Best Books for JEE

The first question which pops up in every JEE aspirants mind-Which books to solve? Quite a naive question(you will realize it after you give the exam :p). Don't worry, I am here to guide you all ; )

You might wanna check out individual subject posts as well : )

The answer is subjective and varies from person to person. But let me tell you, that basically, all good and highly valued books in the market are good(there are some bullshit books too, and stay away from them).

The structure of the post will be Subject-Must have books-Book sets for additional practice(but choose only one set of them)-Books for those aiming for very good ranks or Olympiads.

I will be mentioning many books. Don't get overwhelmed on seeing it. Most people don't study them all. Some books are good for theory, some for problems and some books are used for specific topics. I'll mention alternatives to books. You can buy them too. I'll provide pros and cons wherever possible. 

I have extensively searched the web for the latest and best editions of the books. To ease out things for you guys, I have included links to the books too, so that you can directly buy the books instead of wasting time searching for them(time is precious!). Just click on the link, and you will see the correct edition.

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PHYSICS-

Must have books-

1. HC Verma- God book of JEE Physics. Must do for all. Read theory and solve questions. As many as possible. If you are buying one book, this is it.

2. NCERT- Another must have. Reading NCERT will help you answer the theoretical problems asked in the paper, and will help you with JEE(Main). It will give you a heads up for boards too. Also, see the links below for all four books(read both parts of classes 11th and 12th).

3.Previous papers questions- Must solve each and everyone of them.


    


For more practice(and must have for those who don't go for any coaching)-

1.Arihant Physics Series- Its an awesome resource for quality problems and must have for self-study students who are serious. It will help you clear all the concepts which are taught in coaching. Coaching guys can use it as extra practice. This is must solve for self-study guys if you wanna crack JEE(Advanced). It has really nice problems and theory.

    

2. Cengage Series- This is an equally good series. I haven't used it personally, but I heard it is good. You can use it as an alternative to Arihant(avoid using both, it will confuse you), if you r teachers/ friends discuss it, or you like it. As you wish.

     


Books for problem practice-

You can do Coaching sheet+must have books+ Problem books as a complete package(I did this too). Include the books above(in point 2) if you don't go to coaching.

1. DC Pandey-Awesome numericals.

2. D. Mukherjee- Awesome book for theoretical questions. Simple, and very conceptual book.

  

Books for a high rank/Olympiads-

1. I.E. Irodov- Must solve this if you are aiming for top 100/Olympiads(shown above).

2. Resnick Halliday Krane- Mainly for Olympiads, but it has great theory and problems. A notch above HCV.


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MATHEMATICS-

Fortunately, I find that mathematics doesn't need many books, so I'll list them directly instead of categorizing. So, the must-have book for coaching student is just NCERT and past papers. To be honest, NCERT isn't needed much in Mathematics, but you can read it for JEE(Main) specific topics or boards. Just solve your coaching stuff really well(or follow the next point if you are not satisfied, or aspire for more).

  


So, you can choose between Arihant Skills in Mathematics or Cengage series by G. Tewani. Both have good questions, but I found Arihant to be good. I solved them and they have really good questions.

Arihant-

     

Cengage-

     


For Extra practice, you can go for A Das Gupta (specially for class 11 students). You can go to my Olympiads page for books related to Olympiads.




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CHEMISTRY-

Again, like mathematics, Chemistry is best taught by Coaching classes. It would be best if you try to get your hands on them. Still, for self-study guys, I would suggest you to go for popular books on the subject, like the ones given below, for theory. There is no good book of Physical Chemistry for theory known to me, but you can go for P. Bahadur for problems. I have mentioned few more books below, which I heard are good(I mostly studied foreign author books and my coaching sheets. You can again follow Cengage or Arihant series if you are studying on your own. But I feel that students with access to good coaching material should avoid books for theory.

Also, NCERT is very important for chemistry section. Study NCERT really well. It is highly important. Remember everything in NCERT.

