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Journalism of Courage
CBSE on April 27 announced the Joint Entrance Exams (JEE) Mains 2017 result in which about 2.2 lakh candidates qualified for JEE Advanced 2017. Yet, close to 10 lakh students have not made it this year. Most of them must have kept a back-up plan — entrance exams of state and private engineering colleges or admission in regular science courses. But there are many who do not mind dropping a year to get a seat in Indian Institute of Technology or National Institute of Technology.
But is it a good idea to miss a year or two? Besides IITs, there are other reputed colleges like BITs, VIT that have good infrastructure and active placement cell. Students of these colleges get good exposure and jobs.
Balance it out
A lot of students feel overburdened due to board examination and entrance exam preparation. Not everyone can balance it out. Remember the board toppers are not always the JEE toppers but since their concepts are clear, therefore many crack the entrance exams in first attempt.
However, most of them do not follow a strategy and get sandwiched between coaching institute and school. Ramesh Batlish from FIITJEE said, “If a student is aiming IIT and is willing to dedicate a year, then they must take a second chance as it is for such students IITs have given this provision. In such cases, systematical preparation is important.”
Kushagra Sinha, an IIT-Guwahati pass-out, also dropped a year for JEE preparation. “My score was just two marks less from the cut-off for JEE Advanced. So, I did not take admission anywhere else to avoid distraction and prepared for JEE,” says Sinha who believes JEE preparation is tougher and requires full dedication.
“Those from CBSE board can crack JEE Main in one go but JEE Advanced is notch higher. Unlike board exams where answers need long elaboration, joint entrance exams are objective types. Speed and accuracy play a crucial role here,” explains he.
Read | JEE main 2017: Cut-off low this year, here’s what you need to qualify for JEE advanced
Partial drop
To save a year, many students get enrolled in private engineering colleges. Batlish said, “This is generally not advisable as the student performance drops in both due to lack of focus and adequate time and commitment required. If one is clear that he/she has to clear JEE in the second attempt, it is advisable to drop and prepare for JEE only.”
Venkat Ramana from TIME Hyderabad believes that only those candidate should repeat who have strong hold over physics, chemistry and maths. “A lot of students fascinate about studying in the IIT. If they are sure on improving their performance, there is no harm in repeating a year. However, if a student is interested in pursuing engineering, then they should not drop a year,” said he.
Read | JEE main 360/360 topper: Son of a school teacher, a nurse, a Dalit
While many take admission in regular courses like BSc or B Tech is other colleges, do they really get time to pursue JEE preparation? Sandeep Sharma, a student explained, “I dropped a year and took admission in a Delhi University’s college as a back-up. But travelling to college, exams, coaching and other activities kept me engaged. Attendance is also important and therefore I couldn’t clear the entrance exam in second attempt. But some of my classmates prioritised JEE and therefore cleared it.”
How to prepare
Some students trust self-study over coaching. These students should keep solving previous year’s papers and follow a proper strategy. In the first attempt, candidates must have identified their weak areas like speed etc. Keeping that in focus, students should religiously work on that.
