With the National Testing Agency (NTA) remaining firm on its decision to conduct JEE Main from 1 to 6 September, experts say students should not spend the remaining few days learning new concepts and should attempt at least one mock paper everyday till the date of their exam.
The Quint spoke to Ramesh Batlish, an expert from the FIITJEE Group to understand how students should prepare for JEE Main. He said that students should focus on their health and take all precautions and follow safety guidelines issued by the NTA.
I have already appeared for JEE Main in January. What should I focus on this time?
According to Batlish, students who have already appeared for JEE Main in January and are attempting to improve their scores in September should focus on areas in which they had lost marks in the January attempt.
Even students who appear for JEE Main for the first time in September can follow the questions asked in January and attempt it like a mock test.
What should be the strategy before exam?
Since JEE Main is scheduled from 1 to 6 September, students should attempt at least one mock-test per day till the day of their exam. JEE Main will be conducted across two shifts and students should attempt these mock tests at the time in which they will write the final exam.
Mock tests can be found on the NTA’s Abhyas app. In addition, students can solve question papers from previous years and treat them as mock tests. Students should also not study new concepts and focus on what has already been prepared in the last few months.
Okay, any tips for the main exam day?
Students should avoid guess work and attempt only those questions that they know they can answer. Since there’s negative marking for wrong questions, students should focus on those questions that they know are correct.
How to divide time time between sections?
According to Batlish, there are three categories of questions in JEE Main:
- Easy - Students understands the concept & mentally knows the solution
- Moderate - Not tough, but lengthy and require sense of calculations
- Difficult - Tricky questions that only those with great practice can solve
He says that the three-hour-long JEE Main paper should be attempted in two rounds, with a focus on easy category questions in the first round.
The second round should be left for moderate category questions, where the calculations could get lengthy. The difficult ones could be left out if the student is unable to solve them and take a lot of time and could lead to negative marking.
I want to get into NIT. How many questions should I attempt?
JEE Main is marked out of 300 marks, in which three subjects have 25 questions each. Assuming that average time spent solving a question is four minutes, students should attempt at least 10 easy questions correctly from each of these three subjects in the first round, spending 40 minutes per subject.
This way, students will be able to attempt 30 questions in the first round, that is 120 marks in 120 minutes.
How many questions should I aim for in the second round?
In the second round, students would already have an idea as to which subject is easy and which is relatively difficult. Here, students should start with the easier subjects and try to solve as many questions as possible in the 20 minutes they have for each subject.
In the second round, students should attempt solving five questions in each subject, that will give them 60 marks. Combining both the rounds, students should score a total of 180 out of 300 marks.
Thus, by securing around 60 to 70 percent, a student can ensure a top NIT seat.
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