STUDY EXPERIENCE KCET

Hi! I’m from India and if you have taken Science Stream 11th then you probably are wondering what is after 12th. I’m from Karnataka. I just finished my Exams after a long drawn battle between students and examination authorities to postpone the exams due to the COVID-19 pandemic. If you want to know my experience and want some tips to crack the Karnataka CET(Common entrance test) then you are at the right place, my friend.

I had written my KCET in the year 2020 which was the year when the pandemic hit so here is my experience.

PLEASE READ THIS WHEN YOU ARE FREE WITH A CALM MIND. PLEASE DON’T HURRY WHILE READING. I KNOW THIS IS LONG BUT PLEASE HEAR ME OUT.

How did it all start?

I never liked to study till 8th standard exams were just like some stressful moments in my life which I would get through by getting passing marks. I grew up when games like Clash of Clans and Clash Royale became popular and just like that I became addicted to playing games. I am not saying they are BAD but yeah they can waste a lot of your time if not controlled.

My life was miserable playing games all day never liked it but still played them to kill time. When I changed my school in 9th standard I could start with a blank slate. I was bad at math, did not know how to speak well and many more things. That’s when reality struck me. I did not know why people would want to talk to me. I was very nervous and doubted every action i did. I wanted to change this but did not know how.

I joined Tuition classes for 10th board exams and there I learnt SO many lessons about my education and life. I started to understand why I was bad at math, why I could not focus, What were the consequences of not focusing on life, Why to study? Why go through so much struggle? What are the consequences of leading a goalless life? and many more.

One day I was in my tuition and I realised that since I was solving maths regularly I was automatically getting better at it. I was recalling formulas like never before, I was doing fewer mistakes and most importantly I realised the importance of consistency in my work.

Through this article, I want to share my experience and learnings. You can take these learnings and see what you can do better and prevent yourself from doing the mistakes that I did.

EXPERIENCE AND LEARNING

1)MINDSET AND MOTIVATION

Many students start in 11th standard with full of JOSH(Enthusiasm) But that JOSH(enthusiasm) dies down as days go by.

Mindset is really important for cracking any exam. Don’t take these exams as your enemy which will ruin your lives but take them as an anchor to reach a bigger goal in your life. Aspire to do something great in life and to reach that goal the first step is to work hard and smart to crack the competitive exam which you already decided to write at the end of 12th standard.

Getting into a Reputed college will give you a head start but even after that, you need to work very hard and smart to achieve your goal.

Getting into a Not so reputed college won’t make you a failure but you need to work more hard and smart to stand out from the crowd. Work in such a way that no one else around you can beat your efforts.

Take the problems in life not as a difficulty but as a Challenge that you can solve.

Your conditions will be different but it is perfect for you to achieve your goal.

Don’t think too much about how many books to solve and the number of hours to study. Just solve the NCERT and NCERT exemplar along with your coaching material(use youtube for doubt related queries don’t use it for binge-watching full lesson). if you solve this very strictly and revise regularly you will be in a good chance to get a good score in KCET!

Analysis Paralysis

Start where you are

Use what you have

Do what you can- Arthur Ashe

There was a time in my preparation days where I wanted to buy some online courses to boost my preparation but unfortunately, I could not afford them. I always planned and organized my study time as much as possible but many times I would spend more time planning rather than studying, this was a major drawback. I would advise you to make a weekly monthly schedule and stick to it keep a target of completing the portion by November at least.

Keep a daily habit to study 3 hours at least and give some time to plan out your day in a detailed manner as possible. Making a bullet journal is a good start.

I remember in my PU college days people used to complain about saying it’s too difficult or we don’t have enough resources or our teachers are not that good or we don’t have enough time(well COVID changed that). I never had a good answer to these comments but I knew that no teacher or even if you have a fountain of resources will not get you your deserved rank. You have to put in the efforts to study on your own with what you have.

Today there are so many resources. to Ask doubts I used to go to lecturers but if they are really busy I would just google them. But keep in mind that this becomes a habit and you may find yourself googling every problem you face(happened with me).

