Maths is one of the most dreaded subjects among most of the students in our country. Some students have such high amounts of fear for this subject that they eventually give up on their dream of becoming an engineer or an architect or any other mathematics related field. What they fail to realise is that maths as a subject is not really difficult, it is the time and practice given to the subject that brings in good results. Maths requires more practice than any other subject because it involves using our brain in multiple ways like thinking of the possible solutions, remembering the formulae, speedy calculations, yet precise ones. It basically helps in utilizing our brain to the maximum extent.
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Importance of deriving a formula
The first thing a student must do after studying and understanding a particular topic is to try to derive the formula used and practice it multiple times. This way the student will automatically remember the formula and even if a situation were to come, where the student forgets the formula, they can most definitely derive it. If memorizing a particular formula seems difficult, make some sort of code for the same or make whatever changes are appropriate.
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NCERT: The most important study material
The students must follow the NCERT strictly since that is the prescribed book and also has multiple questions to practice from. While studying from the NCERT make sure that you have understood whatever topic you are studying, only then proceed to further parts of the chapter. It should be made sure that the basic concepts are clear, if not, reading the topic again is very important. The student must solve each and every question given in the NCERT, whether it is a solved example or an exercise question. Along with this, solving questions from the NCERT Exemplar is also necessary. Do not ever neglect any chapter or topic because you never know which question will come from which topic.
After solving the NCERT questions, proceeding to solve questions from other reference books won’t seem to be a difficult task. Alongside, solve previous year questions to understand the difficulty level and types of questions that could be asked. These JEE Main Maths important questions help a lot in analyzing the expected questions which become a huge relief for the students.
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Making error free calculations
Another very important aspect in studying mathematics is having speedy yet accurate calculations. Maths is a play of numbers and the answers can go horribly wrong if the calculations are not accurate. Again, this speed and accuracy will only come through practice. Also, indulging in using mental maths in simple to moderate mathematical operations can save a lot of time.
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Making short notes
Students must put in the time and effort to make neat and clean informative yet short notes which will ultimately help them during their last revision phase. Keeping the note tidy and organised is very important since the students tend to leave untidy notes under stressful last minute revisions right before the exams. These notes must be to the point and the important points and formulas must be underlined or highlighted.
The rough work used to solve the questions must be maintained and should be neat and clean so that it becomes easy to understand when refering to them in the future.
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Following a strict routine
Maintain a proper time table and try to stick to it as much as possible because setting a typical routine everyday will gradually help in getting better concentration and hence, better results. While making the time table, make sure that you also make a to-do list of chapters or topics to be studied. It should always be kept in mind that these to-do lists and time tables must be realistic and achievable, lest it will lead to demotivation, which must not happen in any case.
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Importance of taking nock tests regularly
All this hard work will matter only if the student constantly tests himself/ herself by giving various mock tests to get to know where they are heading with their current preparation strategy. Keeping a close eye on your performance level and the ranks and marks scored in the mock tests really helps in improving your performance. If a downfall is noticed, it should be dealt with calmly. You should try to understand what is going wrong in the way you are preparing. It is always better to face and solve these kinds of problems while preparing rather than during the actual exam and then regretting it later.These days there are several apps and coaching centres that help the students in solving their doubts. Use them wisely but at the same time do not cheat since it will only help in getting a momentary sense of achievement, but is very disastrous in the long run because at the end of the day it is you who has to write the exam on the exam day.
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Dedicating time to revise topics
Success in mathematics, or any other subject for that matter comes only with proper and timely revisions. Even while studying new topics, revising previous topics is very important. Dedicating proper time to timely revision is what ultimately decides the rank scored. No matter how much you study, without revision the human mind tends to forget, and the only way to prevent this is through revision.
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Coping up with performance pressure
Towards the end all of this matters only if you are healthy and sound both physically and mentally. If one is not mentally healthy, their concentration automatically decreases leading to decrease in performance. The students should try not to take any extra pressure and should calmly prepare without thinking much about the result, because with hard work the result will be nothing but good. Constantly thinking whether he/ she would make it into a particular college often takes up a huge amount of the preparation time and the students don’t even realise it until the actual day of the exam comes. Along with maintaining mental peace it becomes absolutely necessary to eat healthy while you are preparing. Try to have as much nutritious food as possible and including fruits and healthy fats like Badam helps. This way our brain and body coordinates so that the performance and concentration levels are not compromised in any way.
Students should not take too much stress because in the end it is just another exam.