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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

JEE (Main) 2019 Final Month Preparations

Easy chapters:

Physics: Very Easy: Units and Measurements, Kinematics, Waves, Wave Optics, All chapters in JEE(main) syllabus which are not in JEE (Advanced) syllabus.

Easy: NLM basics, WPE, Gravitation, THermodynamics, KTG, EMI, Ray Optics, Modern Physics

Maths: Easy: Complex Numbers, Matrices and Determinants, Trigonometry, Binomial Theorem, Sequence and Series, Quadratic Equations, Differentiation, Straight Line, Circles, Vectors and 3D, all chapters not in JEE (Advanced) sylllabus and in JEE (Main).

Chemistry: Everything is easy here. Especially learn every reaction in Inorganic and Organic.

Links to important books:

Use past year chapter wise book for question practice.

 


If you want the preparation to be more guided, you can use these books which promise you a selection in 40 days:

All the best!!!

How to become the master of your time?

A huge problem faced by many in this age is 'lack of time'. Everyone has aspirations and wishes, but no one seems to have the time to do it!

Adults wish to give more time to family, travel, etc., kids want more time for playing, and (serious) JEE aspirants need more time for studying. No one seems to have enough of it. No one. 

I myself have faced this problem multiple time, but somehow I feel I have a few principles with me which can enable everyone to become the master of time, and hence carry out all the productive tasks one aspires for in the same 24 hours God has bestowed on each and everyone of us. I spent most of my first year struggling to find a balance between work and play. I never had this issue before college, because my life was restricted to the size of a peanut. The real world is different and demands much more sophisticated planning in order to excel.

So, coming to the issue of tackling this issue, I will mention a few principles (based on my own life) which helped me overcome this issue faced by probably billions of people. First things first, let us focus on the 'why' part. This will probably solve more than half of the issue. Ask yourself-'Where does my time go?' You will find the answer for sure, I guarantee it. You might be ashamed to admit the reasons, but you know them. Mostly, these will make the list-

• Social media
• Unproductive entertainment (TV, Games)
• Random thoughts (leading to procrastination)
• Spending too much time socializing with people.
• Not prioritizing your tasks
• Sleeping too much/too less
• Chatting too much with friends/partners.
• Doing random things at random times.
• Spending time being sad/happy/(insert another emotions here).

 You can definitely reduce your Social media and TV time. To know more about my view of social media and how to remove it, see this answer on Quora.

Unproductive entertainments are okay in a limit. They lead to recreation for a certain time, but after some time, they lead to bad health, loss of productivity and guilt of wasting time. I have recently started to read books for leisure(not academic book). But I do that in a very concentrated way and for less than an hour daily. This isn't much of a time waste as I spend little time and it leads to some good entertainment. Problem starts when you start following too many hobbies/TV series. It's okay to be a cricket fan or Harry Potter fan. It's not okay at all to be a fan of GOT, cricket, football, F.R.I.E.N.D.S, Marvel, dancing, music, all at a time and spending too much time on these. Limit your TV/hobby time to a fixed hour daily. This way you'll be able to take out more time both for your hobby and for you job/study.

Random thought and emotional havocs are yet another major cause you of worry to many. I used to spend a lot of time thinking about other's opinion of myself. Some people might be suffering from some personal issues, and hence it's quite possible that they end up overthinking a lot. It used to happen with me too. I spent time talking to positive and motivating people and stayed away from negative people. If you have some personal issues, sharing them with someone close is the best way to tackle it. Talk to your friends/parents/ have some counselling. It's really going to help you.

Now I hope most of the 'unnecessary' and avoidable factors have gone. What's left is planning, and a good schedule. You must make a very tight schedule. You must become concious about your time. Until and unless you put in genuine and concious effort to make better use of your time and get that extra hour, you won't be able to make it.

