By TCN News,
Chennai: Al Qamar Academy in collaboration with iiTeach held a lecture “Preparing for the IIT-JEE” on Sunday 9th September 2012. About 10 Muslim schools in Chennai represented by over 60 students, teachers & parents attended the lecture. The purpose of the lecture was to motivate Muslim and other students to attempt the IIT entrance exam.
The IIT degree is coveted as the graduates are very successful in various fields both nationally and internationally. Currently, Muslims are underrepresented in the IIT’s. In 2012, only 2% of the entering batch was Muslim, and there were no Muslims in the top 100 ranks. The problem is that many of our students are not confident of passing this exam. Some of this is due to lack of Muslim IITian role models. However, a large part is due to the many myths and hype that surround the JEE which scares off students.
Hauroon Jamal
The purpose of the lecture was to help students overcome the mental fears they have about the JEE. The speaker, Hauroon Jamal, is a B.Tech from IIT-Madras. He has worked for Microsoft & Infosys and is currently advising software product companies. Recently he has founded IITeach, an organization for mentoring students for the IIT JEE.
Mr. Jamal started by defining what is the brand value of a B.Tech from an IIT. IITians not only do well in the corporate world, but also in social work, government and other fields. Everyone respects an IITian. Unfortunately, very few students from Tamil Nadu even attempt the exam. Anecdotal evidence suggests that this may be due to students being too scared to take the JEE. There are many myths that surround the exam” he said. Mr. Jamal deconstructed these myths– “the exam is too hard”, “You have to prepare from the 9th class itself” “you need to study for 6-10 hours daily for the JEE” et al.
“Success in the JEE requires good ability in Maths & Science, confidence, systematic and sustained effort coupled with some guidance. The preparation should be focussed and during study time the student should stay away from distractions like Facebook, TV or email. The student should focus 75% of his effort in problem solving ” was his advice.
Mr. Jamal outlined the syllabus for the JEE, the exam structure and effective approaches. As an example, he asked the students to guess what the cutoff marks were to qualify for a seat out of a total of 480 marks in 2011. Some guessed 400, some 350. The cutoff marks for the JEE 2011 were displayed and to everyone’s surprise, it turned out that candidates getting only 50% of the correct answers got seats. This analysis took away some of the fear surrounding the exam.
Mr. Jamal outlined the various ways students prepare themselves for the JEE and discussed the pros and cons of each – self study, postal material, classes, residential model et al. He said each person is different and has to decide which method suits him. However, he emphasised that guided self study is the best method in terms of cost, time and mental health. But this method needs self discipline, sustained effort and some personalized guidance. “In the long term, this is the best method, because the skills you learn by self studying are what you need in IIT and then later in life.” If you feel more comfortable with a teacher driven model than pick a small class where the teacher can personalise it and tailor it to your requirements.
iiTeach is a mentoring organization for students aspiring to take the IIT-JEE. It plans to offer targeted classes to train students for the JEE. Interested students may contact iiTeach at 9282229081/ [email protected] / www.iiteach.in for more information. Schools wishing to organize a similar talk in their school may also contact iiTeach.