General preparation strategy students should adopt:

• Speed and accuracy is an important aspect, which comes from extensive practice of questions.
• Always mark time with clock while solving JEE (Main) papers. In Maths use short methods for calculations, skip irrelevant steps to save time.
• The most important thing is clarity of concepts & regular practice in problem solving.
• JEE (Main) is not difficult. However, its questions do need different tricks to solve tricky ones.
• Focus on solving the problems on your own, while preparing for the exam. Start with conventional methods of problems solving but improvise constantly and build your own shortcuts and ways of problem solving.
• Both speed and strike rate matter. You need to be quick and accurate to achieve high scores. High speed with less accuracy can actually ruin your results.
• Never use calculator while preparing for the JEE (Main). Being adept in mental calculations can actually increase your speed to a great extent.
• Select your questions wisely. If you solve easy and average questions correctly, you can easily get through. You may attempt difficult ones later to make better rank, after having attempted easy & moderate questions.
• Gather and implement tips, gain confidence, be positive, and you will ace JEE (Main).

Most important topics (subject-wise) that students must study
Students are advised to avoid selective study in Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics. The reason being, the number of questions is more in the objective papers where there is intermingling of concepts from various topics.
Important topics subject wise as appeared in JEE (Main)-2013:
Physics: In Physics it was found that 40% questions were easy, 52% medium level and 8% difficult. More weight age was given to chapters like Mechanics & Electromagnetism, Optics, Modern Physics and Current Electricity.

Chemistry: In Chemistry, 40% questions were easy, 50% Medium level and 10% difficult. More Weight age was given to chapters in Physical Chemistry than Inorganic & Organic Chemistry.

Mathematics: In Mathematics, 32% questions were easy, 58% Medium level and 10% difficult. More weightage was given to chapters of Algebra, Co-Ordinate Geometry, Calculus than Vector & 3 Dimensional Geometry and Trigonometry.

Expert Advice / Recommendation: Always attempt theoretical questions first and then questions which require calculation. It’s human nature that if you attempt a few confident questions in the beginning then you feel loaded with positive energy which increases your efficiency and speed for the rest of the paper. It is advisable to avoid numerical questions in the first 10 or 15 minutes of the exam.

About the author:
IITJEE & AIEEE expert Ramesh Batlish is Centre Head, NOIDA FIITJEE. He holds a BE in Electronics &Telecom (Hons). He is a senior Mathematics faculty with over a decade of successful association with IIT JEE.