So let's get to the point and discuss about a good schedule. First thing is to wake up and sleep early, and at least for 7 hours. In my first year at college, I got into this vicious cycle of poor and late sleep. I used to go to bed not before 2 in the night and my average sleep was probably less than 6 hours. I have changed this habit and it has made me much more productive. I wake up at 7 and go to bed around 12 (or at least try to). I sleep more than 1 hour more as compared to last year. This has made me much more energetic, and I hardly feel lack of energy at the end of the day. I get a good night's sleep.

Now, do keep time slots for things other than your job. I do a lot many things apart from studying. It helps me get relaxed and ensures more productivity.

Read this to know more about my schedule and activities.

Try to make a draft of all possible activities you will do during a day, including your working hours. Write it down very neatly somewhere and stick to it. Mention hours when you would do a certain thing. For example, you can say that 8-10 ->study Math/complete assignment/achieve any target. 12:30-2-> take a break/read/sleep, etc. I keep my Saturday for completing stuff left in the week. Sundays are usually free. Make sure to have a day left after putting down all your commitments, so that you don't end up failing to achieve your goals for the week.

I hope this helped. Do comment and share! BTW, I made this post using small bits of 10-15 minutes spread over many days. Time management, folks!!!

P.S.- Now I am active on Instagram again. Check me out!

A special post by AIR 19, JEE(Advanced) 2018

This is a post by a junior in IITB CSE. His name is Shalabh Gupta and he secured AIR 19 in JEE(Advanced) 2018. He will be sharing his JEE preparation story. It's really good and thanks to him for this wonderful post!

"Hey..this is Shalabh Gupta. I am from New Delhi and I achieved an All India rank 19 in JEE(Advanced) 2018. It was no cakewalk for me to do so. Currently, I am in IIT Bombay CSE. Here I am, writing my JEE preparation story!

I had been an average student from the starting. I had no definite plans as to I what I have to pursue in the future. Then in class 9th, I took admission in FIITJEE Dwarka in Delhi. Life was still a puzzle for me but then I realized the faith my parents had put into me and paid a hefty amount just so that I can achieve something even I was unaware of. FIITJEE transformed my mindset towards studies and slowly I developed a taste in PCM and decided to pursue engineering as my field of interest. Through this, I want to convey to all the students out there, that they need to decide what they want to do till class 10th..if not that, then at least midway class 10 should be it. If you are studying for JEE in class 11 but have no interest in it, then it’s probably not your cup of tea. It would be better if students develop a taste for the subjects beforehand.

I started my JEE preparation in early class 11th. As other beginners, I was unaware as to the path to be followed. Everybody used to recommend a hell lot of books which made things really confusing. The material I used to get from my coaching centre was enough, so I stuck to it until I really felt a need to purchase any other book. I strongly believe that doing the material which you get from your coaching centre is enough along with previous year questions and some basic cliché books like hcv for Physics. Literally speaking, I used to do only HC Verma till about complete 11th class. My batchmates used to do DC Pandey and some irodov too (which I also did once I was confident enough in hcv). According to me, if you are thorough with each and every concept and question in hcv, then most of your work is done. You just need to revise them again and again and keep them fresh in your memory. But still, if you find time..like I did after class 11th, you can solve certain recommended questions from irodov(not all). But remember without revision of topics..all the work you do is a waste.

Coming over to Chemistry, I used to learn concepts by heart..and also the reactions. My teacher used to provide me with enough sheets to practice. But if your teacher doesn’t do so , then you can buy some books such as Peter Atkins for physical chemistry(one of my friend who is air 44 used to study from it), Peter Sykes for theory of organic chem and ms Chauhan and himanshu pandey for org chem questions(almost all of my batchmates used to do it) and JD Lee for inorganic(this is used even in our college). But don’t forget that just doing books is not enough..you should remember all the concepts as well as the reactions along with their mechanisms.

