Say ‘No’ to the Top 6 Common Mistakes in IIT JEE Exam

Every year lakhs of students apply for the IIT JEE exam but only few hundred gets an opportunity to study in India’s most renowned technology institute; The IIT (Indian Institute of Technology).

JEE exam is undoubtedly an extremely challenging exam which demands hard work and dedication. Most of the engineering aspirants who wish to take the JEE try their level best to qualify this esteemed exam. But, despite of meticulous study, majority of them fail to get through! So, what can be the reason behind such failure?

Below are 5 common mistakes that can be avoided in the IIT JEE exams.

Mistake # 1: Suppose you receive the paper. The teacher says, “You may begin now”! So, what is your next step? Do you immediately turn to the first page and start answering the first question straight away? If the answer is yes, you need to think once again.

What to do: Remember, before you begin writing; always scan your paper thoroughly. Give yourself about 2 to 5 minutes time to read all the questions properly. Circle those questions which are easy and put a cross against those which according to you are the toughest. Overlook every page of the paper to make sure that you haven’t missed any question.

Once you have scanned the questions properly, you may proceed to answer the easy questions first! This will help you save time for the difficult questions as you would need relatively more time for difficult ones.

Mistake # 2: Anxiety will lead you nowhere! Remember, you are sitting in the national level test and you need to be cautious while attempting the paper. If you start with mathematics, try attempting the complete section rather than jumping from one into the other. Jumping from one section to another to finish the questions will only cause nervousness and will reduce your self-confidence.

Mistake # 3: Suppose you are attempting a question which is in the form: x² + 5x +6 (x ≠ -2). You somehow in hurry missed out the part given in bracket and marked the answer wrong. So, what’s next? Despite knowing the answer, you marked it wrong just because you were either over excited or was just in hurry to complete the question.

What to Do: This is the most common mistake committed by the students. Hence, it is very necessary to attempt the questions with full concentration and with a calm mind. Read the question completely and then answer. In fact, students are advised to encircle or mark the conditions so that no silly mistakes can occur while writing the answer.  

Mistake # 4: What happens when you attempt a question, solve it completely and you get the answers which doesn’t match any of the four given options?

Whenever you are in such situation, write the question number on the top of the solution so that you can come back and check the solution again.

Mistake # 5: Suppose in one of the question, you got the answer 2 which was given in option 4, but mistakenly you marked option 2 instead of 4. So, what next!

Possible Alternates: The only solution that can best fit the situation is rigorous practice. Even if you know the answer/strategy to solve the question, spend time in practicing past papers, mock exams and sample papers as much as you can to avoid such mistakes in the exam. Remember; Practice makes a Man Perfect! Hence, practice as much as you can to avoid silly mistakes in the exam.

Mistake # 6: Suppose you have finished your paper 20 minutes ahead of time. So, what do you do?

• You look around and scoff at the students who are still writing their papers.
• You sit back and relax
• You check your answers?

If you always check your answers after completing your paper ahead of time, it’s good for you! Otherwise, you need to practice it to get good marks in the exam. Try completing your paper 10 to 15 minutes ahead of time so as to make use of this spare time to check your paper at least twice. Doing this can help you spot some unanswered questions which you might have missed answering. 

If you want to be an IITian, focus on your weaker area and fix the same as soon as possible. Remember, there is no alternate to SMART WORK. 

All the Best!