IIT-JEE: 8 easy ways to handle the PRESSURE DURING LAST DAYS

The mother of all engineering entrance exams, IIT-JEE is barely a few days away (April 6, 2014). Most of you must be getting the jitters and losing sleep over formulae, equations and theorems. Now, how does one utilise just this little time left? We spoke to the directors and faculty of some of the top IIT-JEE coaching centres and they have some advice for you: 

1 Don’t start a new topic: “This is the time to just re-visit your basic fundamentals, formulas and derivations, revise what you’ve already studied over the last one year, don’t go running behind new topics” advises Asheesh Sharma, vice-president (business strategy) and executive academic head and senior physics faculty of Resonance, a leading coaching centre for IIT-JEE.  

                                       Taking up a completely new topic in the last few days will only confuse you further, leading to a panic situation. It is better to be completely confident about the things you know than to walk into the examination hall with incomplete information about a new topic. “Just review your class notes, key concepts/formulas and nothing further. Don’t study too hard in these last days; you cannot do in one day what you could not do in two years” says JC Chaudhry, founder & MD of Aakash Institute. 

2 Revisit the important topics: “Some important topics that need to be revised would be coordinate geometry and calculus in mathematics, electromagnetism and modern physics in physics and chemical and ionic equilibrium and aromatic compounds in chemistry” says Asheesh. 

                                    If you’ve had the practice of maintaining flash cards of the important topics, theorems, equations etc., now would be the time to revisit them and refresh your memory. 

3 Make mistakes!: “Make all the mistakes that you possibly can in the last few days while you practice mock papers. This will ensure that you don’t repeat these mistakes when you take the actual exam”, says Brijesh Maheshwari, Director of ALLEN Career Institute.  

                          This is similar to the exercise of facing your fears head on! You might as well make those silly mistakes while you can afford to. So if you fumble while taking mock IIT-JEE papers, don’t get flustered. These mistakes will ensure that you don’t repeat them on D-day. 

4 Hail NCERT textbooks!: “Needless to say, you should go through your NCERT books. IIT- JEE questions are very close to the NCERT now,” advises Praveen Tyagi, VP Academics,meritnation.com. 

 Brush up your concepts once again from your NCERT textbooks. 

5 Previous years’ IIT-JEE papers: Praveen further suggests, “Go through the IIT JEE question papers of the last five years. It’s not necessary to go beyond five years, as the pattern of IIT-JEE changed dramatically after 2008.”  

                                Solving previous years’ IIT-JEE question papers will prepare you psychologically to face IIT-JEE 2014 with more confidence, as you’ve already tested the waters with the last years’ papers. 

6 Tune your biological clock: If you’re used to studying in the wee hours of the night and sleeping throughout the day, it’s time to reverse your body clock! In the last week leading to IIT-JEE 2012, make sure that you are up and about during the time the exam is scheduled, otherwise you’re bound to feel sleepy while writing the test! 

                                JC Chaudhry advises eight hours of sleep (10pm to 6 am), six to eight hours of study (to be reduced to only six hours in the last week to match the time of the exam and No study on the day before the exam). “Stop studying in the night at least in the last week, your IIT-JEE papers are scheduled in two slots: between 9 am-12 noon and 2 pm- 5 pm. Try to take mock IIT-JEE papers exactly during these timings under conditions similar to the actual examination day. This will ensure that you are not under pressure on the D-day”, says Brijesh Maheshwari. 

7 Practice does make you perfect: Sounds clichéd, but that’s because it’s true! “When you are not practicing, remember, someone somewhere is practicing and when you meet him, he will win”. Ed Macauley, a professional basketball player said this, but it holds true for IIT-JEE! 

                      What could give you an edge over others, who’re learning the same things from the same set of books, is practice. You can easily access free IIT-JEE mock tests online or practice from the mock paper sets that you get from your coaching centres. 

8 Rest  and relax: Watch a movie, go jogging, play a game of football, meditate or practice yoga - indulge in any of these or other activities that would relax and calm you. 

Face IIT JEE with confidence and assurance in your preparation. Remember, it is just another exam and not the end of the world. Irrespective of how your paper goes, a wonderful life awaits you!