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Mayank

Mayank Kumar  | Answer  |Ask -

Education Expert - Answered on Apr 10, 2023

Mayank Kumar is the co-founder and managing director of upGrad, a higher EdTech company. With over 10 years of experience in the education sector, Kumar can offer guidance about degree courses, campus, job-linked and executive programmes and studying abroad.An MBA graduate from ISB Hyderabad, he holds a BTech in mechanical engineering from IIT Delhi.... more
Girish Question by Girish on Apr 03, 2023Hindi
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Hello Mayank. My daughter just finished with her Class 12 Board exams, Commerce stream. She plans to appear for IP MAT entrance exam. The exam is on 16.6.2023. Can you guide us with a proper preparation strategy to prepare for the entrance in approx. 2.5 months. Should she join some some crash coaching or the exam can be prepared by self study only also.Thanks.

Ans: For her to score well, she needs to understand the paper pattern, the syllabus that is being covered and she must try and attempt a few papers as mock tests. This will give her clarity on where she needs to focus more of her energy on to improve her mock test results. While there is some time for her to prepare & if she is diligent with her studies and solely focuses on them over the net 2.5 months, she should be study on her own - there are multiple resources available on the internet to prepare as well which she can refer to. A crash course at a coaching center will also be helpful as they will have the formats and the curriculum plans in place for her to study at. It depends on what she is more comfortable doing.
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Nayagam P

Nayagam P P  |10854 Answers  |Ask -

Career Counsellor - Answered on Aug 22, 2024

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Good morning.My son is in standard 10th right now.We have planned to target CLAT and IPMAT for him after 12th.I it possible to prepare for both?If yes,how should he go about preparing for both ? What is the exam schedule?Thanks and regards.
Ans: Sumeet Sir, as Students should always have Plan B & Plan C, he can target both CLAT & IPMAT. However,

(a) he should allot more time to the one he is more interested in (law or management?).
(b) Preparing for both exams even from the 10th now will help him a lot to crack both exams with a decent score
(c) It is better to shortlist at least 5 law/management colleges he wishes to join, based on location preference, NIRF Ranking, specialization in both (civil, criminal, corporate, tax, cyber, intellectual property etc. and also in management: Finance, HR, Marketing, Operations, IT/Systems, etc.)
(d) He should join offline or online Coaching with any reputed Coaching Center. Choosing the right coaching center to prepare for both exams is important & also the Time Management for both.
(e) Make sure, he chooses the right stream (commerce or science) for his 11th/12th. Choosing the easier stream and the stream he is interested in will be better as he has to focus for CLAT & IPMAT also.
(f) It is also advisable to appear in 2-more Law & Management Entrance Exams as back-ups, instead of relying only on CLAT & IMPAT.
(g) Please check the syllabus of each Entrance Exam, download them, check the differences & he should focus more on weak subjects/topics among (examples of 2 exams):

IPMAT: Quantitative Ability, Logical Reasoning, and Verbal Ability.
CLAT: current affairs, logical reasoning, English language, legal reasoning, and quantitative techniques.

All the BEST for Your Son's Bright Future, Sir.

