This is Part 2 of our series 103 Weeks of JEE Preparation. In Part 1, we covered the first 48 weeks. As class 11th has just ended, I hope you have been busy revising the syllabus and covering backlogs. The time after 11th ends, till summer break is over, is, as I mentioned in the first part of this article, a lifeline for all students. Hence, use this time wisely.

Now, as you arrive in the 49th week of your JEE preparation journey, you must still keep everything planned. Since grade 12th has now begun, you will face some new challenges and continue to navigate older hurdles as well. 

Read on to know how you need to approach the remaining time until your JEE Advanced paper, how you should tackle the 12th boards’ pressure and continue learning, and how you should deal with exams. 

Weeks 49 – 78

By now, you should have a good schedule in place. Your time management skills should be polished because if you don’t dedicate enough time to studies or don’t relax enough, both your grades and health will suffer. If you have not begun following the schedule yet, do so immediately. Perfect your timetable such that you study as well as rest appropriately every day. 

Having studied Physics, Chemistry, and Math for JEE for a year now, you should understand which subject out of the three troubles you the most. Do you get a lot of questions wrong in Physics tests? Or is that the case with Math and Chemistry? If you do lack in one subject, start focusing more on it. The only way to feel confident in a subject is to devote more time to it. Solve a good number of questions related to the chapters that trouble you the most. If necessary, approach your teachers and mentors to understand some concepts better. Since this is also the year you will appear for your board exams, you should start practicing your school textbooks’ questions. For CBSE students, these will be their NCERT textbooks. For ICSE and state boards, you should practice questions from your reference books. 

Talk to your friends and mentors regularly to boost up your spirits, and no matter what, keep working hard. 

Weeks 79 – 81

Around week 79th, that is, in the November of your class 12th, you will arrive at the end of your course syllabus for JEE and school. 

However, syllabus completion does not indicate that you know everything thoroughly. If you have been following the timetable you designed for yourself last year, your journey up until this point should have been mostly smooth. Even if you did score low in a few tests, you should have recovered well and performed better on other tests. If your school held a half-yearly exam in Grade 12th, you should have scored well in that exam as well. If you didn’t, I hope you have understood the chapters that caused you problems in the half-yearly exams by now. 

Use the holidays you get for Dussehra and Diwali to get back on track for your upcoming pre-boards. This is another big milestone that you have to cross, and with a good strategy, you can pass your pre-boards with good marks and not feel pressured at any point. Your pre-boards are like a test of your mental strength, grit, and planning. If you did plenty of self-study, focused on classes at school and coaching, took help from your friends and teachers when necessary, you will do well in these exams. Remember, if you are having to study everything at the last minute and feel extremely tensed, you are not on the right track.  

It is common to score slightly low in pre-boards. Since these examinations are only a way for you to prepare for your board exams, you should treat them as a learning curve. If you score low in particular subjects or make mistakes in questions related to certain chapters, start revising those chapters and subjects well. These hurdles occur for every aspirant, so don’t panic. In the 2-3 weeks after your pre-boards, doing this revision will help you get ready for both the board exams and the upcoming JEE Mains. 

Weeks 81 – 86

After your pre-boards end, you will have to get ready for the first real battle - JEE Mains. In the weeks after your pre-boards, keep solving test papers and questions. Relax well, but also study sufficiently. Remember, with your JEE Mains exam in January, you will also have to study for the upcoming grade 12th-second pre-board exams. It’s incredibly necessary to be in full control of your daily timetable and course syllabus at this time. Once you have crossed this phase, you will have passed one of the biggest hurdles of this journey.

Weeks 87 – 95

After your first JEE Mains attempt, it’s time for you to prepare for your board exams. These few weeks, you should direct all your attention towards your boards. It’s important to score well in grade 12th, so you shouldn’t worry about other aspects of your JEE preparation right now. Practice other subjects like English and your Optional during these weeks properly, so that you don’t fall behind in those. Ask your school teachers for guidance in writing answers properly, and get all your doubts resolved.

Weeks 95 – 97

These two weeks, before your second JEE Mains, must be planned carefully. This is when you can revise the few chapters that continue to trouble you even now. You can brush through your notes and keep having a glance at all the concepts. During these weeks, you should be in regular contact with your coaching teachers or mentors because they are the only ones who can guide you. You should also spend this time analyzing your mistakes in the previous JEE and mock tests, and try to improve on those specific areas that you got wrong.

