Inside The Minds Of The Best Students Of INDIA
JEE Advanced Results came out on 12th June 2016 and JEE Rankers 2016 list got announced. This year, for the third consecutive year — Embibe students did extremely well and some of the best students in the country took advantage of our analysis, tips, notes and study material. This year, we bring you snippets from an interview with a list of JEE Toppers 2016 where they shared more about their journey as well as various tips and secrets to maximize your marks, as well as cracking JEE. This includes things like planning their time tables and various strategies they undertook to secure their ranks. You may also want to read :
5 ranks under 10 in JEE 2016 – How one of India’s top educators embraced embibe analysis
E: So how did you decide to opt for engineering? Did your parents force you in anyway?
Duggani Jivithiesh: I had a lot of interest in learning maths or science and got into PCM stream in college so that I could continue learning the subjects. I was looking for the best place to study with the best teachers which is why I joined the Narayana Chaitanya Chaina batch in Hyderabad under KK Sir.
My parents were very supportive of my choices.
E: What do you consider the highlights of the two years?
Duggani Jivithiesh: I was given a good plan to study and I followed it diligently. My problem was Chemistry. I wasn’t able to memorize as much as I wanted to do in that subject. So, I used to spend reading and re-reading the portion. I talked to my Chemistry teacher about it as well but he advised me to keep reading as every time it will increase my retention. That is the secret, reading like a novel and increasing retention every time.
E: What else helped you during the preparation period?
Duggani Jivithiesh: Narayana gave me microscopic insight into my performance. But some crucial things were still not detected. My embibe tests helped in fine tuning those behaviours:
1. Careless mistakes made because of not reading a question properly.
2. Observing carefully which questions are easy or difficult and making a conscious choice.
3. Managing time properly throughout the paper.
Read more about Jeevithiesh’s embibe analysis here
https://vimeo.com/170277072
E: Which books did you use as a reference?
Duggani Jivithiesh: Physics: Resnick Halliday and HC Verma, Organic Chemistry: Solomon and Claydon, Inorganic Chemistry: JD Lee & Greenwood, Physical Chemistry: Atkins & our practice problems, Maths — our practice problems
E: Have you decided which branch and college you plan to go for?
Duggani Jivithiesh: I am thinking of IIT Mumbai because you can actually have a minor, haven’t made up my mind between Electronics & Computer Science. I believe these two fields will drive the future — quantum computing etc.
E: So how did you decide to opt for engineering? Did your parents force you in anyway?
Gunda Nikhil Samrat: I never really decided to do engineering! I was studying in Warrangal till the 8th standard. Seeing my interest in learning new things, my teachers advised me to go to Hyderabad to study further. I joined a school in my 9th standard thinking that the other students here have also qualified NTSE II, so I will have good peers. I wasn’t aware of IIT. At the time I faced a lot of stiff competition from students who had been preparing for the last three years since the 8th grade. But I kept doing my thing.
I have always been about understanding things. I like to go in deep and think about things. I am always more about the proofs. Can this happen differently?
That is what makes me happy.
E: What do you consider the highlights of the two years?
Gunda Nikhil Samrat: It was always this constant balance between my natural curiosity on how stuff works and balancing that with focusing on the practice and preparation. I remember KK Sir always used to say “ You can get into the Top 20 in the country with your brain, make that your will and determination.” I used to remember his words. What matters at the end of the day is the rank. This is the system.
Read more about Nikhil’s embibe analysis here
https://vimeo.com/170282954
E: So how did you decide to opt for engineering? Did your parents force you in anyway?
Vighnesh Reddy Konda: I wanted to be an astronaut when I first started out. That is why I took engineering, thought I should do aerospace. I joined the Narayana Chaitanya Chaina batch under KK Sir as this was the best. I also got a full scholarship.
E: What do you consider the highlights of the two years? What are your learnings?
Vighnesh Reddy Konda: I finished my syllabus in the first year and then spent the second year mostly revising and solving as many problems as I could. I took many tests as I was preparing for Olympiads and doing those problems really prepared me for higher order thinking. I got selected for Chemistry and Astronomy Olympiad. One thing I realized later was that I didn’t plan as well as I could have — even though I received a plan from the college, I didn’t follow perfectly. Janardhan sir was a great teacher who inspired me a lot.
