education

What is the Right Time to Start Preparing for IIT JEE?


 

A few years ago, when all the information transfer happened from person to person, teacher to student, and newspaper to people, few percentages of students were educated with the vision of gaining entrance in top colleges like IITs. The communication about the colleges was meager and there was a greater emphasis on the stringent procedure and hard work required to get into them. As a result, most of the students just settled with the local colleges and the courses offered in them.

But in the recent years, as information transfer grew easier and as people became knowledgeable of the options, the different options that are available to study are being made known earlier in the school and students are being given choices to pursue what they like (after they select engineering or medicine). So, the knowledge of competitive exams is coming to the students right after their high school which is in large said to be the right time to start the preparation for the exams.

Gaining the knowledge of all the exams, especially the toughest exams in the world like IIT-JEE right after high school gives them the perfect time to adjust to the idea and work accordingly. The colleges are increasingly in perfect synchronicity with the idea and are planning their academics accordingly. Students are taught the syllabus of board exams in two to three months in the beginning and the rest of the time is given for the preparation of the competitive exams.

However, many schools feel that the right time to start the preparation of IIT JEE is right from high school. These schools not only prepare the students for the exams physically but also help develop the child’s mindset for the exams. The method is just as the foreign schools begin preparing their students for SATs right from high school. Even though our country does not have student friendlier scholarships like PSAT giving them an advantage in the upcoming exams, this preliminary preparation from high school helps the students be determined about life after 12th grade.

In comparison, both the abovementioned approaches have positive and negative effects on students. Let us see them in detail.

The schools that prepare the students right from the beginning of their high school are helping students to create a mindset necessary to face the competitive exams. The teaching techniques in these schools are designed to help the student to concentrate more on conceptual subjects like Maths, Physics, and Chemistry.

Plenty of bright students often do not pay much attention to these subjects in high school due to lack of emphasis and the lack of better teaching techniques and more than often they find themselves being clueless in higher grades grasping at straws. Helping them focus from a very young age thus seems like the right approach. But we cannot ignore the implications that this concentrated learning has on a child’s mind.

Not all students have their interests in Engineering or Physics. Oftentimes, we Indians ignore the fact that there is more to life than Engineering and Medicine. More importantly, we ignore the child’s interests and capabilities, therefore pressurizing them into learning these subjects even when they are averse. Without proper knowledge of children’s strength, the schools’ approach of making students prepare for IIT JEE from the beginning of high school might prove destructive for them.

On the other hand, gaining knowledge of IIT JEE after high school keeps the students out of pressure for all their initial stages and helps him concentrate on the subjects that interest him. High school is all about learning most playfully and sparing them the pressure of tough competitive exams seems like a good idea especially if the child shows interest in subjects like Arts and Commerce.

But what if he is good at Sciences? And what if the idea of getting into a better college is only through one of the toughest exams in the world hits him suddenly? That is more pressure for a child than anyone can imagine. Preparing all of the basics, keeping up with the current subjects of 11th and 12th Grade syllabus along with preparing for the IIT JEE/ NEET exams all in the span of 2 years is pushing it.

We must not ignore the fact that even the best of minds breaks under pressure. The brightest of students that get into the IIT campuses are the ones that withstood this pressure and are often considered to be gifted. But are they the only ones that are helping the world move forward? Many a time, we witnessed the best solutions to world problems come from school and college dropouts.

If so, can we ignore the fact that these minds could have gotten into the best colleges in the country had they been trained from the earlier stage? It all depends on paying enough attention to the kids’ interests at the time of growing. When parents take time to be a part of kids’ lives helping them discover their strengths they would know if their kid can start the preparation for IIT JEE or NEET from a very young age or if they can overcome the immense pressure of exams in two years. Leave us your thoughts in the comment section.

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