How to prepare for IIT/PMT?

AUTHOR-J.P.Sinha.Teacher for IIT-JEE/PMT

To know how to prepare for IIT or PMT(or any other medical or engineering entrance )
read the following carefully.

In India,the moment a student passes out of 10th std., and takes science in 11th/12th, he/she
all of a sudden receives a big shock.The way different subjects are developed in 10th are
so different from that in 11th that many of them get totally overwhelmed.But after one or
two months most students get used to the new syllabus.Even then the preparation of
IIT/PMT seems impossible to many.Different people respond differently to this
seemingly tough situation.But my experience as a teacher ( I have been teaching
PHYSICS/MATHS to 11th/12th students of science in Delhi as home tutor for the last
several years!) says that there is no need to panic at all.

A student should divide the work of IIT/PMT preparation into two stages.

STAGE ONE:

Initially students should simply concentrate on their basic NCERT syllabus. NCERT
books are very good for basic concept building.They are also not very lengthy.So one can
easily finish the entire 11th + 12th syllabus in eight to nine months, if one is sincere.During
this stage, while they are studing NCERT texts, students should practice MCQ problem
solving from any popular private publication books e.g. Pradeep,Dinesh etc.For really
speedy completion of syllabus according to this plan, personal home tuition may be taken
in each subject.In this way, within the first eight-nine months of 11th class, the entire +2
syllabus will be completed at the basic level along with some good amount of problem
solving practice for the students.I would also like to emphasise that students should also
make it their habbit to keep revising what they have already studied at regular
intervals(say,on weekly basis).

Many students take admission in big coachings in the beginning of the class 11th .Most
such students never get selected in any IIT/PMT institution.Why?!.... Very simple!. In
these coachings, in the name of advanced preparation, blind problem solving is
promoted.There, basic concepts are not taught properly, and just formulae are discussed
as part of theory teaching.Then right away, very tough questions are introduced to be
solved.These questions generally pass over the head of most students.The teacher solves
those questions in the class or sometimes students are given printed solutions of the
assingments from their institute.Students try to learn those solutions without learning the
art that "How to solve a new question by applying systemetic thiking to it with the help of
basic concepts?"
STAGE:2

To prepare for IIT-JEE/PMT (or other medical and engineering entrances)you should
first finish the NCERT books of 11th and 12th(as described in PART-1of this series of
articles).

Then you should go for some self assesement by solving few sample papers of
IIT/PMT published regularly in different competition magazines.Or you may use
some good GUIDE book, to solve plenty of questions from each chapter in each
subject to assess your level of knowledge and acquired problem-solving-skills in
different chapters.

In this way you will be able to know your strong and weak areas.Then based on this
experience you should do extra reading of the concepts in topics that are your
weakness.Then, again more sample papers and previous year papers should be
solved.And based on your performance in such papers you should decide the topics in
which you need extra work.In this way your preparation at the personal level will be
completed by the time you reach 12th class.And at this level of your preparation you will
feel that you can clear entrances like DCE,DPMT,BITS-Pilani...etc.And you have not
joined any coaching yet!

Now to remain focussed you may join a 'one year course' at any reputable coaching
institute.There you will be made to do regular problem solving practice.Since you are
already done with the entire syllabus(if you followed the above programme of study!) so
at the coaching you won't feel any problem in understanding complicated numaricals that
are generally discussed in a coaching class. And your problem solving skills will be
further sharpened.

Problem Solving skills in Maths and Physics.

PART-1:

• Read The Question/Problem carefully.

• Identify what is being asked.
• Make a list of knowns and unknowns.
• Note carefully the information given.(Sometimes, some informations which are
part of general-knowledge are not specifically given.Note such relevant
informations-if any.)
• Sketch a neat diagram or a rough graph to aid your thinking.(Diagrams and
graphs should be drawn in such a way that they describe the situation of the
problem clearly.)
• If you can make an estimate of the final solution (by reasoning or some logical
guess!), then you must do that. Because at the end when you actually get your
answer by solving the problem then you can check the truthfulness of your answer
by comparing it with your estimate.
PART-2 :

• Write a verbal description of relationship among all quantities.

• Write all relevant formulae known to you involving known and unknown
quantities.
• Examine similar problems to see if their solution techniques are applicable.
• Look for a pattern so that you may think upto many steps ahead of your
calculations.
• You may start with a special simpler case to gain insight.
• Sometimes a problem may be broken into two or more number of non-overlaping
cases and each case may be solved separately.

PART-3:

• DO all calculations according to your decided plan.

• Check your solution with your estimate and graph. Does it make sense? Does it
seem resonable?
• If every thing seems fine, then you have got your solution.