Don’t we all love underdog stories?When we hear about students from well-to-do families becoming successful, it may be just another run-of-the-mill story. But when a child fights all odds or extreme circumstances and emerges triumphant when least expected, now that’s commendable! If you are in one of the lower batches at your coaching class for JEE, don’t let that stop you from studying hard. In this article, I will tell you how you can reach the top A1 batch at the Resonance Coaching Institute/ Bansal Classes or any other coaching and be that underdog that everyone doesn’t put their bets on.
Let me first start with an underdog story that will inspire you to study for that A1 batch, and for JEE.
This is the tale of Dungra Ram Choudhary. Hailing from a small village in Rajasthan, he supposedly dropped one year for better preparation. He breaks all the misconceptions that anyone coming from a small town is a small fry in comparison to the ones from bigger cities. Forget A1 batch at one of the top coaching classes. Guess what his All India Rank was? He cracked AIR 1 despite being from a small town. He pursued Computer Science at IIT Kanpur and currently works at Oracle.
[Read this if you want to know what other AIRs are doing right now]
Taking the Leap From F16 Batch to A1 Batch
If you are studying in a coaching class where there are a lot of batches that are divided based on performance in tests, don’t let it demotivate you. People start at the bottom and reach the top. No one is born at the top. Excelling in exams held by coaching classes is more or less an indication about your glory to come in the big one. Of course, this is not always true. People from batch A1 have failed to clear JEE and students from batches F have cleared JEE with good ranks. What really matters is your hard work, understanding of the subjects and your performance on the exam day.
This article could be thought of as a metaphorical ladder to lead you to the top batch in your coaching class – a place where you’ll find other hard working and intelligent people, who’ll make for worthy rivals and even better friends. Here is how to go up batches in coaching classes and aim for the A1 batch in Resonance / Bansal Classes:
Motivation
First and foremost – have the drive to succeed. Figure out what your motivation is; ask yourself what drives you to study hard. As it stands, the question is far too personal – I possibly can’t answer it for you. Maybe you want to get into IIT to study Mechanical Engineering, maybe you like the IIT tag, maybe you want the hefty packages… whatever your target is, find it and remember it.
Approach each subject differently
For physics, you need a very strong hold on concepts. There are a number of equations and formulas. One must know how to integrate the concepts and apply them to solve a problem. The concepts learnt in class 11th serve as tools to solve the problems of topics of class 12th. It needs a lot of practice to master the art of “Physics”. But once mastered, it’s very easy to retain.
For mathematics, you need endless practice. A huge variety of questions can be framed in maths and one needs to have a good exposure to various situation. The more problems you will solve, the better will be your speed and accuracy.
For chemistry, you need to have a lot of patience, especially with inorganic chemistry. One must understand that it’s very important to read as much as possible in order to learn chemistry. Also, it’s very important to revise otherwise one is highly likely to forget things. Organic and physical chemistry require a lot of practice while inorganic chemistry needs good memorizing skills. A combination of both will help one develop a strong hold on the subject.
Books
Another important aspect is to use the recommended books. Sometimes, you might need more than one book to refer to. Different books have different “Good” topics. Mechanics may be good in a particular book but thermodynamics may be better in some other book. Accordingly, you may require a library of books. But it’s advisable not to study the same topic from many different books, which may end up confusing you. Check out the list of books every JEE Advanced aspirant must have here.
Be ready to manage ‘surprises’
Different patterns of questions are designed to test some specific skills as well as basic subject skills. Train your mind to accept the questions in altogether new formats—not encountered previously anywhere. Even if you get the problems in new ways, you shouldn’t get panicky. You already possess basic skill sets to crack the problems from a particular subject if you have prepared well. With the help of tactical thinking and a little bit of imagination, you would be able to solve these ‘new’ type problems easily—teach yourself daily. This alone should be enough to give you an edge over your fellow batch mates.
Cultivate a specific mental set-up
You need to be a planner. Keeping in mind your strengths and weaknesses, and the time available, you should have a meticulous plan of study. Set up milestones according to months, weeks, days and hours. Don’t unnecessarily take guidance and advice from others. Figure out exactly where you are stuck and search for the answer from reliable sources (Teachers, Books, Magazines). The question could be anything—related to subjects, your attitude etc. Talking to your favorite teacher works wonders, trust me on this one.
Beware of common MCQ traps
You might want to solve all the problems even if you are not sure of the answers. If you are thinking of attempting 4 different questions and ending up getting 2 answers right, which will secure you 4 marks – you are simply not thinking efficiently. This is definitely unnecessary and a waste of time.
Don’t spend too much time solving the first few questions. Everybody secretly knows this – and yet many fall prey to such cheap tricks.
Generally, there is a certain percentage of questions, which is easy (40% approx.), medium (40% approx.) and difficult (20% approx). You need to identify the set of easy questions and solve them first, and then move on to the medium level and tough questions. Here are some tricks to tackle MCQs.
Hope I’ve helped you sail through all your doubts about taking the leap from F16 Batch to A1 Batch. Trust me, it isn’t as difficult as it seems. Who knows, you might be the next topper? 😉
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