I would recommend trying to solve a question by listing all the formulas you know and try to apply as many concepts you remember to solve that question, at least twice if you still can’t solve it don’t google it move forward, Come back once you finished all the problems which you decided to solve. If there are 200 questions in a book in a lesson then don’t solve it in one go you may give up in the midst of it. keep small goals like 50 or how much ever you think you can solve in one sitting

Important TIP: Do not google anything while your studying try to understand each and everything the book tells you, during your study time then if you can’t get it then go for google. it should be your last resource. I know this is hard even I felt it was difficult, but I felt really good when I got close to getting the answer and the method which I followed was a shorter one too! if the concept I learnt was not so clear from the book then an article/video would clear the gaps in my understanding.

I feel going through this process will help increase your critical thinking and gives you a better understanding of what formulas go in what situations and concepts will be much clear since you are not totally dependent on youtube for your understanding of a concept.

Asking questions is easy to do but asking good questions is a challenge. Do ask questions but not so many that you overwhelm yourself and just say “ahh forget it its too hard ill just leave this and come back later”.

I remember getting too frustrated while learning because I asked too many questions that I could not answer. What questions you have I would recommend you to write it down on a sticky note and attach it near that part of the book where you are facing difficulty to understand. it is a slow and gradual process of understanding any concept so having patience is really important.

Keep coming back to the concept. it will be like a revision and you will be able to understand it better the next time you come.

Try to do spaced repetitions.

“No two things have been combined better than knowledge and patience.”-Prophet Muhammed(PBUH)

2)How many hours to study?

Well for this one there isn’t a perfect answer. I recommend you keep a habit of studying at least 3 hours per day and increase it with time. Those 3 hours should be very crucial do not give way for anything to distract you from studying. Even talking! (you can speak to yourself like explain the concept what you learnt to your self then, later on, you can explain that to your friends as well to gain clarity).

Plan your day keep realistic goals. Don’t just right down that you will complete 3 chapters or 10 chapters. You will get disappointed if you fail to do so. Keep it simple to write down the topics which you want to finish and try to make your plan as detailed as possible(try to spend a maximum of 30 minutes in doing this).

This will give clarity in your mind and you will not be forced to think what to do next while your studying.

Try to complete your tasks in the most efficient and less time-consuming manner. If any concept is taking more than 1 hour to understand please don’t force it in your head. Understand what you can and solve some questions related to that topic don’t forcefully push it in your head it will cause you to by heart it.

If the exam is near don’t worry still try to understand it and solve problems related to it. You are working for the long term if that exam is not board exam or anything like that you can afford to do mistakes through those mistakes you can understand the gaps in your conceptual understanding of that concept.

Don’t get sad if you get low marks initially. This learning curve will benefit you in the long run. So don’t give up and don’t lose hope!.

3)Know yourself better

More than studying in these 2 years you have to study the surroundings, How you react to changes in your environment and how you can change your behaviour to be a better version of yourself.

“Spend each day trying to be a little wiser than you were when you woke up.”- Charlie Munger.

Try to Change 0.1% of the way you do Regular things every day.

Talk to parents and to people who you think can help you. Try not to silence the inner voice that asking “WHY?”. The why can be anything from your beliefs to your insecurities and so on. You may not get a perfect answer to these questions right away but you will be at peace knowing that you asked some of these questions and you have a perspective to think about and understand yourself better.

4)Revision!!!

Revision is so important and also in my perspective the hardest part of the preparation. I know it gets frustrating revising the same thing over and over again but even after knowing the formulae so well in the exam we will feel like “Did this have a minus or a plus sign?” or “Is this the correct formula?”.

Here are some tips so that you can avoid such instances. I tried them and it worked pretty well.

1)New formula? No problemo, just write it in your notes keep that page open and start solving as many problems as you can related to that concept while looking at the formula in the book. After 5 or 6 problems you will get the hang of the formula and not just remember it as a bunch of letters /numbers/symbols but know WHY to use it, where to use it and HOW to use it.

2)Revision after class is so cool. Once the class finishes everyone usually closes their books and go to chit-chat or whatever they want to do. But you being a mad lad you can keep your book open close your eyes for 1/2 minutes and just revise what you had done in the last hour from the lecturer entering the room to the time the lecturer left the room. I didn’t close my eyes and do this but I wish I did. What I did was I just flipped the pages and try to understand what I learnt in the past hour, I realised later it wasn’t the best way I could revise after class because when you flip the pages and look at all the concepts and formulas you say to yourself or I said to my self “Ah I know these, I remember this, ok done”.

