A Plan That Actually Works ANAGH PRASAD Preface 7th April 2013 marks the first-ever edition of JEE Main in India (test for IITs was called IIT-JEE till 2012). It also happens to have etched a timeless memoir in my mind. It was a particularly hot summer day in Ranchi, especially by April standards. As I walked out of my exam center, I could see hundreds of parents standing right outside the center's old iron gate. All of them were anxiously waiting for their kids to come out. Pretty much everyone seemed eager to know what the first-ever JEE Main paper was like. Struggling through the commotion, it took me a while to locate my dad. I waved my hand and walked up to him. He said, "It's hot here, let's walk out quickly. Your mom has kept some chilled watermelons for you in the car. Anyway, how was the test?" "Well, Papa, it went great. I think I will be Rank 1 in this one." "That's great. You have been doing well in practice tests. So, it won't be surprising. Let's go home and take some rest. You must be tired." "No - I didn't mean Rank 1 in just Ranchi like some of the practice tests. I will be All India Rank 1 in JEE Main." 2 [Rest of the Preface is currently locked] 3 Chapters 1. Introduction A job started is a job half done. 2. The Zeroth Question Is JEE worth working for? 3. The Conquest of Mind How does a goal-oriented mind think? 4. The Five Question Framework Skeletal for a plan suitable for the goal-oriented mindset 5. The First and Second Questions What do you expect from life in the long term? What do you intend to accomplish in the next 2-4 years? 6. The Third and Fourth Questions What should the next few months look like? Where should you be at the end of this week? 4 7. The Fifth Question How to design a daily schedule that works? 8. Smart Choices How to choose a teacher? How to prepare for board exams? Should you change cities? 9. The Balancing Act What is the art of wholesome planning? 10. Acing the Exam Day Specific exam strategies to bring out your best. 11. What’s in the AIR? Taking the pressure hat off All India Ranks 5 #1 Introduction Back in the year 2003, in a special episode of CBS News' 60 minutes (the most-watched news program in the US at that time), the CBS correspondent introduced IITs as, "Put Harvard, MIT, and Princeton together, and you begin to get an idea of the status of IIT in India." In the same episode, Narayana Murthy, founder of one of India's largest software companies, Infosys, had remarked that his son wanted to do Computer Science at an IIT. But he couldn't make it, so he went to an Ivy League university (Cornell) instead. More recently, in a press interview in 2017, Warren Buffett, then world's second wealthiest person, said that he had once asked his friend Bill Gates, then world's wealthiest person, that if he could hire from only one university in the world - which one would it be? IIT - was Gates' unambiguous answer. The statements by Gates and Murthy or CBS's description are just some of several examples that indicate the extraordinary global reputation of Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs). IITs have unmistakably maintained the top rank status across all college 6 categories in modern India. Their graduates continue to make consequential impacts on our society and economy. Over five decades after inception, IITs remain an attraction point for bright young Indians every year through the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE). Over 10 lakh students register for JEE every year; only about 10,000 get an IIT admission call. Admits for the old five IITs form an even smaller subset of that. That sounds incredible. So, IITians must be born geniuses, right? Well, most students at IITs are not what one would call in the traditional sense, “born” geniuses. Yes, students who get into an IIT are definitely smart young people. Most of them, however, have not had palpably different childhoods than the average population. Over 90% of under-100 JEE Adv rankers that I know never won (or, most likely even participated in) any “wiz-kid” type contests at school. They gradually developed an inclination for Science and Engineering as they grew up, and eventually became quite good at what they did. Okay. Then, they must be incredibly hard working. 