How early should one start his JEE Preparation?

Does early preparation for JEE guarantee selection in it?

Joint engineering entrance examination (JEE) is the uniform test held in states in India for taking admissions in various engineering courses. As per the prescribed norm, a student could participate in this examination, whose date of birth falls on or after October 1990. It implies an eligible candidate could appear at JEE only after attaining 14 years of age. In other words, the students who have already completed their +2 examination or appeared at it are eligible to appear at JEE-main examination. But the important thing is passing out 12th standard is mandatory for admission to every graduation course in Engineering.  As India has produced the highest number of engineers since the evolution of information technology in early nineties, the number of aspirants for engineering courses keeps on increasing every year. Eager students want to begin their preparation from a very early age that would help them to secure a high rank in JEE and help in the admission in top-ranking engineering colleges.

Before suggesting the right age for starting the preparation for JEE, let’s consider some of the pertinent things about the eligibility of the student and pattern of questions for JEE examination.

Early age vis-à-vis pattern of questions in JEE

Let’s now elaborate on the subjects and question pattern in JEE. The entrance examination has two levels, such as JEE- Main and JEE-Advanced. The JEE question papers comprise of multiple-choice question papers to test the depth of the students in subjects. The important thing is a candidate needs maturity in the concerned subjects to answer the questions correctly. Moreover, the questions in the multiple-choice questions are tricky and needs complete understanding of various precepts in subjects. Although age does not guarantee intelligence and maturity in a candidate, complete grasp of the subjects is essential for success in this examination.

Before arriving at “yes” or “no” for preparation for JEE for a student at an early age, let’s now have a complete understanding of the patterns of JEE-Main and JEE-Advance examinations.

The Structure of JEE-Main- Students would answer 90 multiple-choice questions during 3 hours duration. The questions would come from Physics, Chemistry, and Mathematics. Consisting of 3 sections, each section has 30 questions from each subject. The important thing is each correct answer gives you four points while a wrong answer would deduct a quarter-point.

The Structure of JEE-Advanced- Although, JEE-Advanced has the three same papers, such as Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics, and the question pattern is different from JEE-Main.  Unlike the JEE-Main, the JEE-Advanced would get divided into two different sessions of three hours. Each session would have questions from Physics, Chemistry, and Mathematics divided into 3 sections. The first session and 2nd session are called the 1st paper and 2nd paper. 

Let’s know what the first paper consists of;

The first paper has 3 sections of multiple choice questions from Physics, Chemistry, and Mathematics. Each section would have 10 multiple-choice questions with one right answer, five multiple choice questions with one or more correct answer, and last but not the least 5 questions that would require the candidate to give one digit answer.

What does the 2nd paper in JEE-Advanced consist of?

Again the second paper has 3 sections of Physics, Chemistry, and Mathematics. Each question would have eight multiple choice questions with one right answer. Questions would come from reading of passage and answering questions with one right answer. Besides this, it also has questions, which the candidate would match with answers.

What does a candidate need to have to answer all these questions?  

The candidate would need in-depth knowledge and understanding of precepts from Physics, Chemistry, and Mathematics. Besides this, he or she also needs sharp analytical skill, reasoning power, and most important of all fast problem-solving capacity.

What is VITAL apart from all these skills?

Besides strong fundamentals in Physics, Chemistry, and Mathematics, selection in JEE would need the student to PRACTICE the multiple-choice questions exhaustively before the JEE examination.

As the proverb goes, PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT, guided practice within prescribed time-limits would bring more confidence in the candidate to tackle the questions.

Acquire the habit of PRACTICE from an early age

Any above-average student would have confidence once he starts practicing the mock test papers from an early age. When a candidate has passed out with good grades in 10th board examination in school, he or she could devote the rest 2 years period in up to 12th STD to study the precepts of Physics, Chemistry, and Mathematics and simultaneously begin solving the mock test question papers for JEE. This gives him enough time and scope to understand the questions thoroughly and answer them with confidence while appearing at JEE- Main. Appearing at JEE needs tough willpower and dedication from an early age. Before this, the student needs to make sure that engineering is the right career option for him or her and JEE-IIT is the ultimate goal in life.

Befriend successful candidates from early age

When the student knows the senior students, who have qualified in the JEE with top scores, he or she needs to seek advice from the successful candidates from an early age.  When a student stays in the atmosphere, which has successful candidates in JEE, it inspires him or her to strive harder and reach the goal. Interaction with successful candidates in JEE helps in the understanding the crux in preparatory parts and it sets goal and determination high for the aspiring candidates from an early age.

Maturity matters more than age

JEE is one of the toughest entrance tests in India. To face this, the student needs confidence as well as maturity in preparation for this test. Coolness, patience, and perseverance help him in getting more understanding about the crux of the subjects and overcoming the obstacles gradually. Over and above, the students need the perfect mind-set necessary for preparation and for this, age is not only the determining factor; maturity of the character in the student plays a more important role.

Intelligence does not depend on age

A student could tune up his thinking right from the early age of ten as intelligence does not depend only on age. As in India prodigious students have cracked time and again JEE-IIT in very early age, it depends solely on the right type of mind-set in the student, which would ultimately crown him or her with success.  The life of American inventor, Thomas Alva Edison, is a great example as he began his career from a very early age and succeeded in inventing great devices like telegraphic machine, electric light, and telegraphic instruments that was literally beginning of a revolution in scientific communication.