The JEE Debate
I am back after a long time. This time its about the JEE. I found this article in the Hindu about what the IIT-JEE is doing to our students and wanted to write a few things about it.
1. I was a good student in class X. I came 3rd in my school, and was thought by most of my teachers to hold promise. However, I know that I would have not succeeded in getting into IIT if I had not taken tuitions. I did not need any tuitions to do well in class XII exams - after IIT it was child's play. So the correlation between the board exam and people who succeed at JEE, in my opinion, is very high. In the board exam I came in 2nd in the school.
2. I know its very stressful. I have been through that stress. However, till date, I have enjoyed nothing more in my life than those 2 years. We were doing problems that were way beyond the capabilities of all the other students in the class. What tuitions did was to tell us that this is what we have to do, otherwise we would have concentrated on things that will never come in the exam instead of things that might come. But, and this is the huge but, whatever we learned, it was really really exciting. Those complicated problems in mechanics from Iredov, those extremely complex probability problems from Tata's book. Integration problems that seemed unsolvable till you hit upon the right substitution. Those were glory days. Nothing has ever challenged my spirit, and my endurance as much ever again. And in this I speak for all the people I met during my time at IIT. People say - these kids lost two years of their lives. But I think we were all geeks and nerds anyway - we liked books and mathematical problems more than high school romance and chasing girls. So I don't think I lost a significant part of my life. Like I said - that was the time when I learned the most - each day was an achievement, each problem was "wow, I can't believe that I solved that!"
3. We had a great advantage - we were from the metros. But during my time there I met people who were really talented. They deserved to be in the same elite class. Believe be when I say that that's the most like minded group I have ever met - fiercely competitive, extremely intelligent and very open minded.
4. I agree that there is extreme competition. Why shouldn't there be? In the United States there are all kinds of colleges - top 10, middling, cheap, private, public. The competition for the top colleges is really fierce. But many don't even apply - they know they will never get through. Of the 2 lakh people who sit for the IIT, how many are sure they will get through? Probably the top 1000 - they will get through any year they decide to take the exam. The rest - its a hit or a miss. Depends on how well you did on that day, how quick you were etc. But, and don't get me wrong, there were also a lot of people who took the exam who knew that that they will never get through. Why should that too be a part of the statistics? I am not being condescending - I am just being practical.
I agree that if there were no need for tuitions, it would have been better. But these tuitions donot spoon feed. They just direct your energy. I believe that to get through JEE, you need a knack. And without that, the chances are slim.
1. I was a good student in class X. I came 3rd in my school, and was thought by most of my teachers to hold promise. However, I know that I would have not succeeded in getting into IIT if I had not taken tuitions. I did not need any tuitions to do well in class XII exams - after IIT it was child's play. So the correlation between the board exam and people who succeed at JEE, in my opinion, is very high. In the board exam I came in 2nd in the school.
2. I know its very stressful. I have been through that stress. However, till date, I have enjoyed nothing more in my life than those 2 years. We were doing problems that were way beyond the capabilities of all the other students in the class. What tuitions did was to tell us that this is what we have to do, otherwise we would have concentrated on things that will never come in the exam instead of things that might come. But, and this is the huge but, whatever we learned, it was really really exciting. Those complicated problems in mechanics from Iredov, those extremely complex probability problems from Tata's book. Integration problems that seemed unsolvable till you hit upon the right substitution. Those were glory days. Nothing has ever challenged my spirit, and my endurance as much ever again. And in this I speak for all the people I met during my time at IIT. People say - these kids lost two years of their lives. But I think we were all geeks and nerds anyway - we liked books and mathematical problems more than high school romance and chasing girls. So I don't think I lost a significant part of my life. Like I said - that was the time when I learned the most - each day was an achievement, each problem was "wow, I can't believe that I solved that!"
3. We had a great advantage - we were from the metros. But during my time there I met people who were really talented. They deserved to be in the same elite class. Believe be when I say that that's the most like minded group I have ever met - fiercely competitive, extremely intelligent and very open minded.
4. I agree that there is extreme competition. Why shouldn't there be? In the United States there are all kinds of colleges - top 10, middling, cheap, private, public. The competition for the top colleges is really fierce. But many don't even apply - they know they will never get through. Of the 2 lakh people who sit for the IIT, how many are sure they will get through? Probably the top 1000 - they will get through any year they decide to take the exam. The rest - its a hit or a miss. Depends on how well you did on that day, how quick you were etc. But, and don't get me wrong, there were also a lot of people who took the exam who knew that that they will never get through. Why should that too be a part of the statistics? I am not being condescending - I am just being practical.
I agree that if there were no need for tuitions, it would have been better. But these tuitions donot spoon feed. They just direct your energy. I believe that to get through JEE, you need a knack. And without that, the chances are slim.
posted by Arya Chatterjee at
2:22 PM
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