So closing your eyes and visualising all the concepts and formulas will give you clarity in what you know and what you still need clarification in. I tried this during the extra time given to us when the pandemic started and it was really helpful.

Try to find the best way you revise, Just remember the easier it is to revise it’s probably not working(the method). Same goes with learning if you are learning in a certain way and it is difficult for you you are probably actually learning and not just mugging up words. So don’t be discouraged if you can’t understand some topics it will come with time. We tend to always go for the things which makes us feel it is easy but not all easy things are good for us.

The human brain is so cool. For Machines as time goes by their ability to do their tasks declines but as for humans we improve the process over time and get better at it.

5)Burnouts

This is something which I never faced before because honestly I never studied as much in my whole life as I did in 10,11,12 grade. The first step of coming out of burn out is to recognise that you are in burnout.

When you want to study but you are not able to focus as well as you used to, You study for few hours and the whole day gets wasted because you get easily distracted and feel regret at the end of the day, You don’t feel as enthusiastic as u would feel when you go back to study from taking breaks and the most important is that you get distracted easily.

These are some signs that you might be in a burnout. Now don’t use “burn out” as an excuse to not study. You will generally understand if you are in burnout or just Lazy when these signs occur more often. Try to overcome laziness as much as possible.

Here are some tips to avoid getting burnt out fast and if you are in a burn out how to overcome it quickly.

1. Try to fix your sleep schedule. I used to sleep on an average of 5 to 6 hours daily. if I was feeling I was going into a burn out stage I try to sleep at least 7–8 hours in those days when I felt too low(you will recognise this). If you don’t have a fixed sleep schedule then fix it as soon as possible because if you cant plan your nights then how will you plan your days?
2. Try to Eat Healthy Foods. Get the junk food off if you are eating too much. Eating in a controlled amount is good but I feel eating too much junk doesn’t give you productivity boost in the long run, Remember this is a marathon, not a sprint. You may feel that you will be able to study after eating chocolate or some sweet but that may last for around 3–4 hours and then you will feel like crap again. Yes eating some sweet in a small amount will give you that dopamine hit to study but don’t overuse it. You can instead eat some dates, raisins and other dry fruits which give the same effect if not better.
3. Look into your hobbies. Coming into preparation for KCET and JEE I lost my past hobbies,(good ones, not the one which involves me endlessly scrolling through YouTube) which was not the best thing to do. Try to bring back those hobbies, Give 1-hour max to them to get a blast from the past. It will give a breath of fresh air and will help you come back to your studies better with a fresh mind. Hobbies could include calligraphy, drawing etc.

The Pandemic opened my eyes on what I did in my two years of preparation. It allowed me to step back and understand what I did wrong and understand what I can do to improve my preparation. Yes, there was a lot of stress with Lockdowns and a lot of uncertainty. But life will give us many more opportunities filled with fog we just need to know how to remove the fog and grab the opportunity in every difficulty. I had a tough time focusing but I pulled through somehow. I know you will too. All the difficulties are temporary hence it will end one day so instead of running away I just thought of facing it with a brave heart.

That’s about it before I end this, Id liked to thank you for reading this blog and taking your valuable time to read this and I hope I put some value into your life. Hoping you found at least one of these tips useful to improve your preparation.

Here are some quotes that I found interesting:

“Just because something is a struggle doesn’t mean that you can’t do it. It just means you have got to find a different way of doing it. If you take action, the plan will unfold in front of you. More than seeing greatness in others, see greatness in yourself.”-Judy Ruettiger

“Self-confidence, I am realizing, is a lot deeper than just thinking I am beautiful and being free in who I am. It also includes being confident in my decisions and trusting myself to be committed to the things I want to do. To step outside of my comfort zone and assure myself that I will be okay in doing so. This kind of self-confidence will help to see the success I want to see”-Anonymous.

“Fear is temporary but regret is forever.”

I would love to write more but it’s getting too long. See yall later!