Hi Sir, My son studies in 8th grade in an IGCSE board school in Mumbai. He is keen to pursue Engineering and crack JEE exams. I want him to start preparing for it early and already motivating him to study syllabus of CBSE Maths not covered in IGCSE. He shows great excitement in the same and does it willingly. I shall also do the same for Science. My queries are as below. What do I do after his 10th boards? Should I ask him pursue AS and A boards or enrol him to an academy for an integrated study of 11th and 12th + JEE? I am keen to have private tutors for JEE studies. Will this be better than academy coaching? Should I enrol him in a Junior college for 11th and 12th and also ask him to prepare for JEE simultaneously? Thanks, Mehul

Ans: Lengthy answer (applicable to All Self-studying Students for JEE/NEET/Other Entrance Exams). Please DON'T force him to join any Coaching Center as he prefers Self-Study. However, here are some questions he should ask himself & strategies he should definitely follow: (1) Does he have the syllabus of JEE of 2024 in hand to always refer (as syllabus hardly changes every year or changes minutely)? (2) What all sources he has / will have for his self-study? NCERT Books? Watching YouTube Videos for each Chapter? Does he know the important Reference Books for each Subject - PCM like HC VERMA for Physics? (3) Does he prepare his own short-notes? (4) How may hours he studies every day & how smartly he studies (not hardly)? Has he planned how he can manage both school syllabus & JEE preparation? (5) How he will come to know how he has prepared, in which concepts / topics / chapters he is weak and what improvements needed? (6) How is practicing questions and from where? (7) Has he at least joined DLP (Distance Learning Program) with any Coaching Center to get their study materials & self-study? These are some illustrative examples of questions he should ask himself. Now COMING to important strategies he should definitely follow (1) It is highly advisable (if not joining any coaching center) to join at least DLP with Allen / AhaGuru or online classes. (2) To give more importance to Maths, as JEE Rank is allotted on the basis of Scores in Maths first, followed by Physics & Chemistry. (3) Should prepare his own short-notes and revise regularly. (4) Keep on practising Online Test Series Chapter-wise / Unit-wise and note down the wrongly answered questions for reference later. (5) Instead of easy questions, should always try to attempt very difficult / complicated / tough / lengthy questions as these type of questions will disturb him a lot during his actual JEE Exam. (6) MOST IMPORTANT: To attempt All India Test Series of any top Coaching Center's Online Test Series to know where he stands among 1000s or lac of students and where he has to move? (7) Should be thorough with basic concepts (beginning from NCERT Books) of all Chapters of PCM. Again, these are just some illustrative important strategies he should follow.

All the BEST for your Son's Bright Future.

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Ans: Hello Mehul. Your son is in 8th std. It is good to hear that he is doing good in his studies that too willingly. As he is in 8th std, it would be better to join him for 3 years Foundation Course for IIT-JEE (8th + 9th + 10th). Search these coaching institutes near by you if possible. Else you can purchase the excellent material provided by Matrushri Institute, Hyderabad. The material provided by this institute is excellent. Purchase the material, and search private tutors to complete the syllabus. After completing this course, Your son will be quite comfortable to face JEE syllabus. You decide about the JEE coaching institute only after his 10th examination. You better enroll his name In a Jr. College and then join best coaching center available near by your home.

Ans: Mehul Sir, First recommended book is HC Verma for Physics of 2-Volumes which has the basic concepts of Physics of JEE that he should be thorough with and it is available online to order. Secondly, you can get any top coaching center materials by joining DLP (Distance Learning Programme) for self-study or with the help of home tutors from 8th itself.

It is suggested to get hard copies of Coaching Materials instead of downloadable ones as Coaching Center Materials contain not only the concepts in detail but also contain good quality questions to practice both offline and online.

One important point which I forgot to add in my initial answer to you Sir i.e. It is good to prepare well for JEE, but instead of relying only on JEE Exam, your son should also appear in 5-7 Entrance Exams as back-ups to have a lot of options open for him to decide the best and most suitable one. All the BEST Sir.