NCERT-

   

Some good books-

      

Cengage(I treid my best, but Inorganic Chemistry part 1 is not available as latest edition on Amazon)

    


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There are countless books available out there. But not all books are good. I recommended only books I personally found good or heard from a credible person about their quality. I missed many good books like RC Mukherjee and all, mainly because I don't want to confuse you guys. It is easy to get confused. Read the description I mentioned before buying. Too many books are bad too. 

Comment anything, and follow the blog for more!

I hope it helps.

All the best!

Also see: Organic Chemistry, Mechanics, Algebra, Motivation

Strategy to solve I.E. Irodov

You can refer this answer for a discussion on Irodov, my pattern to solve it, and how you should solve it.

You can find the solutions to Irodov in these books. These are in the latest edition, so you can order them from here-



These are the solutions I consulted, and they are really clear and crsip. Note that the second book might get out of stock soon, so you can use the kindle edition. It's economical, and environment friendly. Also, you must try a question on your own until you really need the solution.

Here is a list of problems from Irodov which are in JEE syllabus(sorry for the sideways orientation) :p.

Also see: Best books for JEE preparation, Organic Chemistry, Mechanics, Algebra, Motivation

College101- An Introductory guide for about-to-be college students

So, exams and results over. Most of you would have already decided whether to take a drop or not. If not, see this. So, this post will guide you about the Do's and Don'ts for college, based on many messages, emails, and comments I have been seeing over the last couple weeks. I'll be doing this as a Q&A session, based on the questions most requested to me.

1. Which college is the best for me? I am yet to decide my choices for counselling.
Well, check this out, this is a complete guide to choose your choices. Also, please consult people from all the choices you are filling. You can discuss your doubts here. This group has people from all colleges. Also, see this post. It will help you. Finally, I must say that it's your choice to go for a particular college/branch. I am not at blame if you end up choosing something you don't like. Consult many people and decide.

2. What should I do in the 1-month break I have before joining college?
Well, you had been studying for a long time, so I suggest you enjoy this time. You can pick up a hobby, learn to code, spend some time with family and friends, etc. In my case, I watched a TV Series called 'The Big Bang Theory', learned to play the Guitar, made up my Facebook page(like it for interesting stuff on JEE, college, and computers), visited a lot of places, etc. This time is precious as it won't come again. I strongly recommend learning to code in this break. It is because it is fun, every college has a course on Programming, and it's a must-have skill today.

3. How to learn to code in this break?
There are plenty of resources out there on the Internet. I strongly suggest you to learn C++ as a first step. You can do it first by seeing this playlist by thenewboston(really nice work). You will not get everything in the first try, but keep on trying. You can use this book along with these tutorials. For problem practice, I recommend you to practice a bit on SPOJ. Go to the basic problems sections, arrange them in the order of decreasing number of users, and solve around a 100. If you do this you will become really good at coding and will ace the first year(irrespective of whether you are in CS or not). You should see these articles-Getting Started with Computer Science- Part 1 and Getting Started with Computer Science- Part 2

4. Should I buy a laptop for college?
Well, if you have a financial problem, then you don't need to for now, because every college has a Computer lab, but still having one is immensely useful. Everything in college depends on your laptop, and you must buy a good one. If you haven't thought of buying a laptop yet, and plan to do it later, DON'T. Get it now, and get used to it, code a bit, play with it. A good laptop must have an i3 or above processor(7th gen or above), 4/8GB RAM or more, a decent Graphics card, and a good hard drive(SSD preferred, or 1TB hard drive at the minimum). Currently, many back to college and cashback offers are available on Amazon, so you might want to buy from these links. I have searched for the best laptops available in every range(arranged in increasing order of price). Some of these(the cheap ones) don't have OS, you can install Windows(paid) or Ubuntu(free)

Asus Vivobook X541UA-DM1358D (Intel i3 7100U (7th Gen)/4 GB DDR4/1TB/Intel HD Graphics/DOS) - Silver

Lenovo Ideapad 320E 80XL0378IN 15.6-inch Laptop (7th Gen Core i5-7200U/4GB/1TB/Windows 10 Home/2GB Graphics), Onyx Black

ACER E5-575G/Ci5-7200U/4/1TB/W10/2GB GRAPHICS/BLK NB (NX.GDWSI.007)

