The resources you need!

This post is primarily aimed at students in their XI/XII, but maybe helpful for a very enthusiastic 10th grader too.

Now, the most important resource you have at hand is your NCERT book. Yes, the same ones you bought at the start of the year. NCERT books have a fairly good acceptance, both for CBSE Board exams and for most entrance exams. They cover a great deal of your syllabus and they have a fairly nice grouping of ideas and concepts. Many times when a question was labeled ambiguous in IIT-JEE, it happened so that the final answer was decided by referring to the latest NCERT textbooks. Having seen our fair share of students preparing for IIT-JEE and other similar exams, its very likely that its been quite a while since you wiped the dust off it’s cover, so we'd suggest that you get to it right now.

NCERT books are the bread and butter of your preparation. But just bread and butter won't get you far. Assuming that you are preparing for an Engineering entrance examination, lets get specific.

For Mathematics, your NCERT book is way too basic. Try to get a hold of Arihant's "New Pattern IIT-JEE Mathematics" by S.K.Goyal. We'll give you a detailed post soon dedicated to Mathematics books.

For Physics, your NCERT book is only one piece of the puzzle. Every lesson is to be approached in a systematic manner, starting from the bare basics, and slowly advancing up the ladder. Paul will write an in-depth post later on how to handle Physics. Click Here to follow our blog, so that we can notify you when Paul's post arrives.

  

For Chemistry, keep your NCERT book close, but your reference books closer. You'll need a lot of books for chemistry, because each book is written only for one part of chemistry, and that corresponds to a third of your syllabus. Organic Chemistry, Inorganic Chemistry and Physical Chemistry. Each will require different reference books. Stay tuned, as we'll release a post on Chemistry too.

The Internet is a very useful tool if used properly. The same YouTube that you use to watch "Shiela Ki Jawani" can also be used to watch MIT lectures on radioactivity. Considering the fact that you are reading our blog, its for sure that you are making good use of the internet.

As mentioned before, we'll be releasing posts specific to each subject soon. So, STAY TUNED!!!

An insight on today's competition

Everyone will tell you that the competition is really tough these days, and it gets tougher day by day. They are right, but they don't give you the complete story. Things sure ARE tough. Come on.... ! What state would this country be in if every Tom, Dick and Harry got into the best colleges of India?

We will give you an idea of how tough it really is, and in what sense it is tough. Just one example should be enough.

Let's look at the most talked about exam - IIT-JEE

IIT-JEE : Indian Institutes of Technology Joint Entrance Examination.

It's said to be the world's toughest examination. If you qualify, people around you will respect you so much that you'll start feeling -  "I wish every day of my life was like the day I cleared IIT-JEE!". If you don't qualify, you'll think, "This exam sucks. The examiners don't know what they're saying. THREE questions were wrong, man!. THREE. Can you believe that? In JEE? 3? I wasted like one hour each and so i lost all my time and didn't get to read all questions..."

If you don't qualify IIT-JEE, people won't consider you a fool. Simply because MOST don't. But smart work can save you from being in that "most". You've got to believe this because the guy who authored this post,  failed IIT-JEE. And he knows why.

Just type IIT-JEE in Google - and probably after the official sites, the next thing that would pop up would be,
"JOIN OUR COURSE. 3497 SELECTIONS SO FAR". Coaching Institutes. So many of them. I went to one too.

Do you really need them? This a question that you should answer for yourself, but we will certainly help you in arriving at an answer.

First let me brush up with the stats.

IIT-JEE is written by approximately 5,00,000 students every year, and only about 10,000 qualify.

Your next reaction can be one of these.
1.  FIVE LAKHS??!! what the hell?? There are so many students?? and just 10,000 seats?
2.  10, 000 seats? Oh! that's a lot! I've topped my school since class 5. I'm there for sure!

For people who just underwent Reaction 1, please note this.

There are two things to know.

