Story of an IIT JEE aspirant..

When I was in class 5th my elder brother was in class 12th . So since my childhood I had heard about IIT JEE . My brother could not make it through because he did not have the right coaching but he always wanted his younger brother to clear IIT JEE . So after completing his 12th he packed a box with this written on top of it :
" Karan's IIT JEE material " . I did use few of his books for my preparation . I even remember going to his college when I was in class 6th , his friends asked me " So Karan planning to join AIT( my bro's college) " and I replied " No, I am planning to join IIT " . I had done average in class 10th . I had got 88% overall . Then my dad got to know about this coaching institute Bakliwal Tutorials (BT ) , Pune . I also had heard a lot about it . So went to the orientation classes , after those 4-5 classes they took a test and I got selected to get my coaching from BT for IIT-JEE 2010 . Soon my father had bought the stack of all the books that BT had suggested . One the same day , as my parents went for an evening walk I remember sitting in front of that stack of books and  fear ran through my spine . My eyes were almost watery and I was wondering how much would I have to study . But I never knew preparing for IIT would be so much fun and not at all a burden for me .

In 11th class my dad used to drop me to the class and then wait outside the coaching centre as the classes would sometimes exceed the time limit by half or even one hour and at max 2 hours :D . I took some time to settle to this routine . I remember in 11th class I used to get a score of 50-60 / 240 . But I never gave up I kept on enjoying solving problems and enjoyed the classes too .

Then I shifted to another place in Pune( as you know my father's in the army ) where my home was near a friend of mine , Pranjal . Then in class 12th I started studying with him . In school we used to sit on the second last bench and study for JEE together . I remember in the English class we used to write a question on a piece of paper and it used to travel to 3-4 guys who were also in BT and in my class and we used to solve the question on the backside of the English textbook . It was the same even in other classes . There was this craze among us to solve questions , solving questions was like solving puzzles to us we enjoyed it thoroughly . Even our class teacher was very supportive ,  we used to go to the Computer lab carrying our JEE books along with us and after our programming got over we used to solve JEE problems in the lab itself .

Pranjal and I , we used to study at night when there was no school the next morning . Sometimes he used to come to my home and sometimes I used to go to his home . We used to start studying at night 10pm and go on till 5-6 am in the morning . When we used to study at his house his mom used to give us something delicious to eat and coffee to drink in the night if we felt sleepy , the same thing happened at my home . Our moms were very supportive . Even Pranjal sometimes used to make noodles or sandwiches late in the night at his home . He really motivated me to study , having a friend who is also serious in studying helps a lot to stay motivated . Although he also said the same thing that it was because of our group study that he used to study well , but I think he would have managed without me also .
We used to solve FIITJEE home tests together . Sometimes even 4-5 of us did group study at my home or at our coaching centre when there were no classes going on .
After this my performance really improved I started scoring 240 / 480  in the tests at BT as well as in the FIITJEE mock tests . At one point in 11th I really wondered whether I would be even able to clear IITJEE but now I was very confident that I would surely crack JEE and would get a rank of around 2000-3000 .
This was my story , pre IIT JEE 2010 . I still miss the joy of preparing for IIT-JEE , wish I could go back in time and relive my 11th and 12th class . Its fun making a goal and striving hard to achieve it rather than living life purposelessly .

Finally I got an AIR : 6871 ( as you can see it on my first post on this blog  ) and Pranjal got an AIR:3059 in IIT-JEE . He is now doing Electronics Engg. from IIT-BHU( name got changed from IT-BHU) .

Thanks for reading :)

Karan Singh Mann
B.E(Hons)
Electrical & Electronics Engg.
BITS Pilani - Goa Campus .