Dell Inspiron 15 3000 3567 15.6-inch Laptop (7th Gen Core i7-7500U/8GB/1TB/Windows 10 with Office 2016 Home and Student/2GB Graphics)

Apple MacBook Air MQD32HN/A 13.3-inch Laptop 2017 (Core i5/8GB/128GB/MacOS Sierra/Integrated Graphics) (If you can afford 60k, do go for it. Apple is a class apart, unless you are into gaming

HP Pavilion 15-CC129TX 2017 15.6-inch Laptop (Core i5/8GB/1TB/Windows/Integrated Graphics), Silver

Microsoft Surface Pro (Core-i5 7th Gen/4GB/128GB/Windows 10 Pro/Integrated Graphics), Silver

2018 Flagship HP Pavilion 14" WLED HD Premium Business Laptop - Intel Dual-Core i5-7200U up to 3.1GHz 16GB DDR4 1TB HDD B&O Play 802.11ac Bluetooth HDMI USB Type-C Webcam Backlit Keyboard Win 10

The list is by no means exhaustive, but I have tried to cover laptops of all range. If you are too lazy to buy one from out, you can order from here, I have taken this list from various tech websites and personal experience. You will find them good. Avoid watching a lot of TV series/movies.

5. How to survive in college?
Every college has a different culture of study, extracurriculars, etc. Talk to seniors and develop a healthy relationship with them. Ask them about the study patterns. And talk to many people. And try to adjust against feelings like homesickness, lack of friends,etc. Develop confidence and avoid bad habits.

This was all. If you have any more doubts, feel free to comment here.

Coordinate Geometry, 3D, and Vectors

This is usually counted among the tough topics. Because it involves a lot of formulae and calculations(at times) and hence costs a lot of time during exam. You might wanna be very fast in calculations before moving here. So prepare your algebra well!

So, the topics will be 

1. Straight Line and Basics- This is the most important chapter because this forms the basis of other chapters. There would be various forms of lines, and you must be familiar with each and everyone of them. There would be lots of definitions in this chapter(orthocentre,incentre,etc.)Lots of formulae, learn them all by heart.  Shift of origin and family of lines are two important topics which will help you solve questions fast. Practice a lot, and different types of question, don't solve 10 questions of the same type. Solve 10 questions of 10 types(i.e.1-2 questions of each type).

2. Circles and Conic sections- You must be well prepared with formulae of equations in standard form, parametric form, positions of foci, vertices, length of latus rectum,etc. tangent, normal, etc. Joint equation of curves and lines is very helpful at times. There are a few special results(e.g. reflection properties of parabola and ellipse). It's tough to remember them all in one go. Take your time and try to apply them in questions to learn them. Do a lot of locus problems. Again, lots of types, and solving many problems of different types will help you.

3. Vectors and 3D- 3D is just a continuation of 2D Geometry. Have a good thinking of the problem in 3D. It will help you. Again, formulae-remember them. You won't face much problem in 3D. Vectors would give you problems :p. Well, try to think of vectors in terms of 3D when in trouble. There are a few standard techniques(taking dot product, cross product with something, etc.) try to implement them and see if they help. Keep on solving a variety of problems. Various lines forms get confusing. Tricky questions can be easily formed in vectors. Try to think of all the formulae available to you. It will surely help. Again, this is mostly based on revising and practicing. 

So, Coordinate Geometry, Vectors and 3D are mostly calculation based, with a handful of central concepts which apply to all the problems and situations. If you study it deeply you would find beautiful connections between various formulae and situations. I'll leave them for you to discover(NCERT style :p).

BOOKS

As usual, if you go to a coaching, follow that book. If you don't you can take this book from Resonance. I can't find the link for other books, so you'll have to take the ones mentioned below(I was from Resonance and found their study material pretty good).

If you want more practice, go for Arihant coordinate geometry and Vectors and 3D.

S.L. Loney is another beautiful book, with some very good questions. It is surely worth solving, if you have time. Apart from this, A. Das Gupta has some really nice questions in 2D coordinate geometry. Do solve them if you want a very good grasp and rank.

