Serious Mistakes to Avoid before embarking on IIT-JEE & NEET Preparation

After finishing the 10th board, students who plan to prepare for Engineering prioritize the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) or National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) for MBBS or BDS degree. Candidates should become aware of the severe mistakes beforehand because JEE/NEET mistakes are pretty common but irreversible. Indian cricket team can make mistakes in the World Cup, and yet they can play another World Cup, but for you, this is once in a lifetime match.

10 Hideous Mistakes That Must Be Avoided

Since there is so much information available on the internet about these exams, parents get overwhelmed or get victims of marketing tactics and make wrong decisions. Consequently, the first mistake is not consulting an experienced and genuine Career Counselor.

1. Nullifying Career Counselling

Are you unsure about the direction you want to pursue your studies? Or are you uncertain how to study for the JEE main exam’s physics, chemistry, or math sections? 

You might think that the aforementioned problems can be addressed on your own and you don’t require a career counselor. If so, let’s look at some more issues that might confound you during 2-year JEE/NEET journey.

When people choose a college, they don’t calculate their probable schedule. For instance, if you join coaching classes for JEE/NEET preparation, you will have to invest at least 4 hours there and on average 5-6 hours for self-study. College may take roughly 7 hours. Hence, in total, you will need approximately 16-17 hours/day at least. Well, that’s absurd. Isn’t it? One may follow this hellish routine for a month or two, but not for 2 years, right?

That’s where career counselors come into play. They will guide you through other best alternatives that can produce the best results. If we can consult Travel Advisor for our dream vacation, why not a Career Advisor for our dream career?

2. Deciding Career Based on the 10th Result

It is evident through our years of experience that many students decide whether to go for engineering or medical based on their 10th result. But we have also noticed how often this deciding factor leads students to the wrong choices.

Unlike our assumption, poor results don’t always mean lower IQ. A poor result in 10th could be because of health issues, wrong friend circle, carelessness of the educators, unworthy online courses, etc. People don’t understand that these students can do fairly well in NEET/JEE.

We have seen those who didn’t do well in NEET and took payment seats, are doing well in medical courses. We have also seen people who took 5 years to finish engineering doing great in the corporate world.

Instead of only judging by results, you should consider your will, passion, and potential. Remember – Career choices are life choices!

3. Wrong Mindset

There is a general notion that students will do well if admitted to the top colleges. But, till 10th standard, though you enrolled in a reputed school, most of the students have to join coaching classes for several reasons. Going to school and coaching makes it overwhelming for students. Till 10th std., attending school is compulsory, but in 11th std. you have an option that is less taxing for students.

In 11th – 12th, you not only have to cover a more compressive syllabus but also need to prepare for these competitive exams. The college syllabus doesn’t cover competitive exams; it is done only at coaching institutes. So, many students prefer a college that provides flexibility in time and attendance so that they get more time for self-study. 

Though with the same IQ level, one who devotes more time to self-study would score more compared to another who spends that time attending college.

4. Sending Kids Outside the City or Taking Online Classes

It is a trend nowadays to send children away from home for JEE/NEET preparation. Indeed, you can follow it. But with the increasing cases of suicides, depression, issues of bullying, social & peer pressure, and high expectations of parents, it is becoming a matter of grave concern. While often, the students, when they are away from home, fail to isolate themselves from social media, sometimes due to the change of food, water, and weather, the student falls sick. And thus, ultimately the study gets ruined. 

Often people who are unwilling to leave their hometowns think of online classes. But the biggest problem with online platforms is that the student can’t receive personal attention. Also, offline classes are livelier, more engaging, and more monotony-free. Whereas in online classes the students fall prey to procrastination and lack of motivation. 

There’s nothing wrong with sending children outside, but at this young age, parents should accompany them so that they can overcome the adverse situations out there. Or else local offline classes are the best.

5. Confusion between CBSE and HSC Boards

Parents/students get confused while choosing between HSC and CBSE. Each board is suitable for different kinds of students. Well, let’s see:

● The CBSE board syllabus is well-mapped with JEE/NEET, whereas the other hand, the HSC board syllabus is 80-90% mapped with JEE/NEET and well-mapped with MHT-CET. 

● Secondly, in CBSE, you need to study only 5 subjects, while in HSC you need to learn 6.

Similarly, the HSC board has some advantages too. Those are:

● In the HSC board, the fees are comparatively less. The approximate fees of this board are 30-40 thousand compared to the CBSE board fees of roughly 60-80 thousand. 

● Plenty of colleges under the HSC board have attendance flexibility. Though CBSE board colleges also have it, the colleges are very less in number. 

Some other aspects are there as well for both boards. The mandatory subjects in both CBSE and HSC boards are English, Physics, Chemistry, and Maths/Biology. The optional subjects in HSC are IT, Geography, Bifocal- Computer, & Electrical, while in CBSE are Physical Education/Computer Science.

There are other dimensions, such as your domicile and uncertainty regarding whether you should prepare for JEE or MHT-CET. Your family may need to relocate to other states for employment or other purposes. It isn’t easy to pass any judgment without knowing the particulars. So, please consult us with your specific case, if needed, and we will be happy to guide you further.

6. Wrong Choice between Tie-up and Integrated Models

Before passing any judgment, let’s understand what these are first and which are more beneficial. Tie-up and integrated models are specific set-ups between coaching institutes and Colleges for preparing a student for JEE/NEET. 

