How I handled Board exam and JEE preparation together: Akash Goyal

When it was time to plan for my career, I went through various sites and pages for colleges, entrance exams, courses and their scope. I had made my mind to opt for the Science stream and more precisely I can say PCM i.e. Physics, Chemistry and Maths, and also to prepare for one of the most competitive exams: IIT-JEE. I was an average student till class 10^th, so I was definitely not so sure about clearing the exam.

For those who do not know about IIT-JEE:

(It is an entrance exam through which the student get admissions in some of the best engineering colleges in India including NITs and IITs. It occurs in two parts; the first is JEE- Main and JEE -Advanced).

The beginning of my journey

I was not even confident of clearing JEE-MAINS but still, I was excited as I had heard so much about NITs and IITs. So, I decided to join one of the coaching institutes in my city- Emprise Academy.

My coaching duration was 3:30 hrs for 3-4 days a week. It was tough in the beginning to attend school and coaching both, and it became tougher when I realised that these subjects were not a piece of cake as they were in class 10^th. But slowly, I became used to the schedule and topics and gained interested in Physics and Maths. From then, attending these coaching classes was not a burden and I used to be very excited for it.

On one hand I was attending college lectures, and on the other hand there used to be MCQ tests every month in the coaching class. In the first test, I was unable to perform well because the subjects were new for me and most of the other students were studying them since 9th and 10th standards. But in the next test, I scored well. My teachers appreciated me and this appreciation made me work harder.

I was very punctual when it came to completing the homework given by the teachers and that made me better. Till the end of class 11^th, I had started thinking about JEE-ADVANCED and to get in an IIT. The first year was amazing, and I gained a lot of confidence.

The year of Board exam

Now it was the time to focus on Boards and IIT both. This year was definitely tougher than the previous one. There was immense pressure from everywhere; school and coaching teachers both wanted the best out of me, and along with that, all those people who knew that I was preparing for IIT wanted me to excel in both boards and JEE. But, I had a plus point that there was no family pressure at all.

It was purely my decision to prepare for IIT. So, there was no one at home asking me to study all the time. It was tough for me in the beginning of class 12^th because three of my coaching friends and classmates had quit the coaching classes.

But, I got new friends as soon as I had a good image in the coaching class as a bright student. This year came up with some great friends and experiences. Now, you might be thinking that I wasted my class 12^th in just hanging out, but it is not true. Hanging out with friends is also important to keep the mind fresh and motivated. And I realised this only after doing it.

I was able to perform well in the tests this year too, at least in Maths and Physics. 

It was really fun. And believe me, the year passed very quickly and Board exams and JEE -MAINS were approaching.

I gave my Board exams with no enthusiasm as I was not preparing for them, and they went quite decent according to my preparations. 2 days after the Board exams ended, it was time to appear for JEE, the exam for which I had been preparing from the past two years. My exam centre was 60 kms away from my city, so I needed to get up at 6 to reach on time. And for that I needed to sleep early on the night before the exam but I was deprived of sleep and stayed up till 4am. On the day of the exam, I slept for just two hours, but reached the centre on time with my father.

I did extremely well in the first two hours of exam but during the third hour, I was sleepy and tired, with the whole Maths section still unattended. I tried my best to solve them but every question seemed to be lengthy that day. I ended up getting 13969 All India Rank in JEE-MAINS and scored 179/360, which I was satisfied with.

After JEE Main, I started to study for JEE-Advanced again. I had to prepare in a way that I would at least get a decent NIT. After a few days, JEE-Advanced came up. The 6 hours of this paper went much better than I thought as this time as I was able to get a good sleep. I gave the exam and came back home.

After some calculations of marks, I was getting 160/366 and according to previous year results, these would fetch me in under 6000 AIR at least. I was very happy to know that I would be getting an IIT, but God had decided something else for me and I got around 12500 rank and a score of 171/366, which was shocking for me. All the online rank predictors failed and results of that year were really shocking for everyone.

For a few days, I regretted not improving my chemistry as I just got 24/122 in it. I was sad for a few days, but then I realised that I was at least lucky enough to get NIT, Delhi as most of the people around me who had worked as hard as I did not even get that.

About the Author

I am Akash Goyal pursuing BTech in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from NIT DELHI. Computer programming interests me, and my hobbies include dancing.

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