So, do well in coordinate and Vectors and 3D. They carry a huge weightage. They need some revision and practice. Give your best, and let me know if you have any doubts by commenting below.

All the best!!!

Also see : Calculus, Algebra, Trigonometry, Best books for JEE

Revision in class 12

Hi guys!!!

Many of you had been asking me for a post on revision. Especially students of class 12. At this moment class 11 students don't have much to revise, so this post is mainly for students of class 12. But I recommend everyone to read it(so that class 11 students can avoid common mistakes people usually commit).

So there would be two kinds of students-

1. Who studied well in class 11(i.e. all their concepts are clear, they didn't leave many topics, practiced a lot, remember all formulae, equations, reactions, etc.)
2. Those who didn't study very well(i.e. have many backlogs, have forgotten many concepts, or don't remember them very well, or just didn't prepare for the exam).

Both kinds of people need to revise well now. But the strategies would be different. Don't feel bad if you didn't study well in class 11, you can still do wonders. Just follow the below guidelines sincerely, and I assure you good revision.
Coming to those who have studied well in class 11. You might be students aiming at IITs, and are really serious about it. You might be aiming for a top 100 or 50 finish. You have studied well in 11th. Half the job done. Now, make sure you don't get relaxed now and study even more. Attend all classes in 12th and clear every doubt. Make sure you understand class 12th well too. Now coming to the revision part, you should take out a fixed amount of time everyday(or make a few big slots every week). Make a diary and list all the topics in which you feel the slightest of doubt. Then pick up few of them everyday and design a schedule as to when are you going to cover them(you can adjust on the basis of your coaching test schedule maybe). Read theory quickly first (short notes help in this, and I recommend you to make them if not done yet) and then practice some good quality questions. Try to cover all major types of questions so that you revise everything(marking important questions while solving a book/coaching module helps in this process, so do it now if you haven't done it before). Try to give regular tests so that you have an idea of your progress. Also, try to mark yourself after every revision session. Use a timer to time yourself. Make sure you analyze,e your mistakes during those sessions. This will improve both speed and accuracy.

Now coming to students who didn't study well/didn't study at all in class 11, you have lots of time left. 1 year is enough to score any range of marks in JEE. I mean it. Just be patient and follow these points-

First of all, sit-down, take a copy and note down all the reason which due to which you couldn't study. Was it lack of awareness? Lack of commitment? Lack of hard work? Lack of Intelligence(well trust me on this, JEE doesn't need intelligence. All the intelligence factors fades away if you work hard enough).

Try to remove that as much as possible. You have already wasted a year. If you can't focus now, I am sorry, you can't make it. But if you are ready to focus, it's not that tough.

Coming to the point, first list the topics into three categories- topics you are comfortable with, topics which you are okayish with, and topics you don't know at all. Now sit with a teacher and sort the list on the basis of their importance in class 12 topics (e.g.- Ionic Equilibrium is required for Electrochemistry). Now sort it such that the most important topics come at the top. Starting from the top, try to cover the ones which you don't know at all. Pick up a Sunday/holiday, sit for 10-12 hours and complete it. First read theory(class notes/NCERT/any standard book, go to Books post if you don't know about it). Then start with some easy questions(exercise 1 of coaching sheet or any good question bank). Slowly advance to the more tough questions. Try to decide topics of class 11 which you'll improve on a weekly basis. Like I'll revise chemical and ionic equilibrium this week, etc. If you follow this and work hard enough, I guess 2 months are enough to clear most backlogs. And then follow the rules I mentioned for the students who studied well in class 11. And try to do more tough questions once backlogs are clear.

I hope this will clear confusions. Comment anything which you wish to ask. Follow the blog for regular posts.

All the best!!!

Also check : Best books for JEE , Motivation, A complete JEE preparation guide, Organic Chemistry, Mechanics, Algebra,

Electromagnetism

Hi guys!!!

This post is intended for students in class 12(but I highly recommend class 11 students to read it too, so that you have a guideline for the future).

