JEE preparation is a perfect amalgamation of conceptual clarity and practice of problems. Conceptual clarity is acquired from the books and teachers, but the practice part is much important and needs to be carefully planned out. The first question everyone asks me related to problem practicing is where to get many quality problems. The most fitting answer I can give them is to follow the sample papers.
Sample papers are an extensive source of good quality problems encapsulated within a time limiting form of a question paper. It tests both your concepts and speed of solving. I get frequent questions about how I ensured the proper use of sample papers that I used. It all comes down to the requirement of a person from the sample paper. Some need to clear doubts so they have a different approach for the problems. There are people who want to increase the speed of solving questions who tend to be much time specific in solving sample papers.
The main question you need to ask yourself before solving practice papers is whether you realise the purpose of solving the sample paper. You need to ensure you have proper reasons like I always solved sample papers to improve speed because I was clear in my concepts. So, find out the reason why you need the sample paper and abide by it while solving the paper. Some possible purpose can be:
While solving practice papers always try to be time specific and have a feel of the real exam. The time crunch we face in exams is mainly because of the lack of time-bound practice. Even if we know some answer but the time consciousness causes a blackout in the exam and you end up making a mistake or totally leaving the question. So always try to solve papers in time and if you feel you are lacking the speed to solve papers in time then try to debug the reasons for the slow performance. JEE is a time crucial examination and one always needs time management capability to crack JEE. Solving practice papers in a time-bound manner will help you to develop that time management strategy for the final exam and help you to tackle the time crunch in the final exam.
The idea of solving many practice papers is to prepare well for the final examination. The main problems you may face in the main exams are:
These things happen with everyone during their JEE preparation and it is always tough to find out a way through these problems. Solving practice papers with an exam temperament always helps you to develop a foolproof strategy for you to deploy in the examination and get good results.
These practice papers will help you to prevent the above problems and develop your self-confidence which plays an important role in the examination. So always try different strategies while solving the practice papers and see which one works out the best for you in different situations. Accordingly, you can adjust yourself in the main examination. These strategies can revolve around many topics like:
This is a frequently asked question and creates confusion for a lot of students. The excessive amount of choices may confuse you with your decisions. In my point of view, it does not matter which paper you are solving provided it is from a reputed branch and is inclusive of all the topics covered in the curriculum. Main sources for the papers that I can suggest would be:
These sources are enough to get you prepared for the final exam well in advance. These can be used in revision phases for proper coverage of all the concepts and develop a common sense for how problems might come. Access to these papers can be from DC or official site. Try to solve these papers like an exam and develop a sense of confidence within yourself. That is the basic funda for solving test papers for the exam.
After solving the papers, it is important to get all your doubts cleared from the teachers in order to excel in the main exam. Getting the doubts cleared has many advantages like:
In order to get these advantages, you need to be active and get your doubts cleared after the class itself. Doubt clearing will ensure that you are understanding the concept and does have the ability to implement a strong part of the work. It also ensures a healthy learning curve for you to excel in exams.
There are various types of practice papers like part syllabus papers or full syllabus papers. It is important to know which paper to solve when. My advice is to always solve the practice papers of part syllabus when the respective chapters are being taught. It helps to strengthen the concepts and understand various types of problems you may face in the exam. After the curriculum is completed, solve the full syllabus papers one each day and find out your exam strategy at that time.
Harshita Srivastava
IIT Kanpur
13 September 2019