Weeks 97 – 103

After being done with JEE Mains, you must focus on the JEE Advanced, BITs entrance, and other regional engineering entrance exams like MHCET. Contact your mentors to see what type of questions you should be solving. They will be pivotal in helping you transition in this period after appearing for the 12th boards and before these exams. Stay calm and balance your time. You don’t have school work to focus on anymore, so you should modify your timetable to fit in more self-study time. Doing this will ensure top-notch preparation for the JEE Advanced.

This is Part 1 of our series 103 Weeks of JEE Preparation. You have just finished your Xth board exams, spent some time relaxing, and are all ready for class 11th, and your JEE Preparation. Soon, as your school and coaching classes begin, you will be packed with studies on your way to the top engineering college of the country. 

Having successfully taught and counselled JEE students for over 20 years, we understand your apprehensions quite well. 

Remember, your preparation journey of almost two years - roughly 103 weeks - will require you to adapt, adjust, and change on a much deeper personal level. With each passing week, you will be one milestone ahead. 

But  what lies ahead? How can you adapt to this incredible upcoming journey?

Keep reading to find out how you should cross each milestone 

Weeks 1 – 8 : Observe and Audit

You have studied for school exams, done homework, and attended classes at school for 13 years of your life now. As you are readying yourself for JEE, it’s time to take careful notice of your habits. 

For the first 8 weeks of your preparation, observe your schedule daily. How much time do you spend eating, sleeping, playing, and relaxing per day? What time goes for school and coaching including traveling? How much are you able to self-study? These weeks are meant for you to understand what a day in your life looks like, and whether you are able to balance your studies and personal time well. If at the end of the day, you are not happy and relaxed despite studying for hours, it is time for you to make changes to your schedule. Plan ahead such that you can relax even after meeting your daily study target.  

Weeks 8 – 16 : Iterate and Test a Schedule

Now that you have an accurate idea of how you spend your day, you should allocate time to self-study and try to design a schedule that you can honestly follow until the JEE exam. Of course, you won’t be able to design the perfect schedule at once. This is when you should experiment with different time slots for each activity like eating, sleeping, studying, playing etc. You cannot change the hours of your school and coaching, but if you’re wise, you can use the free time you have in between classes to cover backlogs or just relax for a while. Even the time it takes for you to commute to school and coaching won’t go waste if you spend it with other aspirants, discussing your goals and resolving doubts. 

If you are focusing primarily on JEE mains, you have to devote at least 28 hours per week on self-study. For JEE advanced, this has to be 35 hours. Fit in these hours at whatever time of the day you are comfortable with. Meanwhile, also fix time for sleep and recreation.  It might be difficult to stick to your schedule at first, however your weekly study targets should not be reduced in any case. 

Remember, the end goal here is to arrive at a schedule that will keep you both physically and mentally healthy while aiding your preparation fully. This schedule should be flexible enough to accommodate backlogs, missed classes and school work. At the same time, it should allow you to relax and spend time with your friends. During these weeks, do not worry a lot about your test scores. Instead, focus on designing a good schedule for the next 87 weeks, because this schedule will be a crucial part of you reaching your dream. 

If you continue facing difficulty, speak to your mentors. They will surely show you the right way. 

Weeks 16 – 24 : Adjust and Adapt

Getting the hang of your new schedule will certainly take time. Don’t worry, spend these weeks adjusting and adapting to your schedule. Once you have, perfected your time table, making constant effort will surely give you an edge.

Remember, the stricter you are with yourself during this time, the better your results will be.

Weeks 24 – 34 : Your First Major Milestone

This is the time when your grade 11th Half-yearly exams will approach and the validity of your schedule will be tested. 

If you had a winning schedule, you won’t have any issues balancing school and coaching studies. You won’t score poorly in either, and will not feel lost and anxious during exams. 

However, if your schedule was flawed, which it shouldn’t have been if you designed it in consultation with your mentor, your marks will suffer. Don’t panic if that happens. Just make changes in your schedule and prioritize well. This time, talk to your mentor beforehand and take their help at every step. 

Weeks 34 – 44 : Continue Working Hard

You have had your first major exam at school, optimised your timetable perfectly, and are studying regularly. Well, continue doing that. At this point, you just have to stick to your already perfected time table and work on both school and coaching tests well. 

By the time your 11th Final Exams approach, if you are able to score well in both school and coaching, and are confident and relaxed, you are doing really well. However, if you are having difficulty managing your studies, you have to make some adjustments. At this time, focus solely on your school exam for the next few days. After your exams pass, you will have a chance to reschedule and refocus. Don’t panic, because you will be back on track after the exams. 

