JEE Tips : Maths

Hello Everyone,

It's Puja time, the time for celebrations and enjoyment. The time to go out with your families and buy new clothes. I would like to wish all my blog readers a pleasant and wonderful month of surprises, fun and excitement.

And for my juniors ( who probably have an exam at the end of the week which has ruined their vacations :-P), now is the time to step on the gas and overtake your competitors. While your friend is busy enjoying himself you've got to overtake him. Your vacations might be a bit boring compared to previous years, but you've got to work hard now or it'll be too late.

A small recommendation to everyone. Spend a bit more time on Maths than Physics or Chemistry. Maths is probably the toughest and it deserves your extra time.

1. All that the Maths Gods ask for is practice. Sincere, dedicated and never-ending practice.
2. The Mains and even Advanced Paper is such that if you are given a whole day to solve it, you probably will be able to clear the exam. The challenge is to do it in three hours and for that you need to look at a problem and realize at one go what kind of problem it is and what direction you have to take in order to solve it successfully.

   

   By : Mridul Kothari

3. Choose a book which has solutions of questions also ( preferably Arihant or TMH). And if you can't solve a particular question look at the first few lines and try the question again.

   

   By : Mridul Kothari

4. In Maths Calculus is the most Important topic. After that all the other topics are almost equally important but Conics, Probability, Matrices and Complex Numbers are possibly harder. Give the most time to Integral Calculus and after that the topics I mentioned above in any order you are comfortable with. ( Don't leave any of the topics I mentioned above).
5. Don't worry about Trigonometry, not many of us can solve Trigo the proper way, most of us rely on putting special values and getting the desired results. If you absolutely hate Trigo, attempt Trigo questions on the exam day only if a special value case works, otherwise leave that question.
6. Always solve questions related to Conics the proper way. Diagrammatic approach won't work because you can't in most cases predict the nature of the diagram. Also trying for special cases also won't work in conics most of the time.
7. In Permutation and Combination some questions can be scaled down. If you are asked to arrange 20 men and 20 women in a particular way, try and apply the same conditions for 3 men and 3 women. In many if the cases you will find similarities in results which you can exploit to your benefit.
8. Focus on understanding theory properly in 3-D Geometry and Vector Algebra, Binomial Theorem, Differential Calculus, Probability and Polynomial Equations. Remember the expansions of sin x, cos x, Ln (1+x) and e^x.
9. Complex Numbers and Matrices may be hard to understand. So don't worry if you can't understand it at one go. Also remember, problems from these topics are different versions of a few standard types. Practice the solved examples.
10. Don't ever get scared. Don't doubt yourself. Work as hard as you can possibly can and don't give up ever.

Keep these points in mind the next time you sit down to study Maths. Regarding point 7, I can't recall an example right now, I'll surely post one when I remember one ( But remember, that point really works), if you have an example comment it. Scroll down and subscribe to my blog to receive further updates on email. For any further doubts, you can comment here or contact me on Facebook.

Happy Durga Puja and All the Best



 

Should there be reservation?

 Suppose you have just passed your class 12 board exams and have appeared for all your entrance exams. You are then waiting for your results, hoping to get the right seat at the right college. And if you get it, you are going to be the happiest person in the world ( In engineering only around 50 IITB CS students and the ones who took a stream of their choice are lucky enough to get this happiness;-)). And all the other students who couldn't get what they wanted, they are going to blame the reservation system. So is the reservation system justified? Or is it there only to secure cast votes? Read on and figure that out yourself.

Presently in India 15% seats are reserved for Scheduled Castes, 7.5% for Scheduled Tribes and 27% for Other Backward Classes. That's a total reservation of 49.5% ( almost half the seats! ). That is a really huge number, any general category student who could not make it, is going to feel bad about it surely ( That's just saying it politely, in reality you are probably swearing at the system in every language you can :-P). If you could not make the cut, you will be seriously wishing you too had a category certificate so that you could be at a prestigious institute. And if you made the cut, it feels bad to see students in your department who have scored less than half of what you have!

