Why Do I Need To Take a JEE Advanced Test Series?
Towards the end of their JEE preparations, most candidates usually sign up for a mock test series. These test series are mainly conducted by the coaching institutes with an aim to train the students for solving papers on the pattern of JEE Advanced. So what’s the whole fuss about the mock test-series for this examination? Why is it that almost every professor or former student recommends you to sign up for it? Given the fact that JEE Advanced is an exam that has neither a fixed pattern nor a fixed number of total marks, it will be an understatement to say that it is beneficial to get some practice for it by solving mock papers. It’s plain logic – the more you practice, the better you will get.
Familiarizing with the Exam Conditions
The primary purpose of solving the JEE Advanced test series is to hone the student’s skills in paper solving and to get ample practice done before the real examination. As you get to write numerous tests, it gradually becomes a routine for you so that when the big day of examination comes, you can find yourself in a familiar environment instead of getting intimidated by it. Writing a series of JEE style tests will diffuse the pressure on the day of the actual exam so that you can give your best from the very start of your paper!
Also, writing a 6-hour test can be really taxing for your brain. Many people often score poorly in their second paper because they are mentally too tired after writing the first paper. This is usually because of the lack of mental stamina for writing a 6-hour exam. Here also the mock tests can be of immense help: as you run or exercise to build up your physical stamina, you solve these test-series to prepare your mind for the 6-hours mental marathon known as the JEE Advanced.
Preparing Yourself for Surprises
Another important reason why a test series should help is because of the ever changing format of JEE Advanced. All kind of surprises will be thrown at you on the final day of the exam, and you should learn to deal with them in the right way. You need to learn and understand the skill of writing a paper that has a format that you might have never seen before. You will have to strategize for it right then, which actually is an art that you can master only by practice. Most of these test-series will have a different pattern for every paper, so that you will gradually learn how to plan your course of action in such a situation. Repeatedly writing these test-papers will also teach you the minor but extremely important aspects such as being careful while filling the OMR sheet, being judicious in the use of space for rough work (yes, this matters as well!), having a sense of time and so on.
Time-Management
Time management is one of the most important skills for an exam like the JEE Advanced. A lot of times, students will not be able to complete the entire paper in the stipulated time provided, and this makes it very important that you try to solve your mock tests in a time bound manner. Most students end up spending excessive time on difficult questions and hence lose out on otherwise easy questions. You need to know the right time required to stop slogging over a question. Estimating how much time to spend on each question, or each section for that matter, is something you can learn immensely by taking mock tests. And as you keep solving more papers, your judgment gets better and so do your chances of completing the actual exam in time.
Read here to know why solving sample papers is an essential ingredient of your JEE preparations.
Mock Tests vs. Revision
Most of the JEE Advanced test series are conducted towards the far end of your preparation. It is the time when most of the students are busy doing their revisions. Revising a syllabus so enormous is not an easy task, and hence most students want to devote as much time as possible in their revisions. However, it is highly advisable not to seek this time by compromising on solving the papers. Paper solving will, in fact, help you in your revisions. It will help you to recollect the subtleties of a concept that you had studied a long time back. It might also highlight your weaknesses and can help you to decide the topics you should focus/emphasize on in your revisions in the last few days before the exams.
A Word of Caution
While there are many advantages with respect to the test series, you also need to keep some important things in mind while approaching them. First and foremost, do not get unsettled by the exaggerated difficulty of the JEE Advanced test series that you will attempt. While some coaching classes resort to the tactics of setting overly difficult papers just to scare the students and get them to sign up for their crash course, others don’t want their students to feel overconfident and hence, they ask abnormally difficult questions involving lengthy and tedious calculations. Such questions will rarely feature in the actual JEE Advanced papers. So do not get affected by them. Don’t let the failure to score well in some of these tests hamper your confidence. Not doing well in a particular test is completely normal, and there could be many reasons for it. You should try to find out what went wrong and improvise it. And remember that a single bad performance doesn’t always mean a declining trend of your result. On the other hand, don’t get too carried away if you manage to do well in some tests. You have to balance your temperament, keeping in mind that these tests are just a means towards an end.
While it is definitely beneficial to go for test series, do not sign up for anything and everything that comes your way. You will find that all your time will be spent in the preparations of these tests and you won’t be able to study as you wish then. Keep some time reserved for your self-study part as well.
Toppr provides you an online platform to compete against the best of the country! Toppr’s JEE Advanced test series provides you with the most optimized tests, and extensive analysis so that you learn from your mistakes! Check it out here.
All the very best!
