Breaking the 15-Hour Myth in IIT Preparation
The main purpose of this blog is to tell you the cheat code for getting into top IITs, help you in studies in general, improve your concentration, and provide you with free but extremely helpful resources that enabled me to stay at the top of my 250-student class, in which about 70 percent of the students study more hours than I do. I will teach you about smart work, the toppers’ strategy. (I shared these tactics with my best friend; her rank went from 157 (even with 15 hours of study a day) to the top 15 (with 7 hours of study a day).
One thing which you need to understand is that IIT is hard, but if you know the right method, it can be much easier. You must be thinking, “What am I even talking about?” Many students struggle to get into IIT, but still don’t get selected. That’s the point: most students focus on struggle and forget that it’s a competitive exam, where percentile matters, not percentage.
During preparation, many students think that there is too much syllabus and give up. Those behind you generally think that they are not good enough and give up, and those ahead of you tend to get overconfident or get distracted. This beats 90% of the competition, trust me. Your actual competition is those 10% students who are actually consistent.
HOW TO GET TO THE TOP
You can definitely beat those 10% if you follow these steps. The ’15 hours study’ myth:
Let’s be real: many people will tell you to study 15 hours a day, but they don’t realize it’s not good for you; it can leave you feeling fatigued and slow you down. Infact, 5–6 highly focused hours are much better than 10 distracted hours. During this time, remove all your distractions and focus only on your speed and efficiency. This will improve your speed, and your brain will be able to actually grasp what you study. You will perform much better than those studying more hours than you because they will not be able to grasp what they study, feel burnout, and most importantly, they will not be as efficient as you, causing them to fall short on time during the tests.
How many hours to sleep?:
An IIT aspirant’s brain needs proper rest to be able to think to its’ full extent while solving questions, so you must sleep at least 6 to 8 hours a day.
Get Sumeksha Dadoo’s stories in your inbox
Join Medium for free to get updates from this writer.
Giving time to your body / healthy eating:
IIT preparation requires long hours of sitting, so if you don’t focus on your body and health, it will severely affect you. If your body is healthy, you will be more active, and your focus will improve significantly. So, eat healthy and do exercise for at least 1 hour a day.
The topper’s strategy:
The actual difference between a topper and an average student is consistency. A topper follows these exact strategies consistently, and these methods help reduce stress levels to a great extent, but an average student tries to do everything at once, stresses out, and gives up.
Which lecture to watch?:
Now, this is not a sponsor, but if you want full advanced-level concepts and want to learn chapters effortlessly, the best channel is Mohit Tyagi. Also, I am publishing an app that provides you all with free access to his notes, named, JEEconcepts. It’s a great app with a lot of help, and the best part is that everything is free.
How to prepare for the day of the test:
Many students take on a heavy study load and overthink the test. Remember, during the test, don’t stress out or think about scoring better than others. Do not, by any means, run for marks. First, solve easy questions that are not time-consuming, and if time remains, come back to the hard, lengthy ones. Also, if a section in maths, physics, or chemistry seems hard or requires a lot of thought, don’t be afraid to skip it at first and come back to it later. It is much better to solve 2 easy questions than 1 hard one. Personally, I feel that the maths section requires a lot of thinking, so I do as much as I can in 30 minutes (usually about 30 percent), try to do physics and chemistry in a maximum of 1.5 hours, and then come back to maths with a whole new hour. This gives me more power to think and motivation, as well as the required break from maths overload. To know yourself best, keep giving tests to improve your strategy.
Finally, I know it’s not easy, but remember, it’s the same difficulty for everyone. If someone else can do it, then you can too. Just stay consistent, and remember: if you think you wasted time or that a lot of syllabus and backlog are left, and now there is no point in continuing, you might be wrong. Look around you, and you will see that everyone is struggling as much as you. So don’t give up and give your best. In the end, your efforts matter, not the result.
