With just few days left for IIT JEE 2011 and a month left for All India Engineering Entrance Examination (AIEEE 2011), students would be confused on how to prepare for both of these exams. Both of these exams are very prestigious and are considered a gateway to prestigious engineering institutes of India. While cracking the IIT JEE 2011 will help you secure seat in one of the 15 IITs, AIEEE will help you get admission in various engineering institutes of the county, including NITs.

While IIT-JEE demands building concepts and proper application of the concept, where as AIEEE demands, speed and accuracy in the stipulated time, besides in-depth knowledge of the subject that JEE demands.

In an attempt to help you differentiate between the two entrance exams and help you understand the pattern of the papers and tips to excel them, Pritika Ghura from Learnhub speaks to Vidyamandir Classes, a premier IIT JEE coaching centre.

Learnhub: Can you throw light on the expected exam pattern of IIT JEE and AIEEE 2011?

Vidyamandir: The exam pattern of the toughest engineering exam in the country is-:

i) There will be two question papers and the duration of each section will be three hours.

ii) Both the question papers consist of three sections Physics, Chemistry, and Mathematics.

iii) The question paper will be an Objective type of paper

iv) The exam is designed in a way that will test candidate's comprehension, reasoning and analytical reasoning skills of the candidates.

v) The answers for each of the questions are to be recorded on a separate specially designed machine-gradable sheet of paper (ORS - Optical Response Sheet).

vi) In some sections, negative marking will be done for wrong answers.

vii) A candidate can opt for question papers either in English or in Hindi.

viii) The exam pattern of JEE is dynamic. However, we are expecting that it will be on similar lines of JEE 2010. Let us examine the pattern of JEE of pervious years-:

Exam Pattern of AIEEE 2011

This is as per decision of the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE)

Provisionally as per the orders of the Hon'ble High court of Delhi and directive received from the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Govt. of India.

Learnhub: How is preparing for IIT JEE different from preparing for AIEEE exam?

Vidyamandir: If you're preparing for IIT JEE 2011, some important tips are-:

i) Start from Basics

ii) Never prefer solutions of questions before doing self attempt at least five times till you get the right answer

iii) Never leave the question in between

iv) Always try a question with conceptual approach

v) The most important tip is to make a time table and stick to it. Also study regularly to score well

vi) You should never cram lessons as it will not be helpful in the long run. Always try to understand the problem or theory before trying to attempt questions on that topic.

vii) Practice as much as possible by taking as many mock tests as possible

For AIEEE 2011, three things that you need to keep in mind are -:

1) Practice: As much as possible by taking mock tests and gauging your performance from time to time.

2) Speed: For answering the question with right approach

3) Accuracy: While speed is important, it also necessary to get the accurate answer.

Learnhub: How should students beat the exam stress? Please suggest some last-minute tips to ace these entrance exams?

Vidyamandir: Some golden rules to beat the stress are-:

• Planning: Prepare a study chart in such a manner that whole syllabus will be covered and you will get time to revise. You have to follow the chart religiously.

• Revise: Utilise your initial revision period by reading, writing and discussing. Later, you should solve model questions while timing yourself. Solving questions on time is another way of building confidence and reducing exam stress.

• Positive thinking: Avoid everything which makes you think negatively because negative thinking means reducing your hard gained confidence and developing exam stress.

• Yoga and Meditation: These tools help you to calm your mind and build confidence.

• Eat properly: Eat foods rich with vitamins and proteins like green leafs, fruits, cereals, chapatti etc. Avoid oily and junk foods. Avoid coffee/tea.

• Sleep well: Student should maintain a regular sleeping pattern and a minimum of seven to eight hours of sleep is mandatory. Sleeping helps your brain to regain its power.

• Share your doubts: Ask your teachers or friends to clear doubts. Don't ever ignore a doubt or you will unconsciously lose confidence. The more confident you are, the less exam stress you will experience.

• Making notes: Benefits of preparing notes are two fold; firstly, it will improve your writing and secondly, notes are very useful for last minute revisions.

Learnhub: Do exam toppers prepare differently for these exams? If Yes, How?

Vidyamandir: A serious aspirant has separate strategies for IIT-JEE, AIEEE and CBSE Boards. However, what's common is the Board exam syllabus. Hence, it is advisable to make sure that while preparing for engineering entrance exams all chapters are relevant to Board exams are definitely covered first.

Toppers focus on three things while preparing:

• Building the concepts
• Proper applications of concepts
• Practicing of JEE-level problems

The key to right preparation is proper, timely planning. Toppers learn from their weak areas and practice well in time to correct them by all possible means. Correct attitude and acute focus is the key to be a topper. They divide their preparation time accordingly. They stick to a single system of preparation and have faith in themselves. Thus, they gradually build up their confidence level and gear up to crack any difficult question. They ensure solving all previous IIT-JEE questions, keeping their concepts crystal clear.

Q6) What are the subject-wise important topics for both IIT JEE and AIEEE?

Mathematics: Quadratic Equations & Expressions, Complex Numbers, Probability, Vectors, Matrices in Algebra; Circle, Parabola, Hyperbola in Coordinate Geometry; Functions, Limits, Continuity and Differentiability, Application of Derivatives, Definite Integral in Calculus.

Physics: Mechanics, Fluids, Heat & Thermodynamics, Waves and Sound, Capacitors & Electrostatics, Magnetics, Electromagnetic Induction, Optics and Modern Physics.

Chemistry: Qualitative Analysis, Coordination Chemistry & Chemical Bonding in Inorganic Chemistry, Electrochemistry, Chemical Equilibrium in Physical Chemistry and Organic Chemistry, complete as a topic.

Try to do as many number of Quality problems as possible to develop a sound confidence level. Students are advised to avoid selective study in Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics as the number of questions are more in the objective papers with intermingling of concepts from various topics.

• AIEEE 2011: Check out its schedule
• AIEEE & JEE Topper shares his Success Mantra!
• IIT JEE 2011: Crucial Topics & Tips to crack by Vidyamandir
• IIT JEE 2011: Tips to crack Mathematics section

Image credit : tracer, pooran