Aspirants are gearing up for the JEE Main exams organised by the Central Board of Secondary Education. With over 12 lakh students appearing for the exam (in both online and offline modes), only top 2.24 lakh will be eligible to appear in the Computer Based Test JEE Advanced.

In such heavy competition, what should one do to prepare successfully? With hardly a month left for the Main, students appearing in the board exams need to utilise their time efficiently.

The time gap between the boards and the Main should be essentially used in taking up online mock tests to analyse each subject’s optimum preparation.

For students who are repeating this year need to join a coaching institute offering crash course, to be in tune with the current trend and pattern.

In case the student doesn’t find suitable time for joining a crash course, he/she should have a systematic plan for revision and follow it strictly. This will help them in testing their clarity both concept wise as well as chapter wise.

According to prevailing trend, 30 questions from each subject will be asked, and hence selective study is never recommended. In mathematics, more weightage should be given to calculus and algebra.

Electromagnetism and mechanics in physics cover most of the proportion of questions asked in the JEE Main. And as per the previous trend more questions are expected from physical and organic chemistry.

If the concepts are clear and the preparation is thorough, there are no tricky questions as such, but there is no harm in being prepared for it.

If something you have not come across during the mock tests, do not panic, as this will be new for all the aspirants appearing in the exam.

Ideally, a serious aspirant must have completed the entire syllabus by now and started online mock tests and practice papers. Need not panic if you have not yet started in same way, however the following points will ensure success of JEE:

Systematic revision plan: Systematic approach towards the preparation of JEE Main along with a proper revision plan will help students get success. Identify the topics subject wise you have difficulties in remembering the formulae of solving questions.

Take up previous year JEE Papers or question banks of reputed sources of these topics and solve them in a planned manner so that you can practice as much as possible in the time left before examination.

Keep a check on your problem-solving ability as spending too much time on a question you do not know will result in loss of time for the easier ones.

Taking Mock Tests and having a real time analysis have been found to be quite useful and students tend to learn from the mistakes and hence avoid repeating them on the D-Day.

Time management: Sometimes the right strategy and time management play a vital role in deciding the rank for an aspirant. So, one must be quick enough to adapt to the level of the paper and act promptly.

Exam Strategy: One basic strategy could be not to give full time in one go to a subject; instead allocate some time so that one could review this subject again.

For a three hour paper with three subjects, generally students tend to give one hr each. It is advisable that they give 40 to 45 minutes in attempting questions from any one subject they feel confident and move on to second subject and then to the third.

In the remaining time the unsolved questions may be tried/ reviewed. This would help in increasing the attempting and hit rate. However, students may develop their own strategy based on their preferences.

It is highly recommended that always attempt theoretical/fact based questions first and then questions which require calculation. It’s human nature that if you attempt a few confident questions in the beginning then you feel loaded with positive energy which increases your efficiency and speed for the rest of the paper. It is advisable to avoid lengthy numerical questions in the first 10 or 15 minutes of the exam.

The writer is director, FIITJEE