NTSE Stage-I 2020 Topper Tips: Know how Samyak Jain secured Delhi State Rank 1

Know what prep strategy Samyak Jain, Delhi topper, adopted to crack the NTSE Stage-I 2020 exam.  

Samyak Jain, a student of Delhi Public School, Rohini cracked NTSE Stage-I 2020 exam and became the Delhi State Ranker 1. Samyak scored total 184 out of 194 marks. His section-wise scores in the exam include 94/96 in Mental Ability Test (MAT) and 90/98 in Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT).

An extremely talented and sharp student, Samyak’s achievement is not just clearing NTSE Stage-I but other national level exams also such as:

• Indian National Junior Science Olympiad (INJSO)
• Junior Science Talent Search Examination (JSTSE)
• Pre-Regional Mathematical Olympiad (Pre-RMO)
• Zonal Informatics Olympiad (ZIO)

Some of Samyak’s favourite pastimes include playing cricket, listening to music and experiencing new things in life. Both of Samyak’s parents are Chartered Accountants (CAs) and his father works as Vice President in Whirlpool.   

In a candid interview with Shiksha, Samyak shared his NTSE preparation strategy, study plan, future outlook and more. Go through the complete interview below:

My intent was to give my best shot and based on my NTSE preparation, I was looking forward to get a rank between one and five. I didn’t expect to be the Delhi state topper. The NTSE result was a pleasant surprise.

For NTSE, you need to be strong on concepts, maintain good speed and try to reduce silly mistakes. Starting early with FIITJEE, proper planning and practicing previous year NTSE question papers were key elements of my preparation.

The preparation for NTSE is significantly different from the preparation for class 10^th board exams. For NTSE, you have to prepare for both class 9^th and 10^th syllabus and it requires much greater clarity of concept. The NTSE exam pattern is objective type. In boards, the focus is only on class 10^th syllabus and you have to prepare for long answers. 

Managing both NTSE as well as board exam preparation is always a tough challenge. It requires proper planning of study time between both of them. NTSE exams are held in November and it leaves you with two to three months to prepare for board exams after giving NTSE. However, you need to prepare for board exams on a regular basis rather than waiting for the last two to three months.

Initially, I gave equal time to both (NTSE and board exam preparation) but closer to NTSE exams, I started focusing more on NTSE and exclusively devoted my time to it. I devoted two hours per day initially but when only one to two months were left for NTSE I increased my study time to four to five hours on school days and about six to seven hours on holidays.

I have taken a four-year programme of FIITJEE, Punjabi Bagh as my aim is to crack IIT (Indian Institute of Technology). The guidance and coaching given by the subject teachers was quite helpful in NTSE preparation.

I practiced MAT for 30 minutes every day to maintain my speed. PCMB (Physics, Chemistry, Maths, Biology) was taught to us at a higher level at FIITJEE which was helpful. This gave me enough time to prepare for SST.

For PCMB and MAT, I referred to FIITJEE modules, class notes and NCERT books. For SST, I gave more importance to NCERT textbooks since almost all SST questions in NTSE exam are directly from NCERT.

My weakness was SST as it involves a lot of rote memorizing. Guidance from my teachers and extra time I devoted towards it helped me address the concern. My strength was PCM so I could spend the extra time saved to strengthen my weak areas.

My preparation strategy for Stage 2 exam will be to revise all the topics thoroughly and then solve the previous year NTSE question papers papers.

I would advise students taking exam next year to stay focused, plan well, prepare hard, do not take stress and believe in themselves.

In future, I would like to study Computer Engineering from IIT Bombay and become a software engineer or go in research.