As most of you must be aware, Indian students (including you all) have a great passion for IIT JEE and every year, the number of students cherishing this dream is rising. The IITJEE Coaching Institutes in India have come up in a big way, formalizing this preparatory education and polishing lakhs of aspirants every year. Vidyamandir Classes (VMC) is one such institute with great respect and brand recognition all across India (especially Delhi-NCR). The institute has been able to generate such recognition amongst the student-parent fraternity alike because of its teaching methodologies and the values (especially Moral values) imparted to students, which helps them throughout their life.
Every year, VMC selects its students through an Entrance Exam (highly competitive exam with more than 10,000 students all over India taking the exam for limited seats in various programs) for its 2 and 3 year IIT JEE courses. Believe it or not, getting into VMC is also a dream for a lot of students and VMC Entrance Exam is almost as competitive as IITJEE. In the past couple of years, VMC has started expanding (slowly but strongly) in Delhi NCR, giving an opportunity to students who earlier could get only its Correspondence course. Due to the extremely high competition in the VMC Entrance exams, it has been seen that a lot of people (especially Coaching centers claiming to prepare students for VMC Entrance Exam) have started exploiting aspiring students through false promises and by charging them exorbitant fees through crash courses. Every year, I receive a lot of queries from students and parents on the Entrance Exam and the kind of preparation that is required. I would like to recommend a few points to all the students appearing for VMC Entrance Exam:
Special Coaching ?? No. You don’t need any special coaching for VMC Entrance Exam. When you submit your application form, you get an Admission test preparation CD, which runs without internet. These sample papers can only make you understand the type of questions, the patterns, the variations and will show you that what is being looked for is how to apply concepts learnt till date. These sample papers do not guarantee the pattern of the upcoming Entrance Exam. Actually, whoever claims that he/she knows the VMC Entrance Exam pattern is only making a fool of you. Every year, the pattern gets changed. So, please don’t get fooled by such false claims. Also, at their (VMC Entrance Exam Coaching centres) websites and advertisments, they only show who all got selected. Do they ever tell you that they may be teaching 1000 odd students and only penny percentage got into VMC? They also claim that some of them are VMC Ex-Faculty. Please don’t get simply carried away with their words.
Practice hard. You need to practice the sample papers a lot more aggressively. Most of the IXth and Xth class students have a tendency to do questions only once and then they start looking for new ones. It is my personal advice to practice the questions 2-3 times at least, so that all the concepts get into your blood straight away. You have to be extremely hard working. I know there are super intelligent people out there but they make only a fraction of the total lot. The majority ones (as I used to be) need to work hard to get to the top level. Just believe in yourself, do your best and nature will do the rest.
Brush up your concepts very strongly. It is basically a continuation of the above point. Coaching centers who claim to prepare students for VMC Entrance Exam may make you practice a lot of questions but this hardly matters. It is the concept, along with your ability to grasp them and apply them finally which matters the most in the long run. Many students and parents will be and are ready to pay a hefty amount to these institutes but think of the fact that how you will survive in the tough competitive environment (during the JEE preparation) in VMC. Your real face will soon emerge and you will find yourself in deep trouble (not able to cope up with the pace etc). Again, it is the concept that matters the most.
Extra Books ?? If you are really interested in spending more money, you may like to buy a couple of books on Mathematics Olympiads or NTSE or stuff similar to that. I don’t have the names and I don’t recommend the names. You may also practice from your IXth or Xth class Mathematics books as well (which you must have purchased).
Most important point……… Make your body fit for sitting 3-3.5 hours on a stretch. This is one of the most important reasons for the fallout of a very intelligent student. So, how do you do this? Simple, whenever you study, go for 3-3.5 hours on a stretch. Please, Please, Please. Do this even if you are not interested. Reason? The Entrance Exam is for 3 hours and I have seen a lot of students simply leave the examination centre just because they didn’t develop this habit of sitting for long without a break and then missed the opportunity to solve some simple questions.
Nobody (including me) knows the degree of difficulty the exam will have but one thing (based on my experience) for sure is that all the questions in the exam are NOT DIFFICULT. Some of them will surely be easy, some will be average and then some would be difficult. If you are not able to solve a question, don’t get emotionally attached to it. THE QUESTION(S) YOU ARE NOT ABLE TO SOLVE IS NOT A CHALLENGE GIVEN BY YOUR PEER TO YOU. Make a strategy, based on the time you have and the number of questions present. If you are not able to solve a question for say for 5 minutes (or whatever Time estimates you have decided), move on to the next question. Do not get stuck with a question considering it is a challenge to your “tiny” ego.
Set your biological clock. Look at the timings for the Entrance Exam. If it is in the morning slot and you may be your mom’s/dad’s sweetest son/daughter on the earth who would have a habit of waking up at 10-11 AM in the morning, then what are you gonna do on the exam day ? Who has to get up and reach the test centre on time? So, start waking up at the same time as your exam day. Also, don’t just wake up and start studying. You should be in a “ready” shape in a manner similar to the examination hall. Don’t just wear your night suits. Wear whatever you will wear on the exam day (may be some shirt/t-shirt with a pullover/jacket with jeans and pair of socks and tied up shoes). Behave as a smart person and make your body fit for the “D” Day. Hard work pays, dear!!
On the Exam day: Read the instructions written on the paper very very carefully. Some students feel this to be a mere wastage of time. There may be a NEGATIVE MARKING as well. Please behave smartly. Fill all your details very carefully, properly and correctly. This is a very important task. There may be paper code as well. So, be careful in filling your paper code and roll number (especially). This task doesn’t demand more than 5 minutes. I have seen many students carelessly filling the details and then landing in a mess. I hope you all must be aware that Objective papers are checked by machines (In fact, ruthless machines) and there is no rechecking for anybody. You got what I mean?? It is the complete responsibility of the student in ensuring that all the data he/she has filled is absolutely correct and he/she has read all the instructions very carefully. You can’t be so casual you know, that “Chill Pill” types.
Panicked in Exam. What should I do now ?? On the exam day, take a water bottle and some choclates (wow!! Which one ??) with you. Whenever you feel that you have got into a panicky situation, drink some water and do a “deep breathing” for around one minute. Actually, water is a diluting agent. It dilutes the anxiety in you and increases the mind concentration. Also, if somehow, you get a low feeling during the exam, have a “small” bite of choclate for instant energy. You will feel the magic.
Advice in advance: If for any reason you could not perform well in the VMC Entrance Exam and you gave your 110%, just be happy because you did your best. Not getting selected in VMC due to some reason (may be you got panicked in the exam) is not the end of the world and it doesn’t even mean that you are not fit for IIT JEE. You just need to give your 100% effort.
Last but not the least. I am not against anybody and nobody’s enemy. I just want to make you all aware of the facts. You have a complete right to deny/reject any of my suggestions. These are purely based on my experience and perception and might conflict with many of you out there.
I am more than sure that not most of the people out there will tell you all this stuff. These points are as important (even more important) as your knowledge and shortcuts on the mathematical questions.
Just in case, if you need a link to VMC website, you can click here.
Best of luck for your exam !! God speed and may the Holy spirit be with you, always.
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