TOPPERS TALK: Immerse Yourself Into These Three Beautiful Subjects

In  Topper's Talk column we will be  focusing on how to prepare simultaneously for Boards, JEE and BITSAT. In our first edition we are presenting excerpts of our talk with Jai Moondra. 

Jai is presently a second year B.Tech(CSE) student in IIT DELHI. Jai secured an AIR 7 in JEE MAIN 2015, AIR 102 in JEE ADVANCED 2015, AIR 30 in KVPY. Jai was also the Ajmer Zone topper in XII CBSE examinations with 98.00%

What was the motivation that helped you get such a sparkling success?

Initially my motivation was ambition, to achieve something which is widely recognized. But slowly I realized that the three subjects that I was studying were very beautiful and deep; and by the end these subjects became my motivation.

Jai you chose to stay with family at Ajmer for preparing instead of going to Kota or Jaipur. How much crucial was the support of family during this preparation time?

Family support to me was very crucial. You do not have to worry about anything except studies with the family by your side. The family provides a strong support throughout the two years which I believe is essential since there are many ups and downs.

I have now also attended college for 3 semesters and lived in hostel. I think I now realize the importance of having family by your side.

Almost everyone who starts living in a hostel will ultimately adjust to the new lifestyle. But the initial phase will be invariably difficult. When we first start living in hostels, we are ignorant of the benefits and care that home provides; all kinds of benefits: social, physical, emotional (perhaps even academic). To realize that we are now responsible for ourselves can take a very long time. The settling down phase is long for most people and can be very challenging. And it is very different from the challenges a student has seen before: this is not simply an academic challenge.

How you kept yourself relaxed during this preparation time?

Many times I felt that things were going very bad and I will not be able to recover. The best thing to do at such times is to first realize that the preparation is a long one and one can always hope for recovery by working hard. At such times talking to teachers and parents can be very motivating and uplifting. The more stressed one is, the harder should one work. It is easy to panic in such situations but it does nothing, one must try to study and focus more; this is harder, but is gets you out of trouble.

Tips for Board Examination Preparation

I think that if you are confident enough in JEE syllabus then mathematics boards will not be difficult. You have to study just one or two topics that are not in JEE syllabus and it is not very difficult. In physics the board exam syllabus is almost parallel to that of JEE Main and if you are preparing only for JEE Advanced then some effort needs to be put into it. Chemistry is most demanding in boards. Overall boards are not a very big trouble, but they consume a lot of extra time.

Board exam is I think a different kind of exam. In my view their syllabus is focused more towards studying more number of things to a lower difficulty level as opposed to studying lesser number of things in greater depth which is done in JEE Advanced. This eventually proved good for me as I learnt how to manage a large number of things in head. The strategy for me was covering the syllabus of JEE Advanced first and then look for anything in the board syllabus that was left out.

Jai any advice on how to tackle the Organic Chemistry?

For me organic chemistry was a new subject and initially I was very weak in it. But thankfully I had good teachers and good books which guided me not to learn but understand things in organic chemistry. Once you start understanding things, the learning part comes itself by experience. The important point for me was that I realized that I did not know anything in this subject (did not try to impose the mind set of physics or maths or the other parts of chemistry) and began fresh and did as I was guided. And slowly organic chemistry became a very enjoyable place for me.

Tips For JEE MAIN Examination

If you have prepared for both JEE Advanced and Boards then very little is left for JEE Main in terms of syllabus. One important point which I found was that JEE Main requires good problem solving speed. Physics I felt was relatively difficult in JEE Main.

Tips For JEE ADVANCED

I think the best strategy in JEE Advanced is to forget the pressure and immerse yourself into these three beautiful subjects and try to enjoy the paper (this is speculation to some extent since I deviated significantly from my strategy; it is very difficult to keep nerves). Another important thing is that you completely forget what has happened in the first paper and start paper 2 freshly. I believe that discussing paper in the break does more harm than good.

Tips For BITSAT

Since BITSAT happens almost in the end, no extra preparation is required for it in terms of syllabus covered. It takes a little time in exam to get comfortable with the computer since it is a computerized exam. So I preferred to go a little slower initially.

What advice would you like to give to the future aspirants?

My advice would be to not take this syllabus as a burden but to enjoy it; even if you don’t like to study something give it a try, the syllabus is so nice that if you study from good books then you’ll start enjoying it. See it as an opportunity to learn new exciting things. But in the process, what you already enjoy must not be left behind. I gave maximum time to what I enjoyed. Keep things as simple (simple in the sense of logic and not in terms of difficulty level) as possible. Of course, sincerity and dedication are important.