For Maths, the previous year questions will be the perfect key to preparation. I bought just trigo SL loney in class 11th just for inverse trigo(but ended up doing some trigo equations etc). Then in class 12th, I bought cengage g tewani for calculus. I believe it’s a must for calculus(or you can buy Arihant too). My roommate (CSE only) used Sanjay Mishra for algebra. There is cengage also  available for algebra if you want to do but I won’t recommend it because it contains a hell lot of questions and you may find yourself in a confusion whether to do it or not. Remember that being confused is the last thing you should do while preparation. It reduces confidence to a large extent. For coordinate geometry, SL Loney again would be a great choice. It covers almost everything.

Also, remember that the archive i.e. the previous year questions are the most important thing to do and should be their first priority.

Coming to my preparation strategy, I can proudly say that I followed the correct path. By correct path I mean the correct planning required. Some students, despite of studying for a lot of hours are not able to perform well because they don’t have any proper planning and management as to when to study, when to relax, when to revise, and many other things. I do not suggest making a proper timetable for studying because most of the time, we are unable to follow it which leads to backlogs. I used to do as much as I could do effectively. It was never fruitful when I used to force myself to study while I was stressed or had my mind wandering over various other things. Aim for small targets(like completing 10 ques in 1 hour or so for eg) and complete them. This was my mantra and I used to gain a lot of confidence from this. I used to study about 8-10 hours on an avg per day. I think any jee aspirant aiming for a decent enough rank should study that much at least.

Lastly, I want to talk about the most important thing, exam temperament. There are many students who study very hard but are unable to produce a great result. All depends on exam temper. I used to remain calm and composed while giving any mock test or any paper. This composure comes by itself when you have practiced enough. Try to attempt as much mock papers etc as you can..make mistakes and learn from them. But I used to do that only after I had revised everything and had full confidence in most of the topics. Also through attempting more test papers, you get to know your weaknesses and are able to focus more on them. So try to develop exam temperament through the tests you give.

Best of luck to all aspirants!!!

Thanks, Kalpit for giving me the opportunity to reach out to many students through your blog."

Thanks, Shalabh!

Feel free to post your doubts here.

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

For IIT Bombay UG Freshers

Many freshmen have been pinging me for advice for the first year. I feel it would be better to make a post instead of saying the same stuff to everyone. I recommend sharing it with your friends as well. I know many sophies who give' idiotic fundae' to freshies and misguide them. I will try to give you a good and balanced overview of the first year, and acquaint you with all the mistakes which I did, and the things I missed out. I'll be covering academics and some misconceptions which prevail among freshmen.

1. Academics

Many people will misguide you that academics at IITB is chill, or that you had been studying very hard for the past two years, and so you should chill a bit and do cult, sports, tech, etc. This is utter BS. First year is easy and you are quite free. Even if you attend all the classes regularly, and solve all tuts, you will mostly cross 9 (which is really good), and you will have lots of free time on the top of that. Try to maximize your CPI in the first year. It will relax you a bit for the coming years and help and you get a good intern in the second year (to be covered later). Many people stop attending the classes and chill out all the time, and study a night before. While many people do this and still manage to do well, nothing can replace regular classroom studies. As of books, you must solve the book of your DIC, book for CS101, and MA105. There are other books as well, they can be solved using the PDF, or they can be covered by slides. Seeing past papers before the exam is really important. Bottomline is, try to score as much as possible in the first year. This should be your first priority (unless you are really interested in something else, and maintain a decent score even then).

Those aiming for branch change need to be extra focused on acads. Study more than others, and you will get it easily. I know people who have changed branch from Meta/Civil to CS (however, you will realize soon that all branches are really good and interesting).

Study material for freshmen- https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/15YVL5Ge0LrVm71T2Jh8f2Y-0q6B0b41D

2. Extra curriculars

There are many extra currics at IITB, but many freshies tend to get lost in them completely. And many end up not doing any extra currics, and both the situations are equally bad. I recommend, as recommended by almost everyone, to decide what interests you and participate in a few activities for an experience. NSO/NSS/NCC can be helpful here as well (covered later). Do not start something new just because others are doing it. Do something only if it really interests you. I was interested in music, so I learned to play the guitar, and it turned out to be pretty good, as I learned something I had always been wanting to do. If you have an interest in robotics and all then you can maybe join the respective clubs. Don't overdo extra currics, or acads might get affected. There are lots of events in the institute, and you can attend them for a break from the schedule. You won't get much time next year onwards (as I have heard from my seniors).

