Silly Mistakes in JEE Exam & How to Avoid Them

Many-a-times, the only difference between AIR 1 and AIR 10 in IIT JEE is silly mistakes in the exam, rather than lack of knowledge. Just like there is nothing like a ‘perfect crime’, there is nothing like a ‘zero error’ paper. But conscious effort can help you minimize some of the most common silly mistakes in JEE exam preparation to a great extent and here are a few ways to do so:

Practice without Analysis

There’s a story about a woodcutter who used to work hard all day long and could only cut one tree a day. On the other hand, another of his colleague would cut three trees a day. So, he went to his colleague and asked, “Jack, how are you able to cut three trees a day?” Jack told him his secret and said, “After every hour of cutting wood, I spend five minutes sharpening my axe.”

Analyzing practice problems you have solved is like sharpening bluntness of your brain and understanding just what you need to do. You must understand why you made the mistake in the first place and then learn how to overcome it. Make it your goal to never repeat the same mistake twice. Learn from your mistakes and seek help wherever needed.

Missing Key Points of a Question

When you solve too many questions and score well in past year papers, you become overconfident. Many students commit silly mistakes merely because they fail to read a question carefully, register key information given in it, or interpret what is being asked incorrectly. It is very important to read each and every word of the question carefully, understand what is being asked and then solve it.

Fall into Traps

In a MCQ exam pattern, examiners purposefully give you one or two distracters that are similar to the correct option. They are meant to confuse you. If you are not careful, you are likely to fall into the trap and lose marks.

Calculation Mistakes

It is difficult to believe but most JEE aspirants do not arrive at the correct answer in the estimated time because they make silly calculation mistakes such as doing addition or subtraction incorrectly. You may want to do such calculations on paper. Practice more and more to avoid such errors.

Lack of Time Management

Irrespective of repeated stress on time management during JEE exam preparation and while taking JEE exam, there are many students who do not pay enough attention to it. As a result, when they sit for the actual exam, they find themselves panicking towards the end of the exam.

When you take mock JEE tests, it is important to keep an eye on the watch and see how much time you spend on each question. Learn short cuts and tricks to solve problems quickly and learn not to dwell too much on a question that is more time consuming. Online JEE exam pattern allows you to mark such questions for review later.

Lose Motivation

When you are in Class 11 and starting your JEE preparation, you are sure that you want to get into the IITs and that you will spend the next two years in ‘tapasya’ for the purpose. But slowly, as you score less-than-perfect scores in classrooms and coaching classes, your motivation factor starts dipping. Keeping up your motivation level is the key differentiator between those who make it to the IITs and those who do not.

Whenever you feel low, think why you want to clear JEE? This should charge you up to try harder. Also, stop comparing yourself to others. If others are playing games on their mobiles or are scoring more in tests even after studying less than you, it is not your concern. You should only concentrate on sticking to your study plan and covering the topics for the day.

Not taking Advantage of Student-Friendly Features

Since the introduction of the JEE CBT exam, there are many student-friendly features incorporated in the online exam mode. You can read the entire paper at once and see which questions you want to solve first, and glance the entire paper once again at the end of the exam to review it. You can change your answers as many times as you want during examination duration.

You can also see which questions you have answered, which are unanswered and which ones you wanted to review later on a panel on the right-hand side of the screen. You can also go directly to a particular question through this panel. Familiarity with the Computer Based Test pattern for JEE can make a life a lot easier for you during exam

Playing Favourites

While you may have favourite subjects or topics, to score really well in JEE Main and JEE Advanced exams, you must pay equal emphasis to all the three subjects and all the topics. The thumb rule of success in JEE with a good rank is to score more than 65% marks in all the three subjects in the exam. If you are weak in a particular subject, practice it more. Take it up as a challenge and not as an obstacle.

Practicing Less than Necessary

Someone has rightly said – ‘Practice questions on a topic not until you get them right but until you can’t get them wrong.’ More you practice problems, more you will master subtle details of the concept. Scale up and down the level of questions during exam preparation.

Start with easy questions to gain confidence and then, move on to advanced-level questions. Solving tests slightly above IIT-JEE level will help you increase your concentration level and minimize occurrence of silly mistakes in the real exam.

Being Lured by Easy Questions

Many students become so happy to see questions they can actually solve that they forget to pay attention to ones which can fetch them more marks. Suppose if you know three questions of Inorganic Chemistry and two of them are for 5 marks each and one of is of 10 marks, you should solve the 10-mark question first.

However, if you can solve two of the 5-mark questions in lesser time than the 10-mark question, you can solve them first. Do not be lured by questions that are easier but questions that can fetch you more marks in less time. Finally, it’s the desire to avoid silly mistakes in JEE which will help you overcome your challenges.