First of all, only 2 % qualify.Therefore, it's tough alright, but tough because of the competition, not because of the question paper. Second, many of these people who attempt IIT-JEE get NEGATIVE marks as their total.   So its safe to say that these people don't even count as competition.

Now, for the people who underwent 2, we have something to say.

There are more than 10,000 CBSE schools itself, in India. And we haven't even said anything about state boards. So, even if you top your school, that is no criterion for considering yourself an IITian-to-be.

Now, how does it sound? I just gave this as an example. This is just one exam. In India, there are a million others!

Now, the big question is, When do I start preparing? We would say, the right age to get a briefing about all this would be class 8/9. Because kids are becoming smarter by the day. Coaching may help, but is not necessary. But resources are. If you can manage to get some of the titles we'll mention in the next few posts,  or better still have access to internet(and that doesn't mean a Facebook tab at the corner),  then we personally believe that with a little bit of guidance from schoolteachers and a few YouTube videos and lots of practice,  it's not hard.

Kids who go for coaching aren't doing anything special. Only that they get all the resources, and teachers push around at them, asking them to practice. That's the only recipe. All this the Internet can provide too. So you decide whether to enroll for coaching or not. You should know how self disciplined you are. If you know for sure that you'll stick to your plan for 2 years, then fine!
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If you're interested in pursuing a career in Engineering -  in most cases, more than your Board exam marks, your entrance exam results will count. Not that you'll be neglecting boards, but you've got to get your priorities set.

Slog, mug, write...do whatever, but improve your marks.

Basically, every exam is tough till you know how to crack it. Each exam has it's own scoring methods. What works for IIT-JEE will not work for AIEEE, or PMT! Even though the content and learning methods are practically the same.

In the next few posts, expect some real important stuff you need to know, before you take up some of the important decisions in life. What decisions? How are they important?

All this...you'll know in the next posts.

So KEEP WATCHING.

What am I doing here??

Hello everyone, Welcome to Indian College for Dummies. Doesn't matter how you reached here. Maybe through a friend, through our facebook page.... What matters, is that you ARE here.

Because, here, we have something for everyone. Whether you are a Baccha or Buddha, it doesn't really matter. Yes, one thing is for sure. Since this blog is all about colleges, you can't(hopefully) find any other topic being covered. Like we may not cover how to do a bridal make-up, or at what rate the universe is expanding.(Too much? Yeah, I thought so too)

Now, let's jump right to the mainstream. We'll tell you what to look for, in here. We will cover everything right from what is the right stream for you once you jump to 11th grade(Assuming you have good enough scores to get your desired stream).And then we'll move further, with tips on how to survive those 2 years(class 11/12).
Tips, that no one else will tell you.

One fact: People who contribute resources to our blog include IITians, NITians, Students from various private universities....you know what I mean. You CAN trust us. We DO know what we're talking about.

We'll tell you there are N number of questions in the JEE examination. And we'll also tell you, that unless your Dad set the paper, you cannot finish the full thing.

We can't prepare for you, but we can help you work smarter. And produce sharper.

We'll tell you if Mechanical in a new IIT suits your needs best, or should it be Computer Science in an established NIT. It's not IIT's and NIT's all the way, so we'll research on a number of universities, just for you.

And guess what, it's all free.

Please do note that only two people are actually working on the blog, so you know how hard it can get for us. We are also college students and time is precious. We need your support. That you can extend by donating, should you like our work. But yes, NO ZABARDASTI !!!

To keep us on our toes, another thing we will need is your valuable feedback.Feel free to comment, and express your views on our articles.

Any personal queries, feel free to contact! We will reply back to you as soon as possble.

One more thing.
We all know how big and diverse India is.
So, probably we cannot cover ALL the institutes and courses.
But as far as we can stretch our knowledge and resources, we are willing to help!

Once again, congratulations on resting your faith on us.
We can assure you, you have come to the right place!
So, CHEERS!