MY EXPERIENCE OF IIT JEE 2009

                                                                       - dipendra kr misra         

When I completed writing this article I had no clue if people at GOIIT

would be interested in reading this story. But I wrote this for those juniors who would like to know what is the environment and stress during exam.

         I don’t know whether this article is purely academic or not. But I had classified it as academic since I have given many tips in the 1^st chapter and the whole thing is about IIT and goiit is about it as well.

{Those who find this letter long can read only 1^st chapter which is more academic. }

         Well this post is not in strict continuation to my earlier post titled “ how I got into IIT “ but yet this carries a lot of stuff that can be helpful apart from this I have tried to keep the post interesting so as to provide the junior a pre-experience of JEE and its aftermath. I have given the post an epic-like form to heighten the drama and interest.

        Lets me begin my story from the morning of April 12^th, 2009 an awaited day for most of us. For past 2 yrs most of us have been thinking now there are 2 yrs left, now 2 months, now 2 weeks and now 2hrs.

                                   CHAPTER 1

                            The BIG DAY  12-04-09

                    JOURNEY TO THE EXAM CENTER

       In the night before the exam I was trying to relax but the thought that a great exam awaits me tomorrow kept me nerved. My friend the biggest thread that one faces is not that what goanna come or not but will I be able to perform my best. I was stressed and an ugly vomiting like sensation in throat kept me worried even more. I had a peaceful sleep and woke up at 5 am in morn. A rare thing for me. The big day had finally come. I was driven in my car nearly 1 hr before the schedule so that when I reached it was around 8:30 am. And on that Sunday whenever you see a car it was 9/10 going to some IIT exam center. I was eating toffees to keep calm and I felt that my legs were becoming cold and my hands were becoming stiff as if I won’t be able to hold the pen and write. But I had few words that could keep me controlled. My teacher told me few good words that I should share

1. “Never recheck your qs in IIT “

2. “Be calm and do the easy qs first if you feel you won’t be able to do the qs don’t even try it before “

3. “If a qs is tough for you it is tough for all”

4. “If a qs is lengthy but you feel your method is correct then stay calm and be patient”

5. “Bubble the answer on sheet as soon as you do the qs and keep a look at time at regular interval “

6. “ in matrix type where all cases are same like the Young’s double slit experiment in JEE 2009 find the eqn for the most general case and put values for special cases so this will take less time as many complained that the matrix was lengthy “

7. “Attempt the paper from the part which is your strongest”

8. “follow the pattern: subjective < single correct < comprehension < multiple answer < assertion and reason < matrix

So I was just revising them while trying to stay calm. But the moment you see 1000 student lined up for the exam a different sort of feeling engulfs you. At this time remembering some action movie scene and feeling like a hero helps a lot (This takes you out of the depression). You should walk with head high in the center irrespective of your knowledge. See I would tell a popular line over here

“I will do all the qs that I know “this is your confidence.

“Only I will do the qs that I know “is you’re over confidence.

So when you see some poor guy, poorly dressed in the centre coming from a town or village never underestimate him. Who knows who the AIR-1 is? Ha there is also very funny scene of a boy holding 10 books under his arm and if possible on his head too with his mom holding a glass of lemonade for him and with his dad holding some notes for him is quite common. Isn’t it friends. When I was driving to the centre I saw a girl reading notes while her dad was driving the scooter. See one should remain calm than seeing all these notes. Yes you can carry a list of forgettable formula with you like I did. My most famous forgettable formula was the formula of Doppler’s Effect.

        Yes, most of us have forgotten it whether + was in numerator or in denominator but there is a way to remember it. Well I am going astray. So soon 9 am came and we all entered the center which was a mighty old building named “ Bal Vidya Mandir, Lucknow “. It was quite big and I had to struggle a lot to find the room. Finally when I reached the room there was perfect silence and everyone’s face was tensed. Few appeared as they will start crying if they are allowed. This environment is tensing. My throat arrest started and I felt that I will throw all what I had in breakfast – which I took quite light for the same purpose. Then the dreadful bell rang and even more dreadful answer sheet were shown to us.

                                   PAPER – 1

Then I recalled that “My future depends on how I perform in this paper and as I told that remembering some action movie helps so I did the same and said let the paper come  I will beat the hell out of every qs and that every qs in the paper was made by a human for our age group hence it can be solved if we try. “  Moreover I had seen such tough question and seen so high level math’s  on various site that even the toughest question of IIT doesn’t get the words “ Aaaaooooo” from my mouth except few from 1990s  papers.

        The invigilator were kind and did there best to relax us but to my horror there was a marriage going on in the surrounding but the music wasn’t loud. Thank GOD. I filled the answer sheet and checked it 10 times since I have OCD. Well most of us have. Many of us pray to GOD some number of times which they consider to be lucky. Some can’t sleep without seeing 10 times that the gate is locked.

 After that I don’t remember much since as soon as I saw the paper I opened the physics portion which was my strength and did almost all qs in the same sequence with the same pattern as I described later.

 Yes it was glad to find the Assertion – Reasoning missing. This is where I was lucky. 

             See once when you do the first 2-3 qs with confidence you win 30% battle. Then you can give your best. But the math’s portion was tough. I couldn’t move the first 2 qs of set -5 but you know the best thing was that I got around 80% correct of what I did. Besides few wise guess were also correct. In math’s portion I spoiled the comprehension. I got -1/12  in matrix comprehension and around 3/12 in the probability one. Here I spoiled my rank else I would have been in TOP 50.

           But then I did the chemistry which was ok-ok and I did quite well in it.

                                           BREAK

          Then there was a break of 2 hr and one cannot eat during that time however hungry you are and however willing to eat you are.

In order to prevent me from getting tensed my father gave his mobile and told me to play game. And I did : it was a funny site that where other were studying all books around me I was playing mobile-game. GOD knows what they would have thought of me.

                                     PAPER – 2

When I went to the hall 2^nd time I was quite used to the environment so I was more relaxed. This time I had a strict lady as our invigilator. I asked her where to put the thumbprint and she thought I was fraud and said “where did you put it in the morning “and then she checked my admit card. Her voice was bit frightening.  

          The paper was too good for me for I had a new subjective portion which I loved the most and I started with it. I got 9/10 correct in physics –subjective and around 7/10 correct in maths and same in chemistry. The other portion was easier but the matrix which I attempted at last were devilishly lengthy. One of them the Young’s Double Slit one took 20 minutes.

         The maths portion of paper 2 was easier and so were other section. Some qs like one in physics where they kept a ring on solenoid were few I couldn’t understand even till now.

         But in this paper I scored a lot in all portion except matrix.  

There were 5 qs so juniors be prepared next yr Answer sheet might appear as

QS           CHOICES

1                                          a b c d e f g h i j k l

2                                          a b c d e f g h i j k l 

now the paper went off smoothly and I came out with smiling face in contrast to a sad face in paper 1. So kids follow the same pattern in JEE 2010. It really helps. I made some guesses like the coordination no. of crystalline AlCl₃. My teacher told me that in 99% case :

                Coordination number = 2 * maximum oxidation state

So for Al⁺³ in AlCl₃ it is 3*2 = 6.

But there is no logic behind this equation. Such tricks help sometime.

If this was wrong my rank would have slipped from 156 to 180s or even more.

So that’s how the BIG day ended. 

                          THE EVE and ANTICIPATION

When I reached home the amplitude of the sound wave send by the phone was in resonance to my family member’s voice. My chemistry teacher was already at home in ½ an hour. The first solution of paper was from Prena and I had anticipated about 100 marks in 1^st paper but to my surprise I got around 160 in the first paper. The second paper’s solution came at around 9:30 pm and in it I expected around 180 but I got again around 160 due to matrix-match in which I scored very less.

I calculated the marks from various coaching the next day and the arithmetic mean came out to be around 326. I knew I am in top 500 in IIT but wasn’t sure of top 200 though my teacher expected my rank to be in top 100.

           So I told my marks to everyone and posted it on GOIIT and spend the next few days calculating marks and seeing the expected rank. Which was around 100-200. I had no clue that this would be indeed correct.

            That’s how the day came to an end……….

                           CHAPTER 2

                THE RESULT FINALLY CAME

              THE MORN OF 25^TH MAY,2009

              The interval between 12^th April,2009 and 25^th may,2009 was quite large.

    There were small exams in between to keep me busy and I did quite well in them as well. There was a funny scene as well in the AIEEE exam. Let me share it with  you. When we were waiting for the paper distributed a person next to me who was a dropper asked me “ is this your first attempt?” I said “yes”. Then he replied “ Don’t go for many wild guesses .“It was a memorable event.

          So the day by day passed and then the big day came. I woke up

at 7:30 am and at once opened the site : iitk.ac.in. The site took a hell

lot of time in opening and I found that there was no corner for results.

Then I opened GOIIT where other chaps were already shouting at iits.

Some said that “paper has leaked “ while some said “ iit’s are playing with our emotion." Some even said “ iit aren’t showing the result for keeping the heart of many people.”

There was a lot of excitement from 8am to 9am. Then at 9:10 am I was

Surfing GOIIT when 2 people declared that their rank in IIT were 2000(app.) and 3000(app.).

    At once I opened the site and before I could think of anything I entered my registration number and found that I got AIR – 156. I was happy as well as sad. Happy cause 1^st attempt and 156 rank is decent and indeed good but sad because my teacher expected my rank to be under 100. But in my mind I said to them “ Ab kya bache ki jaan lo ge “.

            CHANGES IN MY LIFE AFTER SELECTION

  There was a blast of phone call and enjoyment at home. Nearly all my family members were calling someone on phone and informing them. My teachers were happy and said that if they would have worked harder on me I  would have made it to top 100. Now here the drama of human life lies. Many of my friend not even congratulated me even till now while few with whom I had seldom conversation congratulated me as if their own children have made it.

        My neigbhours were jealous cause their son couldn’t make it to IIT in his 2^nd attempt but you won’t believed me they lied that he got AIR-168. They lied to another neighbour in the eve that his rank was

234 etc…….

When I asked them the registration number they said “he has gone to GYM” and at night they said “he has gone out of the city marriage”. We all knew they were lying.

      Since then they hadn’t talked to me till now. They even spread the rumor that I got a poor rank in Manipal in which their son got a good rank. But the fact is that I never gave Manipal. What a lark.

   At GOIIT many friends like nugorama, Rugonama, Siddhant, Dylan, Ashwini didi , Achin bansal and other congratulated me : that feeling was really touching. At once there were around 10 friend request on GMail ……and this continued the euphoria within me. But I never ever looked down upon those who couldn’t make it.

        Yes so there were 20 new friends while equal number of my older friends left me. That’s how the life goes friend. Then came a big call from a local newspaper who told me that I  was AIR-3 in Kanpur zone. Then I felt that my achievement was worth celebrating. Then for next 2 days I was sticking to the phone calls. Then the next day I could see my photo in every newspaper. My chemistry teacher gave my contact no. in the paper so that there were nearly 100 calls everyday.

                 But there was a trouble : few people send me SMS and prompted me to reply. If I don't, they will think that I am arrogant so I had to reply and my monthly balance perished in a day. Sometime when my dad had the phone then he became me and talked to the callers. This was funny.

           Now the euphoria was at peek. So you see there are not many changes  in life. It is all the euphoria of one day. The strange thing is that I am not as please with my rank as others are. I always see that there were 155 chaps who scored better ranks than me.

        So that’s how the time passed. I got the counseling letter and then came the final result which will tell – which branch will I get.

                          CHAPTER - 3

           COUNSELLING AT IIT KANPUR

The last troublesome day came – 13^th june, 2009. 13 is considered to be unlucky but every thing went well that day. I was driven by my dad to IIT kanpur a journey which took 2 ½ hrs so that I reached the campus which is almost a miny city stretched to 1055 acres. After moving here and there and viewing the beauty of campus we went to the auditorium where the counseling was to be held.

           The counseling started with a presentation by the Chairman. We were told to arrange our document in some manner and then we were call serial number wise(which was based on 1^st come 1^st go). My number was 78. By the time other chaps were showing documents I got a chance to talk to the counselor. I had a nice talk with CS, electrical and Mathematics counselor. They informed me about the system of checking and about CPI(cumulative performance index). CPI : is calculated by formula

  CPI = {∑ (credit of the subject)*(grade) }/∑(credit of subject)

Hmmmm so better marks in higher weighted subject the more marks you get. 

         They also told me about the Tutorial facility and then my number came. After showing all the document I filled the choice sheet and got it signed. Then the head counselor signed the document and said “ Boy the counseling is over”.

       So the counseling went very smoothly unlike other college where we have fight-barks in the counseling.

I knew that either I will get Electrical or CS in IIT kanpur. But I was more confident of getting the later.

THE RESULT OF COUNSELING -  A NEW JOURNEY BEGINS

The counseling result was awaited on 8am on 24^th june,2009. But the environment was not much stressed. Electrical or CS were both nearly equal to me.

      So I just opened the site again and found that I got CS at IIT kanpur. So a new journey starts again. But let me tell you friends now that I have got the best course in one of the best college of India yet I am not that happy as it appears. I mean to say when you get the thing you lose it values. Similarly the man on top just can see how many people are below them.

    So lets end with the lines that :

“Whenever you get depressed see that there are people willing to get to your position and when you get cocky see that there are people above

You as well. “

  So a new journey begins for me……and so it does for you as well.

                                                                       - dated // 28^th june,2009