The second and probably the biggest disadvantage is reservation is not implemented correctly. You will find at any IIT, many students who have come in through reservation, but are probably from richer families than most general category students. There are students who have had good and privileged upbringing but get in through the reservation system even after scoring much less than you. Would you blame them? I personally wouldn't. The rules are made by the government, as long as their certificates are real, they are playing by the rules, and making the best use of them (Don't we all do that in some way or the other?)

Another major disadvantage, many seats remain vacant each year in the IIT's and NIT's. Come on, at-least in the last round of counselling, the remaining reserved seats should be offered to general students!! Why waste the extra seats? I think the people who run these colleges do have the common sense to do this. But either there is a lot of red taping involved, or these empty seats are being given later to the children of the Institutes faculty ( I don't know if this actually happens, but quite a few newspapers report that it used to happen). Either way, we are wasting precious seats in our colleges by doing this.

Hate the system already? Things are worse. Did you know that almost 50% seats are also reserved in private colleges of Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai or Mumbai? What chance do you, a general category student have?

Source : Wikipedia

But then what do the poor people of India have? The people who do not have access to proper education. Isn't the reservation system a blessing for them? A ray of hope for the poor villager that his child can one day study at a prestigious institution. The hope that education will someday alleviate his family's poverty. You can argue on this topic forever but the truth is, there are people in India who need reservation. We all want equality but we can't have equality among unequals.

There are so many coaching classses, which put in special effort to teach SC/ST students (Super 30). The coaching classes obviously do this for their benefit, but isn't this an advantage for the students? I can get the best faculty of a coaching institute if I am in the Reserved Category. Indirectly reservation gives them a chance to get good education.

Also consider this, one general student qualifying a major All India Exam = No Big Deal. One student qualifying exam first time from his village = Local Hero. There are such Local Heroes in our batch. And they have opened the gates to higher education not just for their own families but for the entire village. A role model for so many others like him.

So does this mean I support reservation? In its present form, probably not. There are a lot of changes that the present system needs. These could be a few of them :

1. Caste should not be the only criteria.Salary is a better criteria. ( If you have money and still can't get a general seat... You probably don't deserve to be here.)
2. Introduce preparatory classes for the students, especially in English. ( This one's really important. And it would be of great help to the students as well.)
3. There should not be a special section for them in the library. ( Come on, what purpose does this serve? Stop playing divide and rule IIT KGP).
4. Develop plans ( Similar to the 5 year plans) to progressively decrease and ultimately end reservation.
5. Girls from rural areas also need reservation ( They probably need it more than the boys).

The system is at fault and not the SC/ST students. We need to improve the system and provide reservation for deserving candidates. Agree with me? I would like to hear whatever you have to say. Scroll down and comment/

JEE : The decisions I regret

" The only person who has never committed a mistake, is one who has never tried anything at all."

In my previous blog I recollected the correct decisions I made. Today I would like to share the mistakes and the wrong choices I made. I hope others may learn from these and will be smart enough to not make these same mistakes again. Also, don't make fun of me if you feel my mistakes were stupid ;-). ( This list is probably longer than the previous one :-P).

1. I Started Too Late : I didn't even know what JEE is in class 10. Need I say anything more? My dad would always tell me that he had finished the entire syllabus in 11 and throughout class 12 he revised ( This story would seriously scare me :-P) I completed my syllabus a few months before mains.

"Start as early as you can because the competition is increasing at a pretty fast rate. That doesn't mean that if you start late you don't stand any chance, but then you will have to work harder in lesser time. If you have elder siblings or good teachers to guide you there are a few things that you can start early."

2.  I Never Paid Attention at School : Okay, I don't really know if this was good or bad for me. My teachers were always shouting at me for having non-course books on my lap ( I was made to stand outside the class on more than one occasion :-P). While On one hand I missed most of my school lectures and had to do it all again at home, On the other I used that time to solve higher level problems which probably helped me in Advanced.

"At school, if the discussion is about a topic you have not studied before, pay attention to it. If you have already studied it, spend that time in school solving maths."

