1. Not Working on Endurance

Those who are serious about JEE, know that after 1^st paper, it becomes difficult to maintain same concentration in 2^nd paper. You must remain energetic and focussed during 2^nd papers as you were at the time of 1^st paper.

To ensure that you give your best, you need to practice well to attempt 2 full-length mock tests one after the other with a gap of 30 minutes. You should practice it multiple times.

Remember, studying for 6 hours and attempting mock tests for 6 hours are entirely different activities. So, if you can study for 6 hours continuously, then do not assume that you will be able to maintain energy level and concentration for 6 hours during the exam.

The best way to improve your endurance is to start practicing with one full-length mock test. Then after 3 tests, do one full-length mock test and one single subject physic or chemistry or math) test. Then after 3 tests, two full-length mock tests.

Don’t forget to analyse your performance after each test.

2. Taking Online Mock Test Scores Too Seriously

No offence but, online mock test websites often set mock test papers with irrelevant questions to make you feel scared and buy their courses.

I am not saying mock tests are not necessary. I am just emphasising that you should take mock test results seriously only if you see problems similar to previous year papers.

If you are following the study plan and your concepts are clear, do not bother too much about the mock test scores. Just keep on improving.

Mock tests are for practice and to identify the gaps. Use these for that purpose only.

3. Thinking that there is no Life Beyond JEE

I know that you are a teenager and have big dreams. But, do not let you’re your dreams affect your preparation.

Internet is flooded with scary stories of thousands of students not getting selected even after 2 or more years of preparation. Truth is, most of them never take JEE seriously and do not have a proper Study Plan.

I have seen coaching institutes, unnecessarily forcing and pressurising the students to complete bulky books and thousands of questions keeping them busy all the time as there is not life other than JEE.

Most of the students who qualify for JEE (main or advance) just follow a well-designed study plan.

So, take it seriously but not severely.

4. Gullible to Distractions

Now a days there are tons of electronic devices. During IIT JEE preparation, students face a lot of stress. To overcome this stress, they try to entertain themselves with electronic gadgets. Once in hand, these gadgets are super-sticky. You find yourself incapacitated and can’t get detached from these attractive devices. You know that you can use a mobile thousands of times later, but you lose 1 valuable year then it is irreversible. 

5. Being Overconfident

Your school exams scores may not (and most probably will not) predict your percentile in JEE. Students who do very good in their school exams, sometimes are gullible to overconfidence which gives them a false feeling that they will be doing equally good in JEE.

You must keep in mind that in JEE the type and variety of questions are very different than those in CBSE or any other state exams.

Hence, be realistic towards your capabilities and take JEE as a critical task to be finished with utmost quality.

6. Not Practicing Enough with Mock Tests

If you attempt even 20 mock tests but do not analyse the result, then you will never be able to strengthen your weak points. You must have a notebook to keep a record of

What types of mistakes you normally make?

What you do very well and do not need more time on those topics?

What silly mistakes you make?

What calculation mistakes you make?

What formulae you do not remember?

What tricks you need to learn?

Which subject you need to focus more?

How much is your speed? Do you need to improve on your speed?

How long you remain focussed and then start losing concentration?

7. Not Paying Attention in 11^th Grade

This is human nature to procrastinate and defer the work upto the limit it can be. You must not fall in this trap if you want to succeed in IIT JEE.

If you procrastinate in 11^th grade then you are pushing yourself towards failure.

It is very easy to keep distance from studies during your 11^th grade because there is no board exam and no one asks about the 11^th grade marks. But, it is actually your time investment in this year which plays remarkable role in your rank in JEE.

Your 11^th grade syllabus has many scoring topics which play decisive role in your exam. So, what you need to do? Just follow the study plan in 11^th grade as well.

Remember, in 12^th grade you have a lot to do. You will not get time to cover your 11^th topics in 12^th grade.

8. Ignoring Productivity. Rather Focussing on Number of Hours

If you spend 4 hours just reading chemistry notes and are not able to recall what you read after few hours then it is a futile exercise; just wastage of your time and efforts. You need to stay focussed. Sometimes, very particular distractions are responsible for bad concentration.

To avoid such specific (habitual) distractions, I have written a very useful article, Force Yourself to Succeed by Getting a Habit Loop which you should read to get rid of habitual distractions.

If you want a good rank in JEE, you should do something more engaging. E.g., you can ask your friend or brother/sister to ask 30 questions to you. It will be much productive than just reading by yourself throughout the day.

Your productivity should be based on how man tasks you accomplished, how many mock tests you finished with good marks, how fast you were able to finish the test, how many silly mistakes you made, etc.

9. Neglecting a Topic or Entire Subject

Many a times, students tend to like one subject more over the others. This is one the reasons why even very meritorious students sometimes do not get good score in JEE.

All three subjects have equal weight in JEE.

Reiterating, stick to Study Plan. Your liking or disliking does not matter. Your thorough knowledge matters.

If you follow the study plan then there are rare chances that you give more preference to one subject/topic over the others.

10. After Concepts, not doing Sufficient Problems/Questions

Many students focus more (or entirely) on theoretical concepts. The truth is that if concepts are not followed by practice problems then concepts are more likely to get diminished in short span of time.

Hence, merely the concept are not sufficient. Application is the key to gain confidence in JEE.

You can spend hours on concepts thinking you are preparing very well, but the reality is that you will not be able to answer the questions at the level required for JEE.

Don’t get scared from problems. Face them and beat them.

And remember… You can do it.