Hi guys ,


We've been studying, preparing, laughing, crying in your preparations for a bright future for more than 4 years now. As for me, I've seen the IIT-JEE exam prep struggle for over 15 years now (yes yes... im getting older...:) starting from my own, and continuing with the thousands of mails, requests, queries from Lacs across the country. The most basic questions still remain the same, the dilemmas still remain the same. Nothing has changed there. so thought I'd steal a few minutes from the unending meetings and firefights in office to once write about the single biggest topic, that perplexes and confuses all aspirants and parents alike - boards or competitions?

This short article is meant for the student, and more-so for all those worried parents who spend nights and days thinking about future of the child, they so dearly love, are proud of and want to see successful... Not sure how much i'll be able to complete, but will sure keep adding to it as and when time allows (with my smooth administrative access rights). I sincerely suggest to have your parents (if they can read english) to go through it once. I'm sure after a read, you guys will be at a better place to talk about the boards / competition dilemma.

So lets roll back a little and join all those who have just come in from class X to class XI. They start seeing around and realize, 'oh my god.. what is this IIT-JEE which every one of my friend is starting coaching for? i should find out too.'. one thing leads to another, and before you know it, you are full in schedule of un-ending coaching classes, assignments and books to catch up with besides the school (which might be having a set of struggles of their own). You find yourself sleeping lesser and lesser. You look at your parents and even tough you know they try their best not to show it, you can see the pressure of their expectations in their say-it-all eyes. Entire class XI passes in trying to cope with classroom studies and coaching battles. And slowly and steadily you tend to settle in the pressure with time. Am i doing well? oh, i did so bad in rotational test today! my best friend's god of organic chemistry, and look at me, i'm not even done with alkanes yet! But every day is a new battle. The tough ones stay, the one's who want to take it easy start blasting the hard-working folks around. The genuinely talented ones either start helping their friends, or start throwing their weight around - each act they do, starts defining how they will be as a person for the rest of their life... one day at a time.

Class XI gone. I'm smarter. Im more mature. I've come to understand i'm bad in mechanics, but i do electrostatics better than most of the others around OR i don't want to study anymore & something will happen, which doesn't involve hard-work in my life... so they go waiting for miracles.

So we leave all the type 2 guys (a.k.a. 'waiting for miracles' folks) behind, because that, however harsh it is, miracles wont happen.. atleast not if you wait for it. We continue our saga with the type 1 guys, i.e. the kind who stand as "i know a little about my strengths/ weaknesses and i'm still ready to work very hard for a future, for a dream".

Enter Class XII. you start hearing your mommy and daddy discuss over family dinners how this year there wont be many vacations. Relatives visiting you will exclaim when they ask you which class you are in 'Oh Boards! My God! must be tough! all the best!' Every such remark creates on little pang inside you, though after facing a similar pressure in class X (well, not the new class x guys who will face the CCE demon.. which is another story.. for another time..) you are a lot more equipped to handle such aunts and uncles. 'Its no big deal. Im working on it' - you put up a brave reply.. even though you may not mean it :)

Now begins the dilemma. One night, when u r working on some quadratic problems from class with your iPod (or walkman in my time :)) on, your mom creeps in, and starts to talk. "Honey how's it going? We have full faith in you, but whatever the case, do not ignore your school". AND IT HITS! WHAT! When was boards a part of the plan???? That's where the panic hits! Heated arguments start. "they don't trust me", "they don't think i'm capable", "look at other kids' parents. they are so supportive".

Parents side is a different story altogether. A. they do not know the exact picture. most of their information comes from either you or from very small interaction with coaching teacher, who would be handling atleast 200 other kids like you. moreover, what do you expect coaching teacher to say to parent "the child is not worth it. don't pay me anymore" :). In short, the parent doesn't have a true picture. Plus they've seen enough in life to know that at the last moment, a lot can go wrong. So always have a backup. you would know this if your dad carries some extra money in the ticket pocket (and not everything in wallet) when you go out on vacation. So they want you to be prepared for all eventualities.

So which side is right??? is it the parent? or the person who has to fight the real battle?


To get to an answer let me talk a little about my past. few things:
- i was a top performer in school
- i did not clear JEE in first attempt (even though the entire school expected me to)
- i didn't do well in my boards too
- i got admission in an REC
- i came back on medical grounds after one semester, and prepared again
-  got through the second time.

Some learnings from this from my parent's side:
- they knew the child's prior performance record
- they asked my teachers a couple of times for a clear unbiased opinion
- they trusted me (after all it was my life at stake. they had lived theirs)

Some learnings from my side:
- i had assured my parents to give in my best when i decided to drop
- i had clearly told my parents that boards performance will be bad, but i'll try to get through JEE. It didn't happen. boards crashed. jee didnt happen.

Now the Verdict:

However hard the HRD ministry is trying to bridge the gap, we have to understand - preparation for IIT-JEE as of today is still a lot different from boards. Where in boards you are still expected to solve a theorem, quote from a english chapter, in IIT-JEE, AIEEE, emphasis is still on application. The tricks are different. The tips are quite different.

It's a standard thing - you cant sail in two boats. A parent has to make a conscious call at one point of time - whether to encourage his ward for a full plunge into competition, or keep him focused on boards. You try for excellence in both - except a few top Einsteins, no one will be able to excel in something like that. Once decided for boards, and of-course the child agrees, the parent & child should focus majorly on classroom and drill down his aspirations on state level exams, where the patterns are more synchronous with boards. If you do so, energy will be channeled to similar format.

On the other hand, if you want to plunge for a big-time in IIT-JEE or a good rank in AIEEE, the parent has to align himself to the decisions. If the same happens, i.e. once a decision between parent and child are made to focus on competition and not on boards, the way to go is that the child works on his competition till say 1-1.5 months before the board exam. After that, he switches completely to boards for the next 45 days, making sure he does well enough for ok results in board exams. Once boards are over, he rides back to the competition wave. Intermittently, he keeps doing his practice tests etc for staying sharp on his concepts.

If the child is confident of competition focus, then how does a parent analyze if his child is ready for the same.

Few pointers:
- Is my child's past record showing basic requirements? please note, marks in previous classes are not a parameter here. The child could be very smart, but not focused, hence the parent has to be a lot more analytical in understanding his child's capabilities.
- Is my child driven enough? is he putting in all that it takes for the road ahead?
- What do the teachers say about his aptitude?
- How are your finances, in case he has to drop a year and he wants to give it another shot?

Based on these pointers, a parent should sit with the children and talk things through. However, once decided, there's no turning back. For e.g. if both decided they have to prepare for jee, if one day child comes home dejected and wants to focus only on boards - it is the parent who has to pull him back and instill confidence, without pressure of-course.

Whatever the case - parent and ward have to be a team. Decisions made, focus set, go for it. and if you dont get to what you want, it's fine... try again. Life finds its own ways of getting through... look at me. i'm giving you a discourse on success when i couldn't clear JEE myself the first time !!