An article by a junior

Hi guys, my name is Karan Trichal. I was AIR-2791 in JEE-Advanced 2015, currently a freshie @ IIT-Bombay, Metallurgical Engineering and Material sciences Dept. I am a KVPY fellow, and have done decently in JEE-MAIN as well.

As you are aware, JEE-Advanced is gateway to the premier tech institutes in the country, the IITs. But as portrayed by Master Dante (Dan Brown enthu anyone? :p), the road to heaven passes through hell. Why, I am talking of course about the journey you guys have already embarked on, or are thinking of taking up- the 2 years of JEE preparation. 

Now, a journey is never considered well-rounded if you don’t meet different kinds of travelers right? So people, hello again. I used to be a fellow traveler on this path that you tread, only my way was fundamentally different to most of yours. 

Guys, I have come through on the basis of SELF-STUDY. Probably my rank was quite affected by it, but the journey was an enriching experience for me, as I hope it will be for you.

To begin with, I am from a small town in Maharashtra, Amravati. While I was preparing, there was no good national level coaching class in Amravati, and due to some constraints, I couldn’t leave home to go to Kota or Hyderabad or wherever you are supposed to go to have a decent shot at a top rank. I did join a local center though, and guess what- we were without a maths teacher 3 months after the beginning of our prep!

Next earthquake- chemistry prof leaves!

Anything else remaining, I thought :P.. Hell yes, came the reply! Physics prof leaves 1 year into the preparation!

It was as if the Gods were spitting in the faces of the four kids who were unable to go to the coaching factories in the north and south of India.

Now, I’ll be honest- I did get quite a bit of help from our physics professor before he left. He finished up our physics syllabus in 8 months, and I will forever be grateful to him for that. But the rest is another story.

I prepared Maths ALL BY MYSELF. Read the theory, solved problems madly. Some things were understood easily, some took a lot of time to click. But eventually I did manage to figure them out by myself. Same went for chemistry. Prepared physical and inorganic chemistry ALL BY MYSELF. I had one prof who would help me with some of the intricate problems in organic chemistry, rest again I figured out by myself. In the midst of all this, life got marred by a personal tragedy.

Everything, it seemed, was pulling me down. But I guess I have that child in me who always wants to violate the tradition :p. So I just kept doing my hard work, with utmost conviction, and finally I did manage to land up here at IIT-Powai.

Guys, times were quite stressful and frustrating. We would sit for demo lectures with profs and it’d turn out that they knew lesser than we did. Sometimes a concept would be quite maddening to understand. Some things, especially exceptions in chemistry, would leave me in tears. The situation at our coaching centre would leave me tearing hair out of my head. But I don’t know how, I managed to keep putting one step in front of the other. A big part of that is due to my family.

So people, whichever situation you are preparing in, whether you do self-study or have good coaching, whether you have financial or any other sort of constraints in your home- JUST DON’T EVER GIVE UP.

Coming back to all of you, that is what the JEE is technically designed to do- test your nerves and perseverance. Take this year’s paper for example. The problems WERE tough, but workable. People lost out on speed and accuracy ( even I did, on accuracy). 

Out of the three independent variables- speed, accuracy and toughness- one will always be in your favour, as per the choice of paper setters. Of the other two, you can master one in your preparation. But mastering both is what makes students like Aman different from the rest.

Guys, put in everything you can in these 2 years. The reward you eventually get will be sweet enough to make you forget the pain of the past years.

So driving home the point, coaching Junta, just keep your heads together, do the necessary hard work, keep your wits, and you will excel.

 Self-studying Junta, just keep up with your hard work, solve as many varieties of problems as you can, stick as closely as possible to the syllabus prescribed, and you too shall succeed. In the face of extreme adversities, I did manage to achieve something on a moderate scale  so why can’t you?

Remember, self-studying Junta- ‘All those who wander are not lost!’ You guys are the Riders On The Storm, and you have as much probability of succeeding as those in coaching classes!

Hope to see ALL of you reading this article next year here at IIT-Powai!

Cheers, 

Karan.