12-hour workdays must be child’s play for them, right? Again, not true for the majority of IITians. Conventional hard work that is taught in schools is not strongly correlated to JEE ranks. For example, 7 most 12th board toppers from my city could not make it to the IIT shortlist in my batch. It is perhaps possible to work your way to a decent JEE rank through sheer sweat, but it is the least efficient way to do so. Stories from all generations of IITians in history point in the same direction: hard-work is a useful but not a sufficient ingredient for success in JEE. So, who goes to IIT? Intelligence or hard-work by themselves do not pave a straight path to IITs. Most successful JEE candidates do a bunch of things right at the same time - they most likely like math and numbers, are not shy of working hard, think deep about new ideas, manage stress well, are devoted to targets, remain confident, pick up quickly from falls, and so on. Different people relate to the above characteristics at varying levels. What sets top rankers apart from the rest is that they can plan their life around their strengths and weaknesses. None of what they do right is out of reach for an aware student. Characteristics needed for doing well at JEE can be gradually built up by anyone willing to bring incremental improvements in herself. Smart planning is key to that approach. How important is planning for JEE? Since my tryst with JEE in 2013, I have been observing patterns of behavior in JEE candidates. I 8 interacted with over a thousand students in the year immediately following my JEE. Acquainted juniors have been seeking guidance in a personal capacity from me since then as well. I talked to a further few hundred students over the last six years that way. During the process, I came across varied real-life problems that my juniors faced. Some of the everyday struggles students faced were: ● More than half of my juniors could not clearly answer why they wanted to write the JEE. The average Indian teenager continues to be pushed to appear in competitive tests by family/societal expectations without holistic conversations about what’s best for her. ● I would often have students (who I knew to be reasonably smart) come to me saying that they felt JEE was not for them. They wanted to go to IITs but said that they would rather try simpler international tests or private colleges’ entrance exams. ● Then, some students entered class 11 with great zeal but quickly lost motivation. They found it hard to manage time due to a suddenly-induced change in lifestyle. Eventually, they would give up on JEE after failing to catch up with fast-moving peers. ● Over 80% of all the JEE candidates that I have ever met told me that they almost always found themselves running behind the syllabus in class. 9 ● I met quite a few students who had an impressive command over fundamentals and were able to solve the most intricate problem books. It was disheartening to see them still fumbling under exam stress and falling short of expectations. ● Tens of examples also come to my mind in which the candidate got overconfident of her abilities way before appearing for JEE, only to be downright disappointed in the end. Through frequent observations similar to the above examples, I realized that conscious planning is a rare trait among JEE candidates. None of the above problems would have been so prevalent otherwise. Living through the entire JEE experience again with my younger brother (he was AIR 49 in JEE Adv) in 2017, in particular, was a trigger point to think about what kind of planning actually works for the test. I realized that my brother, as well as IITian friends, had faced similar problems as my struggling juniors. However, they were able to plan their preparation phase much better. There were specific, common elements of the thought process that let them put similar efforts as others but end up with dramatically different results. Effective planning let them sail the journey from potential to performance. Job started is a job half done The fact that you have picked up a book on planning already indicates an inclination to do things efficiently 10 in life. After all, if you have to spend time on something anyhow, why not do it the smart way. Repeating my earlier point, top JEE rankers do not necessarily act very differently from their peers; instead, they think differently. This book attempts to lay out a structure to do precisely that: think differently, and effectively. The next chapter makes you introspect on reasons why writing JEE could be a good idea. Chapter 3 unravels the unique characteristics of the goal-oriented mindset. The book then moves on to introduce a novel framework for planning. Chapters 4-7 break down the seemingly enormous task of JEE prep to consumable thought-chunks that can be absorbed one by one. They aim to train readers in the art of time management, deriving insights from specific JEE prep strategies. Suggestions to some frequently asked questions around making prep-guide choices and managing board exams are captured next (Chapter 8). The following chapter (9th) focuses on optimizing daily routines through a balanced life beyond studies. In Chapter 10, the book presents directly actionable exam-tips to bring out one’s best self in the JEE. It concludes with a thought experiment on All India Ranks in the last chapter (11th). 11 #2 The Zeroth Question On my first trip ba… [Rest of the book is currently locked] [Please pre-register yourself for a priority link at https://www.thejeeproject.com ] 12
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