An integrated model is one where the coaching institute and college collaborate to provide classes on college premises. But unfortunately, this model has a lot of drawbacks. It’s often noticed that a clash of ego, financial dispute, and holiday/timing mismatch between the college and the coaching institutes occur. Within all this chaos, teaching gets compromised due to which the students suffer. Due to the break-up between College and Coaching Institute, a student must travel to both the Institute and the College every day. In Baner, Chinchwad & Rahatani areas of Pune, similar incidents happened.

In Integrated models, college professors take Board studies. This led to a poor foundation for JEE/NEET. Students need to visit their coaching center to clear their doubts. Due to the huge waiting time there, students skip it and end up with a poor score.

On the other hand, the tie-up is a model where both entities will work separately but with mutual understanding. In this model, both Coaching Institute and College are aware of their roles and responsibility, so that they don’t step on each other toes. In this system, the coaching institutes can teach without restriction and the quality of education isn’t compromised. This ensures personal attention, and more time for study, so a better success rate.

Hence, though the integrated model sounds decent from the outside, it is more fragile. In layman’s terms, it is a coalition government, with no single ownership. In the tie-up model, flexibility and the student success rate are higher due to personal attention. On the other hand, in the integrated model teaching quality is average and it’s riskier than in the tie-up model.

7. Missed Foundation Course

At many institutes, students from 8-10th foundation courses get carried forward to JEE/NEET courses, so they don’t cover the topics they already taught in 8-10th std. Due to this, even bright student who didn’t do the foundation falls behind and lose confidence. That’s why considering its significance, we at RAA provide a bridge program to build a foundation and also cover basics during JEE/NEET lectures. That’s one of the reasons why our lecture duration is more than others.

8. Ignore Board Study

Now, it is not a mistake that the students deliberately do. But many institutes don’t give importance to board study and misguide students that it will be automatically done along with JEE/NEET preparation. They suggest board notes a month or two before the exam. But we can’t win a marathon with just 1 month of preparation, can we? At RAA, we provide board notes and evaluate them for Board as well as JEE/NEET since the beginning as paper patterns for JEE/NEET and Board are different. That’s another reason why our lecture duration is more than others. 

9. Result

Previously, we discussed the weightage one should give to results in one of our blogs: How to Choose a Good Coaching Institute. So here, simply let’s understand it with an example. 

Say, ICSE 2023 Board topper is from Blue Ridge. By looking at it if you admit your ward into that school, can someone guarantee that he/she will top the board? One thing is sure: he/she will not score well if he/she doesn’t get proper guidance, mentorship, and personal attention coupled with own dedication and perseverance.

Based on our vast experience, we realized that aspirants fail to crack competitive exams, not because of a lack of potential but because of a lack of proper guidance, lack of personal attention, or peer pressure created in many places. Make sure you enroll in a school/Institute where you feel your ward’s performance will be improved even though JEE/NEET/Board topper isn’t from that institute.

10. Blindly Follow Friends

It is a human tendency to remain in a comfort zone. That’s why many students make career choices based on their friend decision and follow them along. This is the biggest culprit for wrong career choices and poor performance in competitive exams. So, when your close friends, especially those who aren’t serious about studying and threaten to boycott you for not attending their parties or not chatting/liking on social media, don’t worry! In a good institute, you will make lifetime friends who share a common goal: cracking JEE/NEET. You will need buddies who are diligent and dedicated to overcoming the two-year journey’s hurdles. One of the secrets to success is wisely selecting your friends.

Get Everything Under One Roof — Join RAA

Rathi’s Aspire Academy (RAA) is one of the progressive and trusted institutes in Pune for providing IIT-JEE, NEET, MHT-CET, and 11-12th PCMB coaching. Though RAA is a few years old, the management has 10+ years of education sector experience and 20+ years of global corporate experience. You can read more About us on our website. 

In a very short period, we have become the obvious choice of parents as they feel their wards will get personal attention, and their concerns will be addressed. Our existing parents found that we are an extremely agile, technology-driven, transparent, and student-centric institute. Most of our admissions are through word of mouth.

We also provide MHT-CET exam preparations. Sometimes misguided students can’t always crack JEE/NEET. So, they come to us for the second-best option — MHT-CET. Other institutes which only provide JEE/NEET coaching, misguide parents that MHT-CET will be stopped. At such places, if you later figure out that JEE/NEET isn’t your cup of tea and want to quit the course, the fees can’t be refunded/adjusted.

But we provide an option to adjust the already enrolled course with other suitable courses such as MHT-CET or 11-12th PCMB courses. Moreover, we are confident and proud of our top-class faculties. Our faculties are not only experienced but their students have made it to India’s top Engineering and Medical colleges.

By default, our courses cover the foundational topics; as a result, you may find our lecture duration comparatively more. No batch discrimination is made at RAA. Only sharp students are appreciated and weaker ones are discouraged — this has never been our culture. Weak students, who are in need, receive hand-held guidance from us to climb the ladder of success, and bright students get higher-level questions from different publications to shine in the exam.

Conclusion

To conclude, let’s brief the whole thing. While taking your JEE or NEET preparation you must avoid certain awful mistakes. Do career counseling, choose the right board that fits your situation, try not to opt for an integrated coaching model, and always go to classes that clear your fundamentals as well as prepare you for boards. Maintain these things beside others, and you are good to go.

However, if you seek our help, we can take all your headaches letting you focus on your study. At Rathi’s Aspire Academy, our experienced and specialized and career counselors provide career counseling, suggest the correct college, board, & approaches, and help make the right decision. Join RAA today, and experience your bright career.