3. Give Equal Attention To All Subjects : This was my biggest mistake. I absolutely hated chemistry! (And I probably still do). I started studying organic around September in class 12*. I left quite a few topics in physical chemistry completely. And in the end chemistry pulled me down.

"All three subjects are equally important to get a good rank. If you are weak in one subject, start giving that subject more time before its too late. "

4. Have A Schedule : At one time, (I was really crazy about physics) I used to wake up at 2 in the night, study till 4 and go back to sleep. While studying at night is recommended, studying at odd hours used to make me sleepy at school and Prerna. Don't turn yourself into a maniac ( pagal k jaise padhne ki jaroorat nhi hai ).

"Study as much as you can, but do follow a schedule  Don't study 6 hours one day and take the next day off because you are too tired."



These are the main mistakes I remember I made. Apart from these, a few mistakes that I see others making :

1. Suppose you are unable to integrate a function. You can ask your teacher and he will tell you a particular substitution. Once the path is known 99% of the people leave that question and move on. Don't do that, solve each question till the end.

2. Regarding the above point, don't ask someone your doubts till they have been with you for at least 24 hours. Try the question different ways, look up the texts, keep thinking about that question till you have your Eureka moment! And if even after one or two days it remains unsolved, then ask for help.

3. The Board Dilemma : Trust me, the most convenient thing in the world is to blame others for your own losses. Your school doesn't matter that much and neither does the board ( ICSE/CBSE). If you did not crack some exam it is your and your fault alone. Don't run around blaming your situation and your luck.

4. Watching television is not refreshment. It will occupy your mind and you won't be able to study the same way again. Similarly, FIFA or Facebook is not the right break in between studies. Exercise is the best thing to do, or even doing some house work ( or plain old sleeping :-P).

This is pretty much all I can remember right now. You can comment if something else comes to your mind. Don't make these mistakes which I did and you'll be on the right path.

The more you try, the more mistakes you will make and the more successful you will be. So keep trying.

Note: I get this feeling that quite a few of the points I have written here have also been mentioned before in my blogs. If that is really the case, then those points are extra important ! (:-P).



*I don't know how but KK Mishra Sir singled me ( and Priyam ) out for being exceptionally poor at Chemistry but being good at Physics and Maths. He used to call us for a sort of an extra class every Saturday. That really was the turning point in my relationship with Chemistry. Without that extra help, I wouldn't have been anywhere today. Thank You Sir :-)



How I cleared JEE

This is a short story ( I'll try to keep it short :-P ) about me. About the last two years of my life and the most boring topic in the world, studies ( It really is so boring that my roomies won't let me blog about it! ). But then it is also important ( We've all heard this before right! ). So without wasting any more time, I'll start with my story.

I didn't know what JEE was before class 11. I began preparations in class 11 ( before that I was pretty casual about it all ). I joined Prerna Classes because all my friends were joining ( I hadn't even heard about Vikas Tank!! ). After that, it was two years of hard work, studying like mad, going to sleep tired everyday and trying to balance studies and television and Fifa all at the same time.

Did I do everything right? Surely I didn't b
ut a few of my right decisions were :