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Nayagam P

Nayagam P P  |10854 Answers  |Ask -

Career Counsellor - Answered on Dec 14, 2025

Asked by Anonymous - Dec 12, 2025Hindi
Career
Hello, I am currently in Class 12 and preparing for JEE. I have not yet completed even 50% of the syllabus properly, but I aim to score around '110' marks. Could you suggest an effective strategy to achieve this? I know the target is relatively low, but I have category reservation, so it should be sufficient.
Ans: With category reservation (SC/ST/OBC), a score of 110 marks is absolutely achievable and realistic. Based on 2025 data, SC candidates qualified with approximately 60-65 percentile, and ST candidates with 45-55 percentile. Your target requires scoring just 37-40% marks, which is significantly lower than general category standards. This gives you a genuine advantage. Immediate Action Plan (December 2025 - January 2026): 4-5 Weeks. Week 1-2: High-Weightage Chapter Focus. Stop trying to complete the entire syllabus. Instead, focus exclusively on high-scoring chapters that carry maximum weightage: Physics (Modern Physics, Current Electricity, Work-Power-Energy, Rotation, Magnetism), Chemistry (Chemical Bonding, Thermodynamics, Coordination Compounds, Electrochemistry), and Maths (Integration, Differentiation, Vectors, 3D Geometry, Probability). These chapters alone can yield 80-100+ marks if practiced properly. Ignore topics you haven't studied yet. Week 2-3: Previous Year Questions (PYQs). Solve JEE Main PYQs from the last 10 years (2015-2025) for chapters you're studying. PYQs reveal question patterns and difficulty levels. Focus on understanding why answers are correct, not memorizing solutions. Week 3-4: Mock Tests & Error Analysis. Take 2-3 full-length mock tests weekly under timed conditions. This is crucial because mock tests build exam confidence, reveal time management weaknesses, and error analysis prevents repeated mistakes. Maintain an error notebook documenting every mistake—this becomes your revision guide. Week 4-5: Revision & Formula Consolidation. Create concise formula sheets for each subject. Spend 30 minutes daily reviewing formulas and key concepts. Avoid learning new topics entirely at this stage. Study Schedule (Daily): 7-8 Hours. Morning (5:00-7:30 AM): Physics concepts + 30 PYQs. Break (7:30-8:30 AM): Breakfast & rest. Mid-morning (8:30-11:00): Chemistry concepts + 20 PYQs. Lunch (11:00-1:00 PM): Full break. Afternoon (1:00-3:30 PM): Maths concepts + 30 PYQs. Evening (3:30-5:00 PM): Mock test or error review. Night (7:00-9:00 PM): Formula revision & weak area focus. Strategic Approach for 110 Marks: Attempt only confident questions and avoid negative marking by skipping difficult questions. Do easy questions first—in the exam, attempt all basic-level questions before attempting medium or hard ones. Focus on quality over quantity as 30 well-practiced questions beat 100 random questions. Master NCERT concepts as most JEE questions test NCERT concepts applied smartly. April 2026 Session Advantage. If January doesn't deliver desired results, April gives you a second chance with 3+ months to prepare. Use January as a practice attempt to identify weak areas, then focus intensively on those in February-March. Realistic Timeline: January 2026 target is 95-110 marks (achievable with focused 50% syllabus), while April 2026 target is 120-130 marks (with complete syllabus + experience). Your reservation benefit means you need only approximately 90-105 marks to qualify and secure admission to quality engineering colleges. Stop comparing yourself to general category cutoffs. Most Importantly: Consistency beats perfection. Study 6 focused hours daily rather than 12 distracted hours. Your 110-mark target is realistic—execute this plan with discipline. All the BEST for Your JEE 2026!

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Dr Dipankar

Dr Dipankar Dutta  |1841 Answers  |Ask -

Tech Careers and Skill Development Expert - Answered on Dec 13, 2025

Asked by Anonymous - Dec 12, 2025
Career
Dear Sir/Madam, I am currently a 1st year UG student studying engineering in Sairam Engineering College, But there the lack of exposure and strict academics feels so rigid and I don't like it that. It's like they don't gaf about skills but just wants us to memorize things and score a good CGPA, the only skill they want is you to memorize things and pass, there's even special class for students who don't perform well in academics and it is compulsory for them to attend or else the student and his/her parents needs to face authorities who lashes out. My question is when did engineering became something that requires good academics instead of actual learning and skill set. In sairam they provides us a coding platform in which we need to gain the required points for each semester which is ridiculous cuz most of the students here just look at the solution to code instead of actual debugging. I am passionate about engineering so I want to learn and experiment things instead of just memorizing, so I actually consider dropping out and I want to give jee a try and maybe viteee , srmjeee But i heard some people say SRM may provide exposure but not that good in placements. I may not be excellent at studies but my marks are decent. So gimme some insights about SRM and recommend me other colleges/universities which are good at exposure
Ans: First — your frustration is valid

What you are experiencing at Sairam is not engineering, it is rote-based credential production.

“When did engineering become memorizing instead of learning?”

Sadly, this shift happened decades ago in most Tier-3 private colleges in India.

About “coding platforms & points” – your observation is sharp

You are absolutely right:

Mandatory coding points → students copy solutions

Copying ≠ learning

Debugging & thinking are missing

This is pseudo-skill education — it looks modern but produces shallow engineers.

The fact that you noticed this in 1st year already puts you ahead of 80% students.

Should you DROP OUT and prepare for JEE / VITEEE / SRMJEEE?

Although VIT/SRM is better than Sairam Engineering College, but you may face the same problem. You will not face this type of problem only in some top IITs, but getting seat in those IITs will be difficult.
Instead of dropping immediately, consider:

???? Strategy:

Stay enrolled (degree security)

Reduce emotional investment in college rules

Use:

GitHub

Open-source projects

Hackathons

Internships (remote)

Hardware / software self-projects

This way:

College = formality

Learning = self-driven

Risk = minimal

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