Part I: Last minute tips on JEE

What do you have to do to get a good rank in the Joint Entrance Examination?

T.I.M.E trainer Bhuvana Anilkumar says 320 marks out of a total 552 like last year's paper would take you to the top 100.

These and other similar questions were tackled during a chat on April 5.

• Quick tips for your JEE preparation

For those who missed the chat, here's the transcript.

shubham asked, Madam Namastey! is there second round of counselling, like some may not prefer textile and go no any NIT for desired branch, or may not join IIT Guwahati. How these leftover seats are filled?

Bhuvana Anilkumar answers, Dear Shubham, there is no second round of counseling.

dheeraj asked, How to make a last minute revision, so that we can enter the examination hall with the confidence of covered all the topics?

Bhuvana Anilkumar answers, Dear Dheeraj, okay, you can't enter the exam hall with the confidence of revising all, if you haven't done so. What I would advise is count on areas you are strong in and revise those.

kalyan asked, how many questions should be attempted?

Bhuvana Anilkumar answers, Attempt about 60 per cent of the paper with less than 10 per cent negatives.

amit asked, what is the marking pattern of this year paper ?

Bhuvana Anilkumar answers, Dear Amit, again we expect to see three marks for a multiple choice question with one negative, five marks for a multiple choice question with one or more answers with one negative. It is also expected that comprehension based questions will carry five marks and two negatives. There can also be questions with no negative marking.

vijay asked, how many students can be expected to take IIT exam this year? I hope that the numbers will be much less than last year.

Bhuvana Anilkumar answers, Hi Vijay, the numbers ARE less than last year's. A decrease by at least 25k is there.

• What you must not do on D-Day 

ran asked, Bhuvna I have a question for you, my son has gone in his 10th std. and wants to prepare for IIT, can you suggest what he should do?

Bhuvana Anilkumar answers, Dear Ran, IIT foundation courses are available with us. The approach to take is to help your child work on concepts right from now, rather than mechanically doing problems and writing answers. Help him to understand and LEARN! After his 10th, you may put him in for a two-year programme.

reyaz asked, i want to go for IIT JEE. It is a dream of my life. I have passed SSE with 80% marks. Let me know how to enter IIT

Bhuvana Anilkumar answers, Dear Reyaz, start working on your XI areas without wasting your vacation time. 

askbalancer asked, good a/noon madam! how have the JEE org. have reduced 3 papers to 2? Does it mean each paper will have a bit of everything? thanks

Bhuvana Anilkumar answers, Good afternoon to you 'Askbalancer'. JEE 2007 has two papers each, consisting of three parts -- Maths, Physics and Chemistry (not necessarily in this order).

ag asked, will the second paper be subjective while first one like screening? as IIT jee is always known for surprises

Bhuvana Anilkumar answers, Dear ag, you actually said it. Though it is expected that both papers may have different types of questions, what you suggest is also possible. But the JEE admission board has not commented anything on that.

ag asked, what should we do on 7th April?

Bhuvana Anilkumar answers, Do not overstrain. Revise your strong areas. Sleep well.

sunilde asked, My son is preparing for 2009 IIT JEE. Can you pls suggest some good text books on Chemistry, Physics and Maths.

Bhuvana Anilkumar answers, I shall recommend RD Sharma / Das Gupta for Maths, Agarwal for Chemistry, H C Verma/ Reisnick&Halliday for Physics, TMH/ MTG books are available for all.

rk asked, Generally -- What percentage of marks are there for comprehension questions in Maths, Physics and chemistry?

Bhuvana Anilkumar answers, Dear rk, last year 60 marks were allotted for comprehension based questions out of 184 total. That comes to around 30 per cent! 

• Find chemistry tough?

rk asked, Is it true that questions from mechanics dominate in Physics even in the new pattern?

Bhuvana Anilkumar answers, You have a say there. Indeed 25 to 28 per cent of questions were from Mechanics.

rk asked, In order to get a rank of below 50 in unreserved category, what should be a good score?

Bhuvana Anilkumar answers, About 320 marks in last year's paper which had a total of 552 marks would take you to top 100.

Varungirilal asked, Madam, are you saying that the second paper can have Descriptive, Written Question in this years JEE?

Bhuvana Anilkumar answers, Dear Varungirilal, you can have mains like question for which you get a numerical answer to be marked on a specially designed OMR sheet.

tanmoy asked, Mam I am in 11 nw.. will be in 12th fron nxt and i will appear in JEE'08.. Can u suggest me some books and my traing process for the JEE?

Bhuvana Anilkumar answers, Take good effort during this year. Revise your 11th portion properly along with solving good number of problems for IIT.

mohan asked, Good day Mam, My son is currently studying in DAV 10th Std from H.P and as a parent I seek a bright career ahead of him, he is good at studies and want him to clear IIT, kindly advice from where should he clear his 10th Class and what course should he adopt and from when so that he finds himself comfortable. Rgds

Bhuvana Anilkumar answers, If he is looking at IIT, it actually does not matter where he clears his Class X from. What matters is whether he is ready to concentrate on his studies during the oncoming two years, work really hard and learn things conceptually. He can join a Foundation programme for Class X or after completing of the same, he can join a two year program for IIT 2008.

Bhuvana Anilkumar answers, Okay all, It was really nice chatting to you all, If you are taking up the JEE on April 8, we wish you ALL THE BEST!