With JEE Mains round the corner, students are gearing up once again for one of the most challenging examinations held in the country for entry to India’s premier engineering colleges, the IITs. As the date is inching closer, students are going through turmoil as tension and anxiety have already started building up when all they need to do is be calm and patient. If you too are caught up in a similar predicament, it is essential that you avoid the last minute stress and anxiety and take appropriate steps to put your best foot forward in the JEE Examination. Here are a few tips to help you prepare well for JEE Mains:

Follow a proper routine
Plan a proper routine for the last one month and follow it diligently. Make sure that you sleep and wake up at a fixed time and have a good 8 hours sleep. You must also develop a habit of studying for 4-6 hours continuously with short breaks of 5 minutes after every 40 minutes. This will help you focus better and learn effectively.

Also thoroughly go through NCERT textbooks and solve the exercises rigorously. In addition, pay attention to the second half of the syllabus in class XI for JEE Main exams.

Don’t miss out important topics
True, the entire syllabus is important but there are some topics whose concepts are omnipresent in the rest of the syllabus. It is essential to understand and practice these topics, as a good proficiency in these topics will make it easier to understand other chapters as well.

Practise mock papers
A helpful strategy is to strengthen your base and have your fundamentals clear. For this you need to thoroughly practice and solve both theory and practical problems. It is not possible to find a text which is sufficient enough that you just read it and start solving all your questions in your textbooks.

Once you are done with your board exams, start focusing on Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs) and practice as much as possible. This in turn will help you to manage time and will also strengthen your subject knowledge besides helping you analyse your weak areas. You should also practise at least one good question bank designed for JEE. Taking up both online and offline mock tests before the final exams can be helpful for students as they can become well acquainted with the online system and also learn how to manage time. Moreover, solving mock tests helps understand the structure of the exam thoroughly and how to best go about it. Mock tests expose you to the real exam scenario and help getting used to it and combat nervousness. A good practice of mock tests not only gives an insight into your preparation level but also helps to focus on the key strategic points.

Refer to the expert tips and videos
You can get expert tips and tricks to clear JEE main 2017 from online experts and they will elaborate upon some more tricks to clear the examination. Dont forget to watch the videos uploaded on YouTube by experts which can be downloaded free and can help clear your doubts and further strengthen your concepts.

Pay extra attention to the following topics
Every portion of the syllabus is imperative, but there are certain topics which require special attention in every subject which form the basis of the entire subject and can help you score well. These topics can be applied in all other chapters and therefore, having a thorough understanding of them is important.

Physics: In Physics, units & measurement, motion in a plane, system of particle and rotational motion, mechanical properties of solids, Thermal properties of matter, thermodynamics, oscillations, electric potential and capacitance, current electricity, electro magnetic induction, ray optics, wave optics, dual nature of radiation and matter, semi conductors are some of the main areas to look for. You should have a fair understanding of kinematics and dynamics which will help you improve your solving ability and skills. Also, the Theory of Fields (Electromagnetism) is very important. Pay special attention to the Optics and Modern Physics which is usually neglected by the students.

Chemistry: Atomic structure, Chemical Bonding and Molecular structure, Thermodynamics, Electrochemistry + Redox, Equilibrium, Biomolecules, Solutions and Colligative properties ,Polymer and chemistry in everyday life, Coordination Compound, P-Block Elements, Alcohol, Phenol, Ether, Some basic concepts of chemistry, Solid state, Hydrocarbon, Haloalkane and Haloarenes, Chemical Kinetics, Nuclear chemistry, organic compound containing nitrogen are some of the vital topics candidates should concentrate on.

Physical chemistry offers scope for scoring. Numerical problems can come from this chapter that can fetch you really good scores and hence all the units must be done carefully. Students tend to neglect inorganic chemistry but just a proper understanding of it can prove beneficial. Basic concepts of organic chemistry and basic concepts of inorganic chemistry must be thoroughly studied.

Make a schedule of revision plan for inorganic chemistry so that you are able to go through it atleast for 4-5 times.

Mathematics: Calculus forms a base for almost every part of Mathematics. Other important and scoring topics are Determinants, Sequences, Permutation and Combination Limits, Continuity & Differentiability, 3-Dimensional Geometry, Applications of Derivatives, Matrices and Determinants, Coordinates and Straight Lines, Pair of Straight Lines, Sequence & Series, Conic Section, Vectors, Probability, Statistics, Complex Numbers, Differential Equations, Trigonometric Ratios & Identities, Height & Distance, Properties of Triangles, Inverse Trigonometry and Integration. In addition to this, students must also have an in-depth understanding of topics such as Co-ordinate Geometry, Vectors and Trigonometry. Three-dimensional Geometry should be practiced to get that additional or compensating score.

The author is Aakash Chaudhry, director, Aakash Educational Services Ltd.