1. Joining Prerna Classes : In Jamshedpur Prerna has the best faculty in A0 batch so that is the place to be in if you want to clear JEE ( You can clear from other coaching institutes also but, you'll have to work harder). I didn't go to any other tutions ( my friends were going to many places but I didn't want too much load), just school and Prerna. I had wonderful teachers at school too ( but still I would study other books at school ;-)).
2. Studying Regularly : This is really the most important thing. I wasn't the type of person who would study before the exams and after the exams do other stuff. My studying patterns were independent of the exam schedules.
3. Setting small goals : ( This point is a bit long because I think it's important). I have been asked at least a thousand times how many hours should you study to clear JEE. In my opinion, if you have this approach you are on the wrong track. After school got over I drew a schedule according to which I would study 10 hours everyday! Guess what, from January to May, there were only two days when I could actually do it! No one should ever set a target to study 'x' hours everyday. What will happen is, you might end up sitting at your table for 'x' hours, but you won't be studying for all that time ( double loss:- 1. you haven't studied much, 2. you think you have studied). My strategy was to set small goals for myself everyday, and to not go to sleep till I achieved my goal. Try this, it really works.
4. Exam practice (credits : My dad ) : For at least one month before JEE Advanced, I used to study for 6 hours everyday at the exact same time as the JEE Exams.  Your body is not a machine, but if you follow the same pattern everyday, the body will be at its peak during those 6 hours that matter.
5. Enjoy what you do (:-P) : If you don't enjoy something you'll never be good at it. But then again, as an engineer you'll hardly ever get what you like, so get used to loving what you are doing. I personally liked the feeling of satisfaction I got when I could solve a pretty tough question. Don't hate studies, you can't truly love studies but try and be in a 'complicated relationship' with studies.
6. Practise : I believe this is the most important ingredient. Practise so much that just by looking at the question you know which direction to proceed. Practise so much that you cover each and every type of problem. I used to practice by writing and solving lots and lots of questions. I made my own notes, just reading used to make me fall asleep so I used to write down everything. Also I was weak in integration, I've actually solved the solved examples of Arihant twice ( with a few weeks gap ofcourse :-P).

These are the positive things that helped me, and will surely help anyone else who applies them to achieve their goals. Also for the people confused about which books to study, these are the books I covered :

1. New Pattern Physics and Maths, Arihant (Complete single choice questions of all chapters, multiple correct of only a few chapters).
2. HC Verma ( Almost completely, there are so many questions that it would get boring sometimes).
3. Maths , Arihant all theory books ( Almost all solved examples in the chapter, not the hard ones at the end).
4. Organic Chemistry, Ranjeet Shahi ( Almost completely, I left the last few chapters because it really got boring).
5. Physical Chemistry, Prerna Classes course book (:-P)
6. Inorganic Chemistry, theory from NCERT ( Questions from past papers of coaching, etc.)

Anyways it doesn't matter which book you choose. Whichever book you have, make sure you complete it thoroughly. There are many other good books available like the ones from TMH, DC Pandey, O.P. Tandon and so on. Entirely upto you where you want to study from.

"Success depends only and only on your hard work."  

I normally try to post on Wednesday and Sunday each week, but I could not post anything new due to midsem exams. 

Picture By Ambuj Saxena (Own work) [CC-BY-2.5 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5)], via Wikimedia Commons

10 Things You Learn In Your First Month of College

College life isn't the dream I hoped it would be, but nevertheless I have to spend the next four years at least at college. These are the things I have realized in my first one and a half months at KGP.

1. Saving Water : There is absolutely no need to bathe everyday. Bathe once in two or three days. This way you save water and you save time (and there will be less clothes for you to wash). In a way many of us are environmentalists dedicated to conserving water. If you ever feel you are smelling, deodorants are there for you.
   
2. Clothes : Track pants and shorts are a blessing. I know a guy who doesn't ever wear jeans. He wears shorts in the hostel and for classes, he just puts on track pants over the shorts. Again this is a nice way to save time ( In college it seems as if we are always running to reach class on time. Time-saving tricks are always useful).
3. Food : If you eat mess food everyday you are going to fall ill. I don't know if that has actually happened to someone, but that is how everyone will feel about mess food. It doesn't matter if you are at a private college or a 'sarkari' college. And don't ever be fooled by the mess menu. Even our menu looks good on paper. I wish it looked equally good on my plate.

   

   This is called a Sandwich

4. Staying Up : This is something everyone learns ( even those who have a habit of waking up early :-P). You will be playing music, watching movies or playing games late into the night when it's not exam time. And even if you want to sleep, your friends won't let you. Honey Singh is the chief culprit ( It's easy to connect your laptop to a loud external speaker).
5. Pranks : This is the fun part of life ( as long as someone doesn't play a prank on you :-P). In the last month, ive seen so many pranks, locking people in their rooms, locking roomies out of the room when they've gone to bathe, prank calls ( beware, don't ever be intimated by a call or an email, it might just be your roomie :-P) and ..... (this list could go on forever, so i'm ending it here). Here's one example of a revenge :

