Do's and Don'ts for JEE aspirants : Shivam Chhirolya

I completed my schooling from a Hindi-medium government Higher Secondary School in Madiyado. In my village, there are no private/government English-medium school/coaching facilities available. When I was in class 10^th, I made a project related to natural and manmade disasters and the technology to get rid of these problems. My project was selected for the state-level round. I got a scholarship from the government and this indeed boosted my confidence to pursue higher studies and work hard to achieve my goals.

Career Decision

I was always good in Mathematics, so I chose PCM for higher studies from the same school. I had no idea about any entrance examination to get into colleges so I focused only on my 12^th course curriculum. I secured 1^st rank in my school with 89% marks and got a scholarship of Rs 25000 from the CM of Madhya Pradesh. This eventually gave a reason both my parents and me to believe in my capabilities.

At this time, I decided to become an engineer because I had always heard that an engineer could do everything. But I didn’t know how to become an engineer. I decided to research about the profession and the courses curriculum involved in engineering studies.  I went to Kota for coaching of JEE Mains, and after appearing for Allen test I observed that I wasn’t very smart. Nevertheless, after working hard, I got selected in JEE Mains, and got admission in Jabalpur Engineering College, Madhya Pradesh.

Suggestions for JEE aspirants

I wish to help students who have no idea about how to prepare for JEE Mains, or how to get a good college, or even how to choose the branch. I suggest thet every student who wants to become an engineer to once visit Kota and join one of the trending coaching institutes. After that, you will get the confidence and realize what the actual meaning of the study in engineering is.

When I went to Kota, I had no idea about how to prepare for JEE. I always revised the notes and only did homework. There was no one to tell me that it was not sufficient for JEE Main. I want to tell you how not to make the mistakes that I committed at my time.

• Follow a simple term: Practice
• There is no point of revising the notes without pen and paper (only wastage of time)
• Always revise by solving the questions and workbook
• Solve previous 25 years’ question papers
• Join test series and give at least 30-40 full-length mock tests           

Selection of College

My JEE Mains rank was around 40k and I am from general category, so there was no chance to get any good NIT. Also, I had no idea about the colleges and especially no idea about the engineering branches. My financial condition was not too good, so I was not able to get any private central university. So I focussed only on state government engineering colleges. In Madhya Pradesh, Jabalpur Engineering College was the one and only college with a very low fee.

Till the time of admission, I had no idea about the branches. I attended my counseling and got Electronics and Communication branch in JEC, Jabalpur (with a tuition fee waiver).

Suggestions

• Don’t waste your parents’ money in private engineering colleges that charge 2-3 lacs per year (except BITS Pilani).
• Don’t go for only CSE or mechanical. There are other branches also which have a very good scope, like EC, EE, IT, etc
• Choose your goal as soon as possible (whether you want to go for GATE, PSUs, CAT, government, non-tech or corporates)

College Experience

My college experience has been very good. I just want to say that Jabalpur Engineering College is the best state engineering college of Madhya Pradesh. From my first semester, I have been active in co-curricular and extracurricular activities. In my second semester, I participated in an Android app development workshop and got the 1^st rank in Jabalpur zone, and got selected for the national level round at IIT Bombay.

Then, I was a coordinator in techno-cum-cultural event Aureole 2016 and learnt something new, that is, how to get a sponsorship. After that event, I got some experience and thought that I should organize an event by becoming the head of the event. So I organized an alumni meet, Milan 2017. Frankly speaking, in college, there is no meaning of focusing only on studies. My branch is Electronics and Communication, and I have decided to go for higher studies through GATE 2019. I didn’t decide my goal till the 3^rd year, which was a blunder of a mistake committed by me. A student should select their goal in the 2^nd year only and should start preparing for it.

Observations and lessons-

• From the 1^st semester itself, always participate in other activities. By this, your resume will get stronger
• Every semester break, do training from a good company. It will be very helpful
• Always search for internships in industries
• Don’t focus on your college pointer; always focus on your goal (except CAT aspirants)
• GATE aspirants- always focus on solving the questions. There is no meaning of pointer in GATE

About the Author

My name is Shivam Chhirolya and I am pursuing BE in Electronics & Communication Engineering from Jabalpur Engineering College, Madhya Pradesh.

Apart from course curriculum, I have also participated in various events and interned as a trainee at places like Shiksha.com as a student mentor (online), Communities and BrahMos Aerospace (A Joint Venture of Indo-Russia), New Delhi.