3. The concept of 'Machau'

There is this slightly weird concept of machau in the Institute. People who have PORs, a good intern, have a girlfriend, or even just popular are seen as 'machau'. You must not fall into these traps and focus on having a good time here, and stay happy. I feel that a happy person is the most 'machau' person in the insti. In my 1 year stay here, I have seen many people whose sole motive was to distract others and move ahead of others. I learned to not look at others and focus on myself. Looking at others will only cause you pain. This was the biggest lesson I learned in my first year. One must be focused on oneself instead of just blindly following others. Never let an inferiority complex form inside of you because of the 'machau junta'.

4. Some misconceptions, corrected

• NCC is a really great place to be. If you wish to learn a sport or something, then you can go for NSO, but NCC is really great as it combines elements of NSO and NSS as well. Many people think that NCC is very hectic, but it is not the case. It is pretty chill. There is a camp after endsems, and at least I found it fun. There were lots of cult and sports activities in the camp. 
• You will still have to study a lot if you wish to stay at the top. This is the truth. Anyone saying otherwise is fooling you.
• All sophies are NOT idiots. Some of my best friends in insti are sophies(now thirdies). Admittedly, they know much less compared to thirdies and fourthies, but I guess they know enough to set the freshie on a path. Plus they are almost your age, so you'll blend better with them. But there are lots of sophies who deliberately misguide freshies, stay alert.
• MI and TF are really great, but working in them as an orgi won't make you great. Most people do all this because others are doing it. Many seniors in MI take advantage of the naivety of freshers. Instead, enjoy it(if you wish to). You can join the orgi team if they interest you, and for an experience. But please don't do MI work just because others are doing it or because someone told you that 'MI is machau'.
• PORs are not important during placements(unless you are aiming for a non-core job). They are for fun and experience. I don't have much idea about it, I am just repeating what passouts told me. I was the CR of my batch, and it was a good experience. 
• There is no ragging in insti. Don't be afraid of talking to seniors.
• In case you are looking for some entertainment, do check out the IITB confession page on FB :p.
• Don't judge others, specially on the basis of ranks.
• Don't multitask. Pick only as many activities as you can handle. Many people tend to take up lots of PORs, courses, cultural and sports activities, and end up doing nothing. Know your limits, and don't succumb to peer pressure.

5. Miscellaneous

• Don't do drugs and alcohol. 
• Stay VERY CLOSE to you ISMP MENTOR. My mentor helped me a lot. Build a good relationship with him/her.
• For homesick people(happened with me), talk to your parents and mentor whenever you miss home.
• There are some terms called 'interns' and 'placements'. You don't need to worry about them. Ask passouts/mentors for that. Sophies(including me) know nothing about them.
• Sem starting is chill. You can hang out as much as you want.
• Try to get in contact with some passouts or super seniors if possible. It always helps to know more people. You will be surprised that they actually reply and help.
• Personal issues are common. Don't succumb to loneliness, and talk to people. At least I am there to talk to anyone. I faced some personal issues too(especially in sem 1), and my mentor and parents helped me. 
• Many seniors(from certain councils and clubs) fool freshies for their selfish works. Don't get into their traps. Many freshies were successfully fooled in MI. You will be made to work like laborers. There is nothing but foolery here(unless you are really interested). Many cult clubs will force you to participate in events. Seniors hostel guys will force you to participate in GCs. Participate only if you are genuinely interested. Say no to them. This is probably the most important piece of advice for anyone.
• It is OK to be a maggu. They will be the machau ones in the end.

