The 2nd edition of JEE Main of 2019 is just about a week away. Considered to be the country’s largest engineering entrance exam, it is scheduled on the 8th, 9th, 10th & 12th April 2019, with 2 exam slots per day, totalling to 8 slots. It will be a Computer Based Test (CBT) to be conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA).

Students will receive percentile score upto 7 places of decimal and subsequently All India Rank based on the best score out of the 2 attempts (i.e. JEE Main January & April 2019). Top 2.25 Lakhs students will qualify for JEE Advanced 2019 which will now be held on 27th May 2019 by the Joint Admission Board of the IIT’s. Whereas the rest of the students basis their JEE Main All India Rank can opt for admission into engineering colleges like NIT, IIIT and other Central Funded Technical Institutes.

The board papers are over now, hence students can devote their full available time for JEE Main but they must stick to a regime so that the entire year’s effort does not go waste. Here are a few tips:

• Do not think much if any of your board paper did not go as per your expectation. Thinking too much will affect your concentration for upcoming JEE Main. Just identify the weak areas and revisit your notes so that you do not falter in JEE Main.

• Try to solve all the 8 question papers of JEE Main January 2019. It will give you a good exposure; help you to understand the expected trend for this year and the marks weight-age being given to various chapters.

• Prepare a subject wise checklist and a plan to revise and/or to practice. Remember that the plan should not be a chock-a-block. There should be enough space to allow things to sink in. One should not overstretch during this period.

• Since you have just finished your board exams and hence the topics of Class XII are fresh in your mind. But, there could be a bit of challenge with regard to the topics of Class XI. We have witnessed that almost 55% questions asked in JEE Main January 2019 were from Class XI syllabus. Hence you must devote sufficient time for revision from notes for a quick recapitulation of concepts, formulae, and fact-based information & definition etc.

• In JEE Main few questions could be asked which might be related to practical. Students who have done practical in school will be able to answer. Hence refer to lab manual or practical notebook to refresh your memory.

• Solve All India Level Computer Based Mock Tests (CBT) every alternate day. So attempt a minimum of 2-3 mock paper before JEE Main. Make sure you analyze your attempts, the hits and the misses and the reason for the misses. In any case, make sure that the entire paper is solved in 3 hours or maybe less so that you have your speed and accuracy under control.

• If there is any particular type of numerical question(s) from topics on which you had faced difficulty before, then try solving few representative questions. It will help to renew your confidence. If you are still having difficulty while solving them, simply move on. Do not get upset about it.

• Body clock adjustment is essential. Which means if the exam begins at 9 AM, one should take a couple of practice tests at 9 AM so that your mind and body is tuned to give optimum output on the day.

• Last 48 hours before JEE Main must be kept as light as possible.

• Sleep well and devote 6-7 hours of sleep daily. Avoid late night studies. Keep a watch on your diet and have your food on time.

• Engage in light free hand exercise and relax for some time.

• Try to recollect your past achievements in various competitions. That will give you a lot of confidence and boost your self-esteem.

• Get your exam kit ready well in advance viz JEE Main admit card, Aadhar card etc.. Also check the list of items that you are not allowed to carry to examination hall so that it does not get confiscated at the exam centre.

• Check your exam centre location, address, landmark, route well before time. If possible, ask anyone in your family to pay a visit one day in advance to gain familiarity with exam centre route/location.

• Reach your exam centre well before the scheduled time. This will help you to get acclimatized with the room & environment.

• On the day of your exam, start your day early, opt for comfortable clothing and have a heavy breakfast. Carry water bottle and in case you are on some kind of medication carry the kit as well.

JEE Main Exam Taking Strategy

Here are a few points that you could follow on the day of the exam :

• Read the instructions properly before you begin your JEE Main CBT. Keep a note of all the important points mentioned. Please remember although there is no sectional cut-off (i.e. subject-wise cut-off) in case of a tie, marks of Mathematics and Physics will be considered for preparing the All India Rank List, so due importance will be given to sectional performance. Hence use your best judgement and give importance to all the sections.

• Please be careful before clicking on these two buttons “Save & Mark for Review” & “Mark for Review & Next”. On clicking, both the buttons will take you to the next question but there is a difference in the outcome. The “save and mark for review” button saves the answer although you want to review it later. Please remember, that the saved answer will be considered for evaluation. So, by chance, if you forget to review and/or do not get time to review the answer will be evaluated and marks will be calculated accordingly.

• Begin with the subject that you are most comfortable in. Avoid solving lengthy numerical question in the first 15-20 minutes of the exam. This will prevent you from losing your time and confidence for the remaining part of the exam.

• Questions selection is extremely crucial. Every paper consists of easy, moderate and difficult questions. JEE Main will be no different in this regard. So, identify the questions that you feel, you are confident of solving at the first go without much effort. Set a time target of 45-50 minutes per subject. Once you are done, switch to the next subject and so on. Once you have solved all the sections then go for little difficult or tricky questions, subject by subject. Divide available time proportionately. By correctly solving a few difficult questions your percentile score can improve immensely. Hence use your logical and analytical skills judiciously.

• Avoid wild guesswork, if you have no clue on the solution approach to a question, simply move on to the next question. Idea is to stay away from earning negative marks.

The author is HOD Chemistry & Centre Head at FIITJEE, Punjabi Bagh.