JEE Advanced Exam Preparation: Physical Chemistry

By Aman Goel

If you have been thinking that the entire JEE Advanced syllabus for Chemistry is nothing but rote learning, then you are wrong. Physical chemistry involves the least mugging of all three parts. It tests your conceptual understanding. From the JEE Advanced point of view, Physical Chemistry is more about understanding the concept and knowing the key results than memorizing. If you are conceptually sound, then this part of chemistry will be easier for you. It is also somewhat similar to Physics. Physical Chemistry is based on a lot of concepts that will strengthen your fundamentals in Chemistry.

It is advisable to start with Physical Chemistry while preparing for the JEE Advanced. Start with the Mole Concept chapter. This is the heart of Physical Chemistry. Start with a bit of General Chemistry as well. It should include Mole Concept, Atomic Structure, Periodic Table, Acid-Base Salts, Solutions and Solubility, Gas Laws, etc. This will strengthen your fundamentals and you will be more comfortable reading further chapters. This part of Chemistry requires you to solve lots of problems as well as become theoretically sound. One precaution to be taken while studying it is that you should not mug-up the concepts because there are hundreds of them in Physical Chemistry, rather you should build the links.

Mole Concept

You must read this chapter to gain a firm command over the entire JEE Advanced Chemistry. Practice some questions on Concentration terms such as Mole fraction, Normality, Morality, Molality, %(w/w), %(w/v), etc. Read this chapter in a very good way. Try to understand all the concepts. Practice lots of problems. Pick any good book. There are a variety of problems in mole concepts. Solve all of them one by one. Once you are comfortable then you can pick any new question by yourself. That will be more than sufficient for your JEE Advanced exam. Many questions involve calculations. Most of these questions involve the use of certain constants over and over again. So if you have performed numerous calculations with those numbers then you will certainly be able to do the Maths very quickly in the examination.

Atomic structure

Again a chapter that requires your proper understanding of Quantum Numbers, Valence Electrons, Various Properties, Noble Gas Configuration, and few Exceptions. Questions are frequently asked from Quantum numbers, De Broglie Hypothesis, Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle and Spectrum of a Hydrogen atom are also important topics. Make sure you practice all the standard problems.

Equilibrium

The easiest chapter in physical chemistry. Very logical. You will have fun reading this. Numerical Questions are also very easy. Students often make mistakes in the theory part. Read Le Chatelier’s principle (effect of temperature, concentration, and pressure) carefully. Most of the theory questions arise from here. Do not make mistakes from this part. In Ionic Equilibrium, know what approximations are usually made. The calculation part is the trickiest in Ionic Equilibrium. Make sure you understand everything about the reaction given.

Chemical Kinetics

Pay special attention to 1st order reactions. This is also an easy chapter. There are a lot of numerical but if you have understood the first-order reaction then you shouldn’t have any problem with that. Again this chapter has some theory part where students make mistakes. Make sure you avoid that. This is where top rankers are distinguished from the remaining students.

Electrochemistry

Nernst equation and its relation and its various applications like Electrochemical series, E.M.F of Galvanic cells, Faraday’s laws of electrolysis, Electrolytic conductance, Kohlrausch’s law are some important units to study. Understand the Nernst equation and you are good to go. Practice problems on all of its applications. Some may get tricky so you should have a flavor of that before going to the exam.

Thermodynamics

I’ll recommend you to first go through the thermodynamics in physics then come to learn it in Physical Chemistry. Here, this chapter has two parts. The syllabus of the first part is almost similar to the physics chapter. There is a difference though, you will get it while studying. There is an ocean of concepts in Thermodynamics. Go through each of them one by one. Take your time. Let them sink in. Solve problems as you completely apart so that you don’t forget any part during your learning process. This will be very interesting for you if you understand everything otherwise it might turn out to be a nightmare for you. Focus more on concepts. Part 2 is also somewhat similar. Understand everything and solving enough problems will make you comfortable. Take care of sign as in MCQs the options will have both signs +ve and -ve. So, take care of this.

Solid State and Surface Chemistry

Reading NCERT will be sufficient here. Solid state has few concepts. You can check previous JEE questions to get an idea of the types of questions asked. Meanwhile, you have to mug up the whole chapter of surface chemistry (probably the only chapter in physical chemistry where you have to mug up things, I wonder if this could be a part of inorganic chemistry).

Revision is very important as you might forget most of it initially, but as you revise it multiple times, it will gradually become easy for you. Be very clear about the concepts. You can also revise by solving the standard problems as they will cover the important concepts too. Also, solve all the past questions papers.

About the Author:

Aman Goel is a co-founder at a Tech Start-up. He holds a BTech in Computer Science Engineering from IIT Bombay with a JEE Advanced AIR 33 (Year 2013).

During his free time, he enjoys writing articles/blogs. He is an Entrepreneur, Coder, Speed-cuber, gamer, and fan of Air crash investigation!

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