consecutive three years which makes it a total of 6 attempts being twice every year.
~ The mode of the exam is Computer Based Test (CBT) which means JEE Mains is conducted online. Students will be allotted centers and there will be rows of computers for attempting the exam. The total duration of the exam is 3 hours.
~ There are 20 MCQ questions in which each correct answer will give you four marks and for unattempted questions, you will not be rewarded with any marks. However, there is a negative marking and for every incorrect answer, your one mark will be deducted. So, if you don’t know the answer to a question, don’t force yourself to guess the correct answer. Leave it unattempted.
~ There are five numerical questions each for Physics, Chemistry, and Maths in which for every correct answer you will be awarded four marks. However, in numerical questions, unattempted and incorrect answers are entertained equally by giving no marks at all.
- Books will help
NCERT is not enough for the preparation of JEE Mains. However, in the subject of Chemistry, you can score considerably well by studying just NCERT, but, things can get unpredictable so you have to armor yourself with books other than NCERT.
~ For Chemistry, your topmost priority should be NCERT and then you have to move to other books.
~ For Mathematics, NCERT is not a book you should be prioritizing for preparation. It is observed that it is one of the rarest cases in which JEE Mains includes direct questions from NCERT. So you have to study from other good books to make your subject strong and your problem-solving approach vast.
~ For physics, you should make a balance between NCERT and other reference books. However, you can study diagrams and graphs from NCERT as they are also correct but quite simple to understand.
- Keep your mind prepared
~ If you are a class 11 student, you must have heard from your seniors that when they started preparing for JEE Mains, they tend to forget their class 11th course which makes their preparation time smaller than the number of topics. So, if you are a JEE aspirant, then you should start studying very carefully from class 11th. Keep your base very clear to crack JEE Mains in your first attempt.
~ Similarly, if you are a class 12 student, your main focus should be balancing CBSE boards and preparation for your JEE Mains. If you are able to score more than 95 percentile in your January attempt of JEE Mains then you should solely focus on your JEE Mains.
- Start test series
As soon as you think that you have completed your JEE Mains preparation, you are now able to appear for the exam confidently, immediately, and enroll in JEE Main Online Mock Test Series either from your coaching center or from YouTube to have a firm grip on difficult topics. This will help you to manage your time and understand the format of questions. Also, get your hands on previous year’s JEE question papers and attempt them as a final one. Revise a chapter at least 5-6 times to be very confident that if any questions come from this chapter, you should be able to solve that question with little or no brainstorming. This test series will also include those “easy” questions which you might have missed during your revision for the test so as to give you a reality check of underestimating them.
- Don’t make these mistakes
~ Apart from coaching or tuition centers, you should give more time for your self-study. These centers will mug you up with lots of concepts and you will start to feel stressed. In order to reduce this anxiety monster, you have to ask questions yourself, even the easiest ones, with your hand and understand them. Basically, avoid tuition centers because you will be going to school too so effective hours of studying will be 3-4 hours a day which is very very little for preparation for JEE Mains.
~ Reaching big coaching centers will make you lose your 3-4 hours only for traveling. Instead, you should give that time for self-study and learning online. Recognized coaching centers will not serve you result on a silver platter. You will have to work hard whether you are studying at home with extra 3-4 hours or from these coaching centers losing those precious hours in reaching that institute.
- It’s okay to fail
Students are recommended not to pressure themselves too much for clearing out JEE Mains. It’s ok if you can’t crack the exam on your first attempt, you will have a maximum of 6 attempts. So, think throughout your preparation process. Make a strategy that does not burden you with lots of chapters in one day. Nothing is more important than your mental as well as physical health. Don’t hesitate to take long breaks if you feel like it. Don’t study when you are feeling sleepy, instead take a nap of 25 to 30 minutes. This will help you to refresh you out and help you get a fresh mind approach for new topics and for understanding them better. Give yourself more time for finding a favorable coaching center or online teachers and stick to them throughout your preparation period for JEE Mains.