Optics for JEE Advanced Exam Preparation: Physics

By Aman Goel

Optics is a very important part of JEE Advanced Physics and is a vast chapter that would require a good amount of effort too. The perception of this chapter varies a lot among students. Many students can relate optics with concepts from other chapters like relative motion, force, etc. Whereas certain other students find optics tough and they need to invest a lot more time to understand it comparatively. Once you understand optics you would be able to gain marks easily in 80% of the questions from the same in JEE. The remaining 20% can be tough at times and you would need a very deep understanding of concepts for the same. Don’t leave this unit for the end as it might require patience and time and you might panic at the end. Here is a complete discussion on all that you need to know about optics for JEE Advanced.

Classification of topics under Optics

Optics consists of a lot of broad topics and so optics too can be broken down into smaller chapters for easing the process of preparing it. Firstly, we can classify optics into two major chapters: ray optics and wave optics. Further, each of these two is also big and can be further broken down as follows:

Ray optics:

1. Reflection: This chapter consists of the basics of optics and has the laws of reflection which are the most important for solving problems of this chapter. Motion of the object and mirrors is an important concept of this segment and many students relate it to the relative motion of mechanics. Remember to do this nicely to understand refraction in a better manner.
2. Refraction: You would find this chapter somewhat analogous to reflection. But this would be more complex than reflection. The chapter again has some basic laws of refraction and the concepts that follow. Total internal reflection is an important portion of this chapter.

Wave optics:

The Young’s Double Slit Experiment (YDSE) is an important part of this portion. The concepts of superposition and interference are important for building concepts of wave optics. This portion is smaller than ray optics and has a lesser number of concepts. The portion is easier as well and understanding concepts won’t be a long process. Once that is done, you would have to practice a lot and get a grip on where to put in which formula. A large number of formulas of this chapter would sink in through a good amount of practice only.

Both these units are important and you should not skip them out. Also, wave optics will fetch you easy marks too comparatively. Give ample time to optics and boost your JEE Advanced score.

How to prepare Optics for JEE Advanced?

Just like for any other unit, you would require a book for preparing optics for JEE Advanced. You should start with your basic board-level book to prepare the basic school level stuff first and then move on to the JEE books. In general, you can use NCERT for the same. Here is a list of JEE books that you can use for preparing optics for JEE Advanced:

1. Understanding Physics by DC Pandey: This book will help you go from a beginner to an advanced level in a very smooth way. Its detailed theory and solved examples will help you in understanding concepts nicely and finally, a good variety of questions will help you in learning concepts and their applications perfectly. The number of extremely tough or extremely logical questions might be a bit less and you could use books like Irodov or HC Verma for the same.
2. Physics for Joint Entrance Examination by Cengage: You can choose either of DC Pandey or Cengage for preparing optics for JEE Advanced. The book has a good variety of questions, there are plenty of single correct, multiple correct, assertion reasoning, etc. types of questions and you would get a good practice if you use this book.
3. Problems in General Physics by I.E. Irodov: This book will probably be one of the toughest books for JEE physics that you would come across. You can’t rely solely on this book because the book lacks theory and has questions of a very high level. You can do the problems of this book selectively during revision. If you are not comfortable with the questions of this book, don’t waste your time on it.

The best option would be using NCERT or HC Verma in a combination with either DC Pandey or Cengage. Don’t go for both Cengage and DC Pandey as they will have a lot in common.

Once you have chosen the set of books that suit you best, start with basic theory and understand each concept in depth. Try relating optics with the concepts already done earlier in other lessons. Also, try correlating questions with examples from real life. Optics is a very interesting lesson and if you study it in a fun and practical way, you would be able to gain a lot from it and that too in less time. Making notes while studying optics is very important. Ray optics will confuse you as many things will be analogous to each and other and if you would see your notes regularly all such confusions would be removed. Whereas wave optics has a lot of formulas and cases for different conditions, that might confuse you too. To avoid all such confusions you must make notes. Understand all the experiments explained in these lessons and then practice a lot to understand concept application.

Overall, optics might be a bit too long but once you get it in the flow it won’t seem that tough. Wave optics will make you feel better after doing the vast ray optics. Do go through the past year paper’s to correct yourself and prepare accordingly. Develop a logical approach in this unit because merely learning formulas will not help you in JEE Advanced especially. Don’t skip any portion and stay focused. All the best!

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!

 

 

 

Read more:

• Electricity and Magnetism for JEE Advanced Exam Preparation: Physics
• Thermodynamics for JEE Advanced Exam Preparation: Physics
• Trigonometry for JEE Advanced Exam Preparation: Mathematics
• Calculus for JEE Advanced Exam Preparation
• Analytical Geometry for JEE Advanced Exam Preparation
• Best Books for JEE Advanced Chemistry: A Comparison
• Algebra for JEE Advanced Exam Preparation
• Best books for JEE Advanced Physics: A Comparison
• Best books for JEE Advanced Mathematics: A comparison
• Most scoring topics in JEE Physics
• Most scoring topics in JEE Mathematics
• Most scoring topics in JEE Chemistry
• How To Handle Tough Topics in JEE Physics
• How To Handle Tough Topics in JEE Mathematics
• How To Handle Tough Topics in JEE Chemistry
• Start preparing for JEE Main 2018 with this month-wise study plan
• 5 Common Myths About Online Exam Busted
• Useful Tips For Online Exam Takers: Go Prepared
• Exam Day Tips For JEE Main 2018
• JEE Main 2018: Subject-wise Tips For Physics, Chemistry & Mathematics
• JEE Main 2018: How to attempt questions and maximize your score
• 5 Mistakes to avoid in JEE Main 2018
• Last Minute Preparation Tips For JEE Main 2018
• 10 tips towards your JEE Mains & Advanced 2018 preparation
• JEE Prep: Strengthen Weak Areas With Smart Planning
• Dropping a year for JEE preparation could be a golden opportunity
• Advantages of JEE Advanced in online mode
• Is JEE Advanced moving towards BITSAT exam pattern?
• Mechanics for JEE Advanced Exam Preparation: Physics