The first chapter is electrostatics. Coulomb's Law, Potentials, Gauss' Law blah blah blah. Don't worry. I'll tell you what to do step by step. You must be thorough with vectors and mechanics. Click here to know more about Mechanics. If you are done then you won't face many problems in Coulomb's law. One section is done. Be very clear with the relation between V and E. Make sure you remember the formulae of V and E of various configurations with direction. Then comes Gauss' Law. This is really important. Practice a lot. And remember special results and derivations. Properties of conductors are important. Read theory from a good book like HCV. Capacitors is another important concept. Be clear with series/parallel connections, charge transfer, etc. Electrostatics in matter is yet another important concept. a lot of questions are asked on free charge and all which confuse those who are not clear with them. Reading theory and solving a lot of problems is recommended.

Then comes electric current. KCL, KVL, Ohm's Law, series/parallel and all related shit. It starts with a discussion of current conduction, drift velocity, electrons, basic properties of currents, etc. Not very important, but remember all formulae here. Then comes the circuit analysis part. Quite important. Practice a lot of questions involving KVL and KCL. Equivalent resistance calculation should be close to you. Practice many symmetry questions. They are common and easy. This chapter has less number of formulae and depends more on problem-solving.

Then comes magnetism. Be clear with currents and Electrostatics for this one. Quite similar to electrostatics. Lots of formulae and derivation(thanks to Biot Savart)- remember them all. Ampere's law is important. Practice a lot of questions and try out derivations(solenoid, wire,etc.) on your own. Direction matters a lot. Don't mess up with that. Practice questions on combined magnetic and electric field. These questions are common. Make sure you understand component splitting, vectors, etc. which are used heavily here. Electromagnetic Induction is easy. But it has a good weightage because it involves both currents and magnetism, Practice question based on calculating current with direction in different situations. This will help you clear KVL, magnetism and EMI all at a time.

Then comes JEE(Main) topics like EM Waves, Maxwell's Equations, etc. Just study NCERT well. And practice some past papers of JEE(Main). You are done.

Coming to the books must have books are NCERT and HCV. You must read HCV when the chapter gets finished in coaching(if you study at home, then just make HCV your coaching :p). If you need more practice, go for Arihant's book for Electromagnetism. Irodov is the final thing to do if you want a top 100 finish or aspire for Olympiads. But do it when you are done with everything else.

You can buy the books at a good price here(I have checked them all, and made sure they are the correct version). You can buy using these links-





This was Electromanetism. I  hope I covered everything. Comment any doubts/suggestions. Follow the blog for updates. I'll be posting a lot in the coming few days. Stay tuned!

All the best!!!

Also see: Best books for JEE preparation, Organic Chemistry, Mechanics, Algebra, Motivation

Some Quora answers for exams

Motivation:

A motivational answer and must read, cause it means a lot to me.

My JEE story

For those who think of themselves as 'weak' students

How to stop being average

Perks of being at an IIT

Increasing productivity

Motivating yourself to study

Life at IITB

Some advices for students in class 9-10



Strategies:

Avoiding Social Media

Must have skills for any competitive examination

My schedule during JEE preparations

The best way to prepare for JEE

Some common mistakes during JEE preparations

Making a timetable

Some study hacks

Clear every exam in one click



Tests:

Must avoid mistakes during any exam(read a day before the exam too)

Analyzing test papers

If you are in Class 11:

For students at in the beginning of class 11.

Read it if you are are about to start class 11 or 12th exams

A year and a half left for JEE

For class 12 students:

JEE(Main) with just NCERT

Read it if you are are about to start class 11 or 12th exams

For students in the beginning of class 12.

How to score really well in JEE(Main)

Last days(after board exams):

3 weeks before JEE(Main)

10 days before JEE(Main)

Strategy after your JEE(Main) is over(40 days before JEE(Advanced))


Also check : Best books for JEE , A complete JEE preparation guide, Organic Chemistry, Mechanics, Algebra, Motivation

Last minute tips for JEE(Advanced)

It's all (almost) over. Around one week left for JEE(Advanced).

Time to add the finishing touches.

Nothing much can be done now for the study part. I would recommend seeing your formula book/ revise notes of all chapters. Don't try to study anything new. You can try learning chemistry for sure though. Inorganic Chemistry can be revised completely, and trust me, you MUST do it because final week revision is very important for Inorganic. Read the notes/book and try to recall everything(and maybe solve a few questions). You should also go for revising Organic Reactions and important mechanisms.