E: What else helped you during the preparation period?
Vighnesh Reddy Konda: Embibe really helped me. I got feedback that is impossible to get in offline tests. I also gained knowledge on dry topics like transformers by using ‘Learn’ on embibe. I used it for both JEE Mains and JEE Advanced tests.
Read more about Vighnesh’s embibe analysis here:
https://vimeo.com/170280784
JEE Result 2016: How Vighnesh Reddy scored 340/360 in JEE Main 2016
E: What advice or tips would you have for aspirants?
Vighnesh Reddy Konda: Be cool. Don’t panic in the exam.There is a 4th subject being tested and that is your psychology. Quickness and accuracy is a crucial balance being tested, use microscopic analysis from embibe to make it better.
E: Have you decided which branch and college you plan to go for?
Vighnesh Reddy Konda: I am thinking of IIT Mumbai — I will do CS in the first year and then maybe opt for Aerospace depending on the level of interest I develop.
E: Cool. You could even consider the Indian Institute of Space & Technology. On another note, which books did you use as a reference?
Vighnesh Reddy Konda: Physics: Resnick Halliday, HC Verma, different books like 200 Puzzling Problems, Organic Chemistry: Wayde Junior, Inorganic Chemistry: JD Lee, Physical Chemistry: Atkins & our practice problems, Maths — our practice problems & Cengage
E: So how did you decide to opt for engineering? Did your parents force you in anyway?
Sai Teja Valluri: I had a passion for Physics and Chemistry, before I thought of taking all four subjects including Biology. Eventually, because of constraints in access to adequate help on all four subjects — I decided to concentrate on Physics, Chem and Maths. I was looking for the best place to study with the best teachers which is why I joined the Narayana Chaitanya Chaina batch in Hyderabad under KK Sir.
My parents were very supportive of my choices.
Embibe: What do you consider the highlights of the two years?
Sai Teja Valluri: This prep is all about planning. If you study in a prioritized fashion, its possible to finish the entire prep two-three times over in the two years. The Chaina team and later embibe were very helpful in both — prioritizing revision and providing microscopic analysis. I personally hated Inorganic Chemistry but tried to counter that by reading and re-reading the portion like a novel. Organic Chemistry is more logical if you have the right teacher. I was also a bit nervous during the Boards… Janardhan sir helped out as a friend, KK sir was there as a Principal — overall, there was a lot of cooperation.
E: So here is a question for you. Why do you think students view Boards and JEE as separate entities? Ultimately they test the same syllabus?
Sai Teja Valluri: Syllabus is the same. But, unfortunately examiners in Boards expect us to conform to the way they want the answers written. Not the actual content in the answers with step by step explanations. That is discouraging.
E: Hmmm, well put. What else helped you during the preparation period?
Sai Teja Valluri: Embibe tests & their analysis helped in taking things to the next level. Here are some of the things I found out:
1. I had a tendency to relax and take a break between subjects which led me to get a bit stressed about time towards the end. I fixed that once I saw it.
2. I found some weaknesses on the Groups part of Inorganic. Two questions came from that portion directly in the paper!
3. It also helped me with proper planning of my attempt.
Read more about Sai Teja’s embibe analysis here
E: What about the exam? You topped the country in the JEE Mains. Are you happy with your JEE Advanced rank?
Sai Teja Valluri: I did really well in Math in the first paper for JEE Advanced but I ran out of time for Physics because of which I lost out on two questions. I entered the second paper with the mindset to ace Math very quickly because of which more careless mistakes happened!
(We have seen this a lot — students getting negatively impacted by the pattern of the first test for the second test for Advanced)
E: Which books did you use as a reference?
Sai Teja Valluri: Physics: Irodov, Organic Chemistry: Claydon, Inorganic Chemistry: JD Lee & Greenwood, Physical Chemistry: Neeraj Kumar & our practice problems, Maths — our practice problems
E: Have you decided which branch and college you plan to go for?
Sai Teja Valluri: I am thinking of IIT Mumbai, Computer Science.
https://vimeo.com/170278389
