The board exams are around the corner and soon after they get over in March, many students of Class XII will be taking the Joint Entrance Examination (main) on 2 April 2017.

At this stage, students are anxious about simultaneously balancing the boards along with their IIT-JEE preparation. Though the syllabus remains same for both, the JEE requires in-depth knowledge of concepts whereas for the boards, a student needs to memorise those concepts at length to produce desirable results.

Here are some important and handy tips to help students optimise their performance in both the examinations.

* Prepare without losing tempo: While the students are preparing for two distinct examinations, the good thing is that the syllabi and paper-setting authorities are common — the JEE (main) as well as the CBSE paper are set by the CBSE. Sometimes, considering the proximity to the board, students tend to exclusively focus on board-type questions and start losing touch with the IIT-JEE variety. However, it must be understood that if one is preparing for the IIT-JEE, then he/she is automatically preparing for the boards — the focus should be on understanding concepts rather than mugging them up. And one should continue to take JEE-type mock tests even while preparing for the boards.

* Attempting mock tests to clarify doubts: There is an adage, which goes “If you want to succeed, double your failure rate”. The essence of the statement in the context of exams is that students should not be scared of trying new problems. The more problems we are exposed to before the actual exam, the more is the likelihood that we would get it right if a similar one were asked in the actual exam. Sometimes, students are scared of taking mock tests thinking that they might not do well and may start feeling less confident. But that shouldn't be the case. A mock test is the compass that tells one exactly what they need to focus on.

* Put special emphasis on board-type questions: There are certain sub-topics in various subjects, which are generally emphasised more in the boards as the questions are subjective.

There are also some topics that are part of the JEE (main) but not the JEE (advanced) exam. For example, in physics, the chapters on semiconductor devices, communications systems and electromagnetic waves are part of the JEE (main) and the board exam but not the advanced exam. Students should carefully study these chapters along with questions from the sample papers so that they can comfortably handle descriptive questions.

* Communicate clearly in the board exams: While the board exam as well as the JEE (main) paper, are set by CBSE, the approach required for attempting the exams is completely different.

The JEE is an objective type exam where it is not important to go through the steps of calculation — all that matters is that one ticks the right option. It does not matter, whether one does it by the elimination of other options, or uses any other trick.

In the boards, however, there is step marking and one’s working out of intermediate steps is as important as getting the final answer correct. Some extremely bright students tend to lose the marks in the boards not because of their lack of knowledge, but only because they skip steps or do them in their head.

* Take tips for the boards from the writing style of toppers: Previous years’ toppers’ answer sheets can be found on the Internet for all subjects by simply googling “best answer sheets”. In fact, after analysing some of the best evaluated answer sheets, we found that the student who secured the best marks displayed an extraordinary understanding of the subject. What is important is to write to the point and do neat and clean work. Try to visualise or put yourself in the position of a teacher who is assigned the task of evaluating hundreds of answer scripts. What happens when he/she comes across an answer script with neat and clean work? The first impression is that the student must be good and it does, in a way, influence the examiner’s evaluation.

In fact, some of the best evaluated answers sheets are written with double spacing; the final answer to all the numerical questions were put in a rectangular box (so that evaluator does not have to search for it); units are clearly mentioned along with any numerical physical data; all the diagrams are made with a sharp pencil, using a scale and compass (if needed); wherever algebraic symbols were used, they were explained; wherever there was an error it was neatly crossed with two lines without any ambiguity.

* Understand and get ready to dwell in the examination temperament: For the JEE examination, what really matters is not how much one knows, rather how much one is able to deliver in those three hours. Many students make the mistake of attempting the questions sequentially and finding that there is not enough time left to attempt the questions that they otherwise knew how to do.

One must remember that the JEE is a low scoring exam and getting even as low as 60 per cent will ensure an excellent rank. Rather than solving all the questions, the aim should be to attempt those, one is confident of getting right. 

The best way to do that is to quickly scan the question paper and classify the questions into three categories. The ones that a student is sure of doing correctly, may be called “good questions” and the ones which seem too difficult/confusing may be marked “tough questions”. There may still be some left over, about which one may not be sure, those may be called “moderate questions”. First attempt only the “good questions” as that will take the time pressure off and one will be able to secure better marks despite attempting fewer questions.  If one is able to finish those “good questions” well within time, they might like to try out some “moderate questions” and maybe recheck calculations for the “good questions”.

* Manage time well: Time management strategies can differ, however, on an average, the effective attention span of a JEE aspirant is about two hours, so it is a good idea to take a small break after every two hours of continuous study. Smaller study sessions should be avoided because every break means about 10 minutes being spent as warm up and about 10 minutes as cool down time.

(THE WRITER IS AN EXPERT, FIITJEE)