Weeks 44 – 48 : Backlog Lifeline

At this time, your 11th grade is over and you have a vacation from school which means zero work from school right now, and only coaching tests and homework to focus on. Now, you have extra time to work on backlogs. Use this much-needed lifeline of a time wisely and manage your backlogs effectively. Devote extra time to studies during your vacations after the exam or in the summer. You can study for 8-10 hours a day for the next 45-50 days, but ensure you take care of your mental health even while doing so. If you successfully do that, all your pressure will be alleviated before 12th grade starts, and you will be confident with the syllabus. 

The information above was meant to help those who haven't performed decently due to some inevitable reasons. 

However, if you have done well, continue with your usual work schedule and tactics. You should also devote about 1-1.5 hours every day to revise previous topics. This will give you a lead and expertise over the chapters you have already covered and will be crucial in determining your AIR.

The journey doesn’t end here! There are many more weeks to go. Read Part 2 of this series to find out the journey 49th week onwards, leading up to the JEE Mains and Advanced. 

If you’re looking to crack JEE/NEET this year, you are probably juggling between pre-boards, school work, and tons of coaching homework every day. Hours and hours of study at times may not be enough, and you may end up having backlogs. 

It can seem challenging to strike the right balance between coaching, school, and self-study time, but only if you don’t do effective time management. 

What Exactly are Backlogs?

Either you ended up sleeping or watching movies for a little while extra this week, but it’s the weekend. Now you have to study those 5 Physics lessons, revise for the upcoming biology test, and prepare for your Chemistry practical exams. That’s essentially what backlogs are - when you have too much work backed up and little time to finish it.

Procrastination and not taking the syllabus seriously are some popular reasons why you end up having backlogs. 

Once you start accumulating backlogs, it can be challenging to get out of the rut. But all is not lost. Proper planning and implementation can help you clear backlogs even when you are cramped with too much work.

Methods to Clear Backlogs

To help you manage the burden of backlogs, here are some tried and tested methods.

It’s essential to understand that while these methods are effective, they aren’t by any means a shortcut to clearing backlogs. You have to be wholly committed to your ultimate goal of getting that prized seat in the best engineering or medical college in the country for these to work best. 

• Plan a Schedule

You can’t think of achieving long term goals without setting shorter ones. Preparing a schedule for your backlogs should be your first step to clear it. Make a well-thought, realistic schedule that you can stick to. Even removing the backlogs trickle by trickle would make them vanish quickly.

Make a daily and weekly schedule and strictly stick to it. Determine the chapters you need to study and the time it will take to clear each. Divide the time duration to complete chapters into weeks and then create smaller goals for each section.

• Divide your Days

Invest 2 to 3 hours every day to clear your backlogs. You should make sure that this time should be exclusive of your regular study time. You can’t afford to miss out on current lessons while clearing backlogs. So make sure to set up extra time devoted, especially towards pending lessons and homework.

• Stay up to date with the rest of the class

Always try to study the chapters that are being taught in class in real-time. If you have backlogs and you’re still stuck in the Thermodynamics chapter while the course has advanced to Organic Chemistry, you’ll get stuck in the loop of backlogs.

Instead, invest a separate hour for studying the pending chapter while you revise and complete the current chapter after class. That will also ensure you’ll clear your doubts and understand the concepts while the chapter is still being taught. 

• Study to gain knowledge rather than clearing exams

You must complete your chapters but not by the number of questions and exercises but by understanding the concepts. If you understand the concept clearly and invest a bit less time doing the exercises, that will be more beneficial. 

It will also save time as you won’t be wasting your time memorizing problems yet be able to solve most of them. JEE and NEET exams are all about throwing new challenges in front of you and testing how you pass. That will only happen when you understand the concepts rather than learning definitions and formulas.

• Take one lesson at a time

Of course, you already know you should study one chapter at a time. But when you are struggling with backlogs, you may find it hard to concentrate on just one chapter. You may be wondering where to start apart from what you’re already learning. 

Start from any of your favorite chapters and understand the concepts. 

It will be of no use if you do two chapters at a time just for the sake of it and keep ignoring challenging questions and problems. You should also be able to relate different chapters using cross-references, which will help you grasp things quicker.

Apart from these methods, it’s essential for you to meditate to keep your mind clear and focused. Also, don’t become a zombie by never playing out or ditching your social life altogether. 

Above all, don’t let a few backlogs make you doubt your potential. With the right aim and focus, you can clear every pending chapter and manage to score well on your upcoming JEE/NEET exam.