You must try to give at least 3 full-length tests in the last week if your syllabus is over. And in the same duration. Below are few things(many of them follow from the JEE(Main) article I wrote, cause they are used here too) which I feel must be followed on the exam day-

1. Before entering the exam hall:

• Make sure you bring all your documents, admit card, etc and reach before time.
• Drink enough water, have adequate food(not too much), stop studying by 8 P.M. or so on a day before the exam(have at least 7–8 hours of sleep).
• Go to the washroom before entering if you feel the need(you don’t want to go during the paper)
• .Many students study outside the exam hall. I don’t recommend that, and I also recommend ignoring such people if you aren’t one of them.
• Talk to your parents/guardian/teachers if they are present. Avoid talking to your ‘friends’. I remember my physics teacher saying that I should not worry, as he was pretty confident that I would go beyond expectations. These things ease out pressure.
• Be positive.

2. In the hall before the paper is distributed:

• You would be given an OMR sheet. You don’t want to mess with it. Fill all the details(please forgive me if the exam is online, just click the bubble in that case).
• DON’T FILL THE DETAILS(SPECIALLY ROLL NUMBER) WRONG.
• Do not mess with the invigilators in any way.
• Make sure you have filled everything correctly. You would still have around 30 minutes before paper commencements.(don’t remember the sequence, it might be before OMR distribution).
• Now, avoid talking to people around you. They would be unknown mostly. A self-talk helps at this time(I was pretty good at it).
• Relax and take a heavy breath(and all that kind of shit), but don’t sleep.

3. After Paper-1 is distributed:

• Don’t dive straight into the paper. Spend some time(5 minutes or so) looking at the questions. Try to get an idea as to what is tough and easy.
• Based on what is easy and what is your best subject, decide where to start.
• Attempt only a few easy questions in the beginning. Attempt 3-4 very easy questions from all the subjects first instead of attempting 15 questions from, say physics. This is where a lot of people go wrong. This builds confidence, as well as makes sure you attempt more.
• Don’t get stuck on a question for long. You can always do it later. This is a huge pitfall. JEE(Advanced) is meant to be tough(usually), and you must learn to move ahead if you get stuck.
• Fill the OMR section carefully and don’t keep it pending for the end. That sheet shows years of hard work. If you fill it wrong or you could not fill it(i.e. the exam gets over it before you fill it), then it would be really bad.
• Don’t answer without knowing(fluke).Choose the best option when in confusion. Don’t rely on ‘bonuses’.
• Use rough space wisely. It comes less in quantity(maybe they would provide some rough sheets, be careful whatever happens).
• Solve fast, but don’t solve things wrong. Cross check quickly before bubbling, if its possible. Use objective approach whenever possible(specially in mathematics). Differentiating options, considering equilateral triangle, eliminating options should be used as much as possible.

4. After Paper-1 and before Paper-2:

• Make sure you DON'T discuss the paper with anyone. Better stay away from everyone. Go to your parents/guardian/teachers. 
• Have some LIGHT food. Don't eat too much, else you'll feel sleepy(and don't stay hungry as well). Take some rest in a car or something if possible, and don't fall asleep. Do something relaxing(meditation,etc.). Stay energetic, and use this time to recover your energy.
• Don't get affected by performance in Paper 1 in any way. You might get overconfident or underconfident. Avoid it under all circumstances.
• Go back to the exam hall before the allotted time(30 minutes or as instructed).

5. During Paper 2:

• All points mentioned in Paper 1.
• Be energetic and unyielding irrespective of what happened in paper 1.

6. After the paper is over:

• Head straight home, and enjoy. You have been studying so hard for all these years. Time to chill!!!

You all must realize that JEE(Advanced) is one of the toughest exams out there, and you should respect that. Leave a question for later if you don't know/can't do it. Make the best out of those 6 hours. This is your last fight(for some time, of course), give your best shot.

It’s your moment, squeeze it and make it golden.

All the best!!!