Wednesday 25 December 2013

All about Mechanics

Mechanics is one of the most important part of Physics in JEE.
It has huge weightage and not having a command on this part will definitely pull down your rank.
It's important because it has large applications in thermodynamics, electromagnetism as well as in modern physics so being expert in this part helps you to understand the subject better.
Here is a chapterwise analysis of mechanics:

Kinematics: First chapter of mechanics. It's mainly mathematics with a little bit of physics. Knowing calculus is important to understand this chapter. Definitions in this chapter must be absolutely clear and yes focus mainly on projectile motion(especially projectile motion along an inclined plane).
Laws of motion: "backbone of classical physics". Newton's second law is everything here. Practice it well and apply it with caution. Constraint relations form an important part and a number of questions are framed from this topic. Most students face problem in friction part. And yes paper setters know it!
Work, power, energy: work energy theorem and law of conservation of mechanical energy are two important laws that need to be mastered. Don't leave small things out here. In competitions they even ask the units and conversions(for example 1HP = ? Watts).
Center of mass and momentum: another important chapter. The law of conservation of linear momentum is very important and a number of questions are asked from it. Mixed questions from these 4 chapters are common in JEE.
Gravitation: not so important from the point of JEE but very important of you are and olympiad aspirant. If you are done with electrostatics then this chapter is a cakewalk.
Rigid body dynamics/rotational mechanics: most important chapter for JEE mechanics. It was the favourite chapter of paper setters in JEE 2012. Difficult for most students and sometimes confusing too. You are expected to know the formulae, moment of inertia for simple objects, the theorems on inertia, and most importantly - law of conservation of angular momentum. This law combined with law of conservation of linear momentum is used to solve the problem of collisions which is another favourite for competitive exams. Another aspect is impulse momentum theorem and the angular equivalent of the theorem. Brilliant questions have been asked in JEE from this chapter. Even for olympiads, this one is important. Practice this chapter patiently and learn to apply the equations and theorems correctly. Give this chapter extra time.
Simple Harmonic Motion: Another simple yet interesting chapter. Spring mass system is it all about! Make sure you take the help of Work energy theorem to solve the problems of this chapter. All the above chapters are used in solving problems of this chapter.
Fluid mechanics: Pascal's law , Archimedes Principle , Bernoulli's Equation and Equation of continuity are the 4 most important aspects of this chapter. You must be familiar with pressure calculations in different situations. This chapter might prove to be difficult for some (including me).
Elasticity: Easiest chapter of mechanics. Learn the definitions by heart and apply them.
The recommended books have already been mentioned in another post. Important theorems / laws have been underlined and are expected to be known perfectly.

Friday 20 December 2013

Physical chemistry - on demand

This is a post on Physical chemistry (as demanded by most people).
This branch of chemistry is somewhat similar to Physics and people are fond of it because it involves least mugging out of the 3 branches of JEE chemistry
The chapter on mole concept is most important.
There are other chapters :


  • Stoichiometry : This was the most difficult chapter for me because I couldn't decipher the secrets of this chapter till the end of my preparation. You are expected to know a number of redox reactions (potassium dichromate , potassium permanganate , sulphur dioxide , hydrogen peroxide etc etc). So you will be comfortable with this chapter only after completing inorganic chemistry. So be patient here.
  • Equilibrium : Easiest and my favourite. Most logical. Make sure that you are strong not only in numericals but also on theory based problems of this chapter.
  • Thermodynamics : Difficult one. The material available in market is flooded with second and third law of thermodynamics in detail. But that's something useless. Third law is not in syllabus and second law - only brief discussion + entropy calculation is there in syllabus. Make sure that you are comfortable with thermochemistry.
  • Chemical Kinetics : again an easy one with very little syllabus
  • Electro-chemistry : BIG GUN! Just 1 equation - "Nernst's equation" and unlimited applications. If you are not comfortable with any of the above mentioned chapter then this one's gonna be a nightmare
  • States of matter : simple one but cover liquid states thoroughly(the colligative properties part)
  • Nuclear Chemistry : easy one. But make sure you know the terms , definitions and properties
  • Surface Chemistry : is this a part of physical chemistry ?? Most take it as inorganic chemistry. Don't ignore this one or else you are going to regret (for proof check JEE 2012 paper). NCERT is must here.

Wednesday 18 December 2013

The result day

On the result day, unfortunately I was in New Delhi (enjoying the post JEE time).
The results were supposed to be announced on 23rd June 2013 but 21st June's newspaper said - "JEE results are likely to be announced today at 5.00 PM". We all became excited because we were expecting a good result.
Around 4.50 PM we opened JEE site - and it opened well.
Sharply at 5 , the server went down and the site didn't open. I was excited to know my result. Thanks to my friend Kartikeya Gupta(AIR 4 in JEE 2013) who checked my result and told me my rank.
We all were happy. My mother hugged me.
"IITB CS - yes it is!!" was my reaction. I received congratulations call from numerous friends and relatives. I also got a number of calls from various newspapers - they interviewed me and next day Kanpur's newspaper was flooded with my JEE result - see it yourself






It was a great feeling. The session 2012-2013 was one of the best for me. Here are a few accomplishments : 
  • JEE Advanced 2013 : AIR 33(IIT Kanpur Zone Topper)
  • JEE Main 2013 : Score 323/360 (AIR 617 after including Board exams result)
  • CBSE 2013 : 93.6% with 100/100 in Physics , 99/100 in Chemistry and 95/100 in Mathematics
  • ICSE 2011 : 97.4% with 96/100 in Science and 98/100 in Mathematics
  • CBSE Certificate of Merit for being in the top 0.1% in Physics
  • Selected to appear for Indian National Physics Olympiad(INPhO) camp and awarded Gold medal
  • Selected to appear for Indian National Chemistry Olympiad(INChO) camp
  • Cleared National standard Examination in Physics and Chemistry
  • Selected to appear for Asian Physics olympiad , Bogor , Indonesia (8 student team)
  • Cleared KVPY 2013 (written exam + interview)
  • Awarded AP grade for exceptional performance in Engineering Drawing(given to 8 students out of 423) , Calculus(given to 8 students out of 875) , Physical Chemistry(given to 3 students out of 875) , Linear Algebra(given to 11 students out of 872) and Differential Equations(given to 14 students out of 884) courses with a CGPA of 9.86 at IIT Bombay



Thursday 12 December 2013

Blog feedback/suggestions

Here in this post, I am not going to give you any tips/advice.
It's your turn now guys to give me tips/advice.
Post all your suggestions-what other types of posts do you want? Any specific suggestions are welcome. Post your suggestions in comments and I will soon write on it.
You might also like to suggest multiple topics. Feel free to interact.
Also post your feedback about this blog-how did you find it? How much did it help you in your academics? How can I improve myself? Is my writing style appropriate?
It's important for me to know your suggestions so that I can serve you better.
Any criticism is also welcome.
These days I am a bit busy(enjoying my vacations with my near and dear ones), so I am aware that I was not able to reply to your queries. Soon I'll be free again.
Thanks