How to strike a balance between Boards and IIT-JEE Preparation

Most of the 12^th standard students are often perplexed as to how to strike the balance between the boards and the JEE preparation. It is very important to face this crucial juncture of life with full determination and optimism. While preparing for the JEE, students must keep it in mind that the exam does not test in-depth subjective knowledge. Rather, it is important to have the capability of applying the concepts learnt to the daily problems. A person well versed with the bookish knowledge but incapable of applying the same shall not be successful. So the exam in fact examines the aptitude of students. Students have too much pressure in their minds at this tender age and it is very important for them to strike the balance between both preparations. Those who take it too seriously are not able to cope up with the pressure and at times even quit the discipline altogether.

To help such students who find it difficult to cope up with the pressure many institutes have come up with various innovative techniques of teaching. Some institutes have initiated the concept of video lectures which is actually a blessing for students. It reduces the time required for preparation by a large margin. Such lectures also act as personalized tutors. Once you have prepared a chapter, viewing the video lectures acts as a revision. These lectures have the ability of clearing concepts and making the most difficult thing easily understandable for students. Spending hours on study table becomes very monotonous while viewing video lectures for hours is like a recreational activity. It has been witnessed that if a student views the whole set of video CDs given by these institutes it would save around a month’s efforts.

While managing both the things it is equally important not to ignore the social life. Those who cut off themselves from the outer world start finding studies a burden and it affects not only their learning ability but also there are chances of their creeping into depression. Balance can be maintained between the boards and the JEE preparation by chalking out the study schedule in an efficient manner. Vital subjects like Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics must be practiced daily. Equal stress should be laid on problem solving skills. The JEE exam assesses the analytical skills and so those who give equal importance to theory as well as problems are sure to excel on both the fronts. In fact, this ability of striking balance is the major factor that separates rankers from the unsuccessful candidates.

This post was written by Aditya Singhal, managing director of askIITians.