10th April 2010 : IIT JEE 2010

Date : 10th April 2011 Place : My hostel room at BITS Goa
Time : 9:15 am

Exactly 1 year from now was the most important day of my life . The day I had been waiting for since 2 years.
I remember the torturous night on the eve of IIT-JEE-2010 . I had my centre in Mumbai so had stayed in an army mess in Mumbai . The bed bugs bothered me a lot as if they wanted to spoil a perfect uneventful eve . I remember eating cautiously so that I dint upset my stomach . My sweet brother kept himslef awake all night so that I could get a good sleep without the bedbugs troubling me . So far so good , the night had passed letting me have a couple of hours of sleep . I travelled on a local train with my brother feeling my nerves .
I kept telling to myself "Today is the big day and I am going to make it" . I saw the fear in other peoples eyes in the local train  who were also going to take IIT-JEE . Some people were even revising in the local train for the exam . On this my brother remarked jokinly whether I also required a bit of revision . I laughed on his comment but a part of me  inside was still hoping I dint forget anything . I reached at the centre, Jamanabai Narsee . My dad was flying in all the way from Kashmir ( as he is in the army ) to Pune then travelling overnight to Mumbai with mom in our car . My parents had planned to meet me there at the centre and wish me luck and so it happened . My parents said remain calm and just do it . I stepped  inside the school finding my way to the designated classroom . I sat down on the second seat near the window in the classroom . Trying to remain calm , I looked out of the window and did the streching excercises I had thought I
would do during the exam . I started taking deep breaths and tried to slower the beating of my heart . And so it began IIT-JEE 2010 Paper - 1 . As usual I started with Physics ( My only love of life ) , then did chemistry
and finally maths . Paper 1 went good , I think it even got reflected on my face . I remember I was so relaxed now that I ate a bit too much at a restaurant . But before reaching the centre again my heartbeat quickened because to do well in JEE you have to do good in both papers . This time I was in a hurry to bid bye to my parents and  my brother and reach the classroom . Again I tried calming myslef down by the slow and deep breathing . The answer sheets were distributed and I noticed Phy , Chem , Maths were not in the same order but I kept quiet . After the  question paper was distributed I immidiately called for the invigilator and told her the question numbers on the question paper and the answer sheet dint match . This showed that my presence of mind was still good . This time the paper was a bit tough . Even the love of my life ( Phy ) was a bit tough but not tough enough to stop me from getting 40-50 out of 80 . Chemistry was as usual ok . Then I arrived on the subject which ruined the chances of me going to any IIT , Maths . Maths paper 2 was so tough according to me that numerous times I went through the maths section trying to find a question I could solve . Now I was getting tensed . In the last 40 min out of the 3 hours for paper 2  I scored just 2 marks . I came out of the examination hall not as happy as I was after paper 1 . But my parents said I was one of the few people at the centre who was saying that the paper was not bad . Then you know how the people who care about you try to make you happy by giving you false hope and you who doesnt want to face the truth also start hoping for the good .
The next day after IIT-JEE solutions were out I went to a friends house and checked my paper as I had marked all my answers on the question paper itself . I was expecting a score of 206 . I was getting the feeling that the battle was lost . But again a person tries to give himself hope by wishing that the other students hadnt done well in IIT-JEE and the exam was tough for everyone .
After that I tried my score on several IIT-JEE rank predictors which mostly gave a rank of around 3000 , which  dint seem bad to me so I started getting this feeling of a rank in the 3 thousands . Hope was all I had .
During this interval I never focussed on any other entrance exam . But did a bit of preparation
for BITSAT . Then the day came 26th May 2010 . The " Judgement Day " . The IIT JEE site traffic was high so it  took time to load . As we entered my reg. no and password there it was Congratulations Karan Singh Mann AIR:6871 . This is how my dream of going into the IIT was shattered . My parents tried to console me saying I had atleast  cleared IIT-JEE which was a big thing in itself . Rahul sir ( my phy teacher at my coachin centre ) often stated
"Aim for the stars , you will atleast reach the moon" . I always aimed for a rank of around 1000-2000 . But I
guess I did reach the moon only not the stars .

Thanks for reading :)
Singning off

Karan Singh Mann
B.E(Hons)
Electrical & Electronics Engg.

BITS - Pilani Goa Campus .