Every year, lakhs of students take the IIT joint entrance exam (JEE) but only a few thousands manage to get into the best engineering institutes in the country. The rest are left wondering: “Where did I go wrong?”

Most students labour hard for IIT-JEE but only a few go about the preparation in a systematic and methodical manner, claim experts who train students for one of the toughest exams in the country. As the countdown begins for IIT-JEE (scheduled on April 8), The Telegraph speaks to a few experts on what should an aspirant do to achieve his or her IIT dream.

Forget fear

The IIT aspirants are burn- ing midnight oil, studying more than eight to 10 hours per day. Experts, however, suggest the aspirants should not panic or take undue stress days before the exams. According to them, candidates should not start new subjects or topics a week before the exam. Instead, they should concentrate on revising the topics that they have studied in the past.

Anand Kumar of Super 30 says: “If an IIT aspirant solves at least 50 per cent of the questions, he has a fair chance of clearing the test.”

His mantra for clearing 50 per cent questions: “If a student studies sincerely round-the-year, there is a good chance of solving at least 55 per cent of the questions.”

Rise & shine

Many aspirants study till late hours. This makes them feel sluggish in the morning. The habit can affect an aspirant’s performance in the exam, which begins at 9am and continues till 5pm.

Anand Kumar says: “The aspirants studying till late night should change their routine a week before the examination. They should study early in the morning and during the day so that they do not feel tired on the day of the exam.”

Fruitful break

The total score in IIT-JEE is 480, divided into six papers of physics, chemistry and mathematics. The examination is held in two sessions —9am to 12 noon and 2pm to 5pm. Aspirants get an hour-longbreak in between.

Experts suggest, students should avoid junk food so that they don’t feel sick in the exam hall. The best food during the hour-long break is fruits.

Remember ballpoint

Anand Jaiswal, director, Mentor Classes, Patna, says: “The examinees should not forget to carry a black ballpoint pen with them. From this year, candidates will have to fill up the OMR (optical mark recognition) sheets with black ballpoint pen.” Earlier, HB pencil was used to fill up the OMR sheets in IIT exams.

Jaiswal adds: “Now that black ballpoint is compulsory, candidates should be sure of the correct answer and only then blacken the option, as there is no scope of erasing the answer.”

Success formulae

The more formulae an aspirant remembers, the better he or she performs in the exam. Jaiswal says: “As there is just a week left for examination, students should start revising all the formulae of the three subjects. A candidate should prepare a chart of all the formulae and keep it in front of the study table so that he or she can memorise them well.”

A teacher of a coaching institute says: “There are around 10,000 seats in IIT-JEE. If a student prepares well and still fails to get a good rank in IIT-JEE, he has a good chance of clearing the AIEEE examination scheduled on April 29.”

In Patna alone, there are around 7,000 students who will take IIT exam at around 25 centres in various colleges and schools. The IIT-JEE examination 2012 is being held on the old pattern but from 2013, new examination pattern will be introduced in which marks of Class XII will also be given weightage in preparing the merit list.