   

   Revenge

6. Proffesors : I don't know if everyone has this problem or is it just me but, i really find classes very boring. The proffesors here are highly qualified ( I've gone through the CV of each of my proffesors, and I must say, they are also exceptionally talented in their respective fields), but somehow we just don't feel it when they are teaching us.
7. Seniors : You will have to respect your seniors if you want peace ( don't give too much respect and become a favourite, that way you will be ragged even more. It's all about maintaing the right balance). And also remember one year senior in college and one year senior in school are two diferent things. In college there is a huge gap between first and second years, I never felt my seniors in school were so far ahead of me).
8. Roomies : Your roomies are your best friends and your worst enemies. This is the truth of life. They will take care of you when you are sick, and when you are ok, they'll be busy plotting pranks against you. They may leak out your secrets or if you've really angered them, take pictures of you sleeping with your pillow. But they will be the ones you'll spend a lot of time with. And if you get good roomies, you are really lucky.
   
9. Complains : For the people who've moved out of their homes for the first time, it's time you learn this reality. No one is going to do their work till you remind them hundreds of times and submit the correct applications and lodge complains and speak out ( repetitive use of 'and' is intended). One of the drains behind our hostel was blocked, we complained and the drain was cleared, but the rubbish was dumped on the road. So now we have to complain again. The sweeper will finish his job in 5 minutes if you don't remind him to clean the corners. It's hard to get used to this system.
10. Lastly and most importantly, you will miss your family. In school you may have dreamed of running away to a far away college and enjoying yourself, but in college, all you want to do is go home as soon as you can. At home you'll get good food and a clean bed and your family will treat you differently. In college, you are going to miss your family a lot. It is always an advantage to be in a college close to your hometown.

This is what college life has been about (for me). Do comment what your college life was like. Thank You.

By Photo taken by de:Benutzer:Alex Anlicker using a Nikon Coolpix 950. (Own work Source: [1]) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)], via Wikimedia Commons
By Saugato Banerjee (Scanned image. Personally taken after permission.) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)], via Wikimedia Commons

Why can't you Succeed?

Ever had to deal with failure? Ever been left wondering what you did wrong ? Why could all the other guys go through when you couldn't ? Are you weak, or was it just the situation?

And in case you are wondering, I assure you that you are not the only one who has been through this feeling. Everyone has been through it numerous times. The most successful person you can think of has probably gone through it many more times than you have. What was the difference between him and you? What did he do to emerge victorious?

This Saturday, I was in Jamshedpur, and a random thought came into my head. I was wishing for something and i was saying to myself I would do anything if only this could come true somehow (Deja vu?).

" Bas ek baar wo dila do, uske baad jo bologe wo kar k doonga"

I'm sure everyone has had this feeling at some point, where they wish for something and they would give everything if only the wish would come true.

Well, have you ever really given it everything?

 This is how a winner will plan : I am going to give my everything so that I will win.

And if your thought process is : I would give anything if only i could play like Roger Federer...
This is where you will end up: 

A lady once said to a famous musician : " I would give my life to play music as you do."
His reply : " I did give my life for it."

To be successful, you really have to put in all your effort with absolutely no guarantee of getting the result you want. There is a risk factor involved, all your efforts might go in vain, but if you don't put in the effort then you'll never know what you could have achieved.
Don't be scared to take the next step. Believe in yourself and take a leap of faith. You may fail, but you won't have to live with the regret that you never even tried. Anything is possible, you've just got to give it your all. Everyone has the potential to be great. But not everyone has the courage to do so. Do you have the courage?


Everyone is free to comment their experiences and views. ( For the shy people, you can comment anonymously )
My next post will be on Sunday. Email me if you have any suggestions. (mak1910@outlook.com)

Image Credits:
By Sander van der Wel from Netherlands (Depressed  Uploaded by russavia) [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
By Boss Tweed from New York (Roger Federer wins the US Open 2008) [CC-BY-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
By Ben Newton from Australia (24) [CC-BY-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons