The eleventh and twelfth grade can be a hard time. There’s a lot to do. There’s school, there are tuitions, coaching, entrance exams, decisions to make – the list is endless. Most of us are pressed for time, there’s a lot of pressure, and literally, everyone wants to share their opinion about what you should do next, whether you like it or not. That’s where schools and colleges play a role. For me, it was pretty clear. I wanted to get into an IIT.
I joined CMR primarily because I loved the timing. Turns out, there are a lot of things that are really great about the college, not just the timing. For starters, teaching is really systematic and there is not much pressure on the students. I have friends who have had to pull all-nighters during their exams at school, but I never felt any need for that. You’ll meet lots of new people and make (hopefully!) lifelong friends. There are clubs after school, for students who are interested. Something that’s commendable is that it’s not mandatory for students to join these clubs, so students don’t have to force themselves to be interested in something they are not.
There are a bunch of co-curricular activities here – there are cultural events, the school participates in fests, there are academic activities like quizzes, and then there are also sports. There’s also a theater club that organizes plays. I remember watching Romeo and Juliet – put up by our own theater club at CMRIT’s auditorium.
So here’s what I did to attain my goals. Planning ahead helps and it doesn’t have to be perfect – a general idea of what you should do next and what your schedule should like helps. Another thing that’s really important is staying consistent. Having a consistent schedule helps you build good habits instead of procrastinating and wasting time. Another thing that helps a lot is breaking your goals into smaller goals. Preparing for every single test as it comes helps a lot when there’s a huge syllabus to cover. This matters especially at coaching because preparing for even the smallest of tests prepares you for the whole.
Engaging with your teachers – at schools, coaching or tuitions, is good, and getting all your doubts cleared is super important. No matter how tiny the probability of finding a question on it in a paper may be. Small problems now, become larger problems later. One thing that everyone should do but hardly anyone does is test analysis. The moment you finish your papers, the first thing you should do is try to solve the questions you couldn’t in the exam hall, find out where and why you went wrong, and get your doubts on the paper cleared. This is extremely important if you’re preparing for competitive exams.
There’s a lot of competition and it’s important that you try, putting in your best efforts to be the best. Passing at exams can get you through life, but it’s important to not be satisfied with just passing but to do the best you can. Facing up to what material you find challenging is very important. If there’s something you are good at, doing it over and over again won’t help. You have to try something harder so that you actually something new in the process. The people around you can also have an effect on your success. It’s important that you find people you associate with, and who motivate you even in the most difficult of times.
Most importantly don’t procrastinate. Set your daily goals and deadlines and stick to them.
Two years. Two crazy years. It’s up to us to make these good. For those of you preparing for the jee – never have a backlog. Do your coaching material completely. Also, do every topic from one extra reference book. If you need help with the theory you can check out Yale’s open courseware for physics. It’s brilliant and helps you really appreciate the subject. Once you are done with the reference books, previous year papers, and sample papers matter. Most of all listen to what your teachers and seniors at your coaching have to say. They have trodden the same path, and they know what’s best.
I hope that everyone reading this has an amazing two years, years that you all will cherish forever. Oh, and may the odds be ever in your favor!
-Jigyasa Kumari