FINALLY, and most importantly, do justice to the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay. Don't indulge in something which could defame the insti. Try to make every second productive. I don't suggest studying all the time, but one must focus on becoming a better person each day.

Hope you have a great year ahead!

-Kalpit Veerwal,
Sophomore, Department of Computer Science and Engineering.

Getting Started with Computer Science-Part 2

Well, so starting with Computer Science becomes really tough, especially because no one knows where to. It happened with me a lot! I really wanted to study programming after JEE, but I didn't know where to. But I will tell you guys so that you don 't have trouble.

First things first, you can't rely on books to learn CS. You need to have access to the internet and online resources. Books are good for the theoretical parts(Data Structures and Algorithms, Discrete Math, theoretical CS, Cryptography, etc. I will tell you about these later on). So, you just need an internet connection to study.

So, as I mentioned in an earlier post, C++ is a good start. It's a good language with various applications, its still in use, and its accepted in almost all programming contests. Python is another good language for beginners, but its easy and has got its demerits as a first language(you will find it tough to move to C++ if you know Python as your first language, whereas learning Python after C++ is trivial). I'll tell you a step by step approach to learn programming.


1. Find a course on C++.

I personally recommend Bucky's C++ tutorials. They are easy to understand and to the point. If you watch and practice 2-3 videos every day, then you can easily finish it in 1 month. MAke sure you implement everything taught either on Ideone or on your Computer's IDE. The first video in this series explains how to install and use it. Follow the instructions well, I don't think there would be any issue. Don't move to the next video without understanding and practicing the previous one on your own.

There are many other courses on Coursera, Udemy, MITOCW, etc. but they are of some other languages. If you find a good one on C++ then its good. You can try it.. But I did this one(this is a pretty informal course, but I feel that formal courses should be done after you are done with the having the basics of one language on your tips. There are many places where you can practice questions. First be clear with all the basic functionalities and learn them by heart.

Another great website is www.learncpp.com. Its like a complete package.


2. Have a revision tool

After completing the above tutorial, you might wanna have a good revision tool. It can be a book, a website, an app, etc. I personally find books useful. Books have questions in them, and theory too. Reading a book will really tell you much more than what you can learn from an online tutorial. I guess you can start with this very famous book called Let us C++. I never used it, but I think it must be good. It will prove very beneficial after you have done Bucky's tutorials. This is not a very good book according to many people, but it will surely help you get the basics easily.

Also, there is this app called Sololearn, which is useful if you want to catch up the syntax of any language.

3. Get a practice source

There are tonnes of websites out there which contain questions for practice. A good one is SPOJ. I have linked the basic problems section. Solve them in the order of decreasing number of users(click on the users tab to arrange in decreasing number of users order). This can be done while reading the book(step 2). After you are thorough with it, you can move to the classical section and again arrange and solve. These are really nice problems and they are very useful for developing good coding skills. However, many of these problems involve the use of basic Data structures and some Algorithms(sorting, BFS, DFS, etc.), I'll be blogging about it later, for now, the basic problems are a good start.

There are many other sites like CodeChef, HackerRank, CodeForces, HackerEarth, etc. I personally find HackerRank good, but SPOJ is the best, because it requires thinking about the problem from scratch without any precoded stuff.


4. Learn how to use the internet to solve your problems

There a lot of resources online. Learn to google well. USe few keywords. When you see a compilation error, google it out(paste the exception type on search bar). You will definitely find a solution on StackOverflow. Similarly, if you can't solve say problem ID 3458, then google SPOJ 3458. Most probably you'll get an answer. This is a very important tip for aspiring programmers. I have started this recently, I think every one must know it from the start.


I personally feel this is a good strategy to learn how to programme, for the absolute beginner. After this, you should go for studying Data Structures and Algorithms, which I will post soon(once I am done with it :p)

Thanks and all the best!!! Feedback is welcome in comments, and do tell your friends about the CS section of the blog.

Also see-Getting Started with Computer Science- Part 1.