Gateway to success

The All India Engineering Entrance Examination (AIEEE) is for engineering aspirants appearing/passing class XII exam. This exam is conducted for admission to 20 National Institutes of Technology (NITs), four Indian Institutes of Information Technology (IIITs), Indian Institute of Information Technology and Management (IIITM), 16 self-financed deemed universities and other nine Central and State Government Funded Institutions.

This exam also restricts the number of attempts to three. AIEEE scheduled for April 26, 2009 had 10 Lakh students registered, marking a phenomenal rise in the number as compared to last year (around 8.26 Lakhs registered for 2008).

Structure of AIEEE

Paper-I and Paper-II: Aspirants have the choice of appearing in any one of the two types of papers or both. Paper-I is for those who wish to go only for BE/BTech courses in colleges accepting AIEEE ranks while Paper II is for those who wish to pursue a course in BArch/B Planning.

Paper I: This is a three hour paper comprising of three sections — Part I Physics, Part II Chemistry and Part III Mathematics. There are 30 objective types multiple questions in each of the three subjects. In each section there are 26 questions of four marks each and four questions of eight mark each with a one-fourth negative marking for every question.

Paper II: This three hour paper consists of mathematics, aptitude and drawing.

The mathematics section has 35 to 40 objective type multiple choice questions with single correct option and one-fourth negative marking. The syllabus for mathematics is common topics from Class XI/XII. The aptitude section has 10 to 15 objective multiple choice questions with four options and same negative marking. This will test a student for visualising three dimensional objects from two dimensional drawings, visualising different sides of three dimensional objects and also analytical reasoning and mental ability.

The aptitude test is designed to evaluate a candidate’s perception, imagination, observation, creativity and architectural awareness. The drawing section has two questions for 40 marks involving sketching of scenes and activities from memory of urban-scape (public space, market, festivals, street scenes, monuments, recreational spaces etc), landscape (river fronts, jungles, gardens, trees, plants etc.) and rural life.

PREPARATION TECHNIQUE

Clearing AIEEE demands systematic approach in preparation that will help students get admission into one of the top NITs. AIEEE consists of CBSE syllabus of physics, chemistry and math and some common topics from Class XI and XII of State boards. The cut-off is generally around 60 to 70 per cent.

For an organised preparation for AIEEE, appropriate study material is the first thing an aspirant must have. Every set of problems needs to be approached differently and with a set of separate specific working methods. It involves perseverance in practice to gain confidence and deeper sapience to handle the problems with focus to speed and accuracy, which is undeniably the key to success. It is not difficult, but considerably tricky.

Books that develop your conceptual understanding should be picked while preparing for the AIEEE. There is a plethora of problem solving books and also solving other competitive examination problems adds booster to performance effectiveness.

Handy guide

Here is a step-by-step guide outlining the ideal process for solving a problem:

• Try the conventional methods first
• Try to understand the problem again and find clues that can lead you to the solution
• Go through the concepts related to the problem once again and see how they can be applied to the problem in hand
• Try to relate the problem to real life situations, which will help you analyse it better
• Consult the solution, only when you have exhausted your limits and see, what you had missed earlier
• Practice similar problems extensively to increase clarity, speed and precision
• Devise your own shortcuts and ways to deal with particular kind of problem

In Math, use short methods for calculations, skip irrelevant steps to save time. Focus on solving the problems on your own, while preparing for the exam. As both speed and strike rate are of precedence, you need to be quick off the mark and accurate to achieve high scores. High speed with less accuracy can actually kill your chance in the main exam. Never use calculators while preparing for the AIEEE as being adept in mental calculations can actually increase your speed to a great extent. Select your questions wisely. If you solve easy and average questions correctly, you can easily get through. You may attempt difficult ones to make merit.

In last two weeks

• Make a note of all important points
• Make a time-table for the coming 12 days to revise your syllabus. Time-table must be developed in such a way that you give maximum time to your strengths. Don’t study anything new in that last week.
• Take a few mock tests to check your speed and accuracy
• Identify the problem areas ie where you are wasting your maximum time. Try to analyse where you are making mistakes, which section you are not doing well. Whatever mistakes you make in first paper try to remove in second.

One day before the AIEEE

• Do not study anything
• Stay calm, composed, and confident and have faith in yourself
• Put your mind to rest, relax and indulge in meditation
• Don’t encourage conversations about AIEEE with others
• Don’t entertain thoughts of how much your friends have prepared for it, else it will create pressure and tax your mind
• Take a sound sleep for at least six to seven hours and wake up fresh
• Prepare yourself to reach the centre one hour before the exam starts.

— The writer is Executive Director, FIITJEE Ltd