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This heading itself is enough to scare the living hell out of every student… well, okay, not just students, 6 hour exams scare the hell out of parents, teachers and everyone else as well.

While preparing for JEE, this was one thought that always crossed my mind, that what do I do? How do I tackle an exam that is going to use up exactly 25% of my day writing it? Very soon I realised, it’s not just 25% of the day, its almost half. Even scarier? Nope. Let me tell you why, and in the process also tackle the question of tackling the exam that takes up such a long time.

How I managed to do this was simple, ask for support, and do the best you can in whatever situation you are put in. sounds simple enough? It is. Remember that JEE is a 6 hour exam, so you need not panic if you lost a minute or two in a question or took up more time on one subject. 6 hours = plenty of time to compensate. But at the same time, it is still an exam, if you realise you’ve done it once, change the pattern of attempting or watch the time, so that something like this isn’t repeated.

Also, six hours imply that it is a survival test, and only the best survive for all six. The secret to being the best is obviously to practice, and practice till you drop. With very less time remaining for JEE, tune your body for the 6 hour masquerade you’ll be facing in a few days. Get up at 7, sit on your desk at 8, take a sample test from 9 to 12, in the 2 hours, eat, sleep, anything other than worrying, and take another sample test from 2 to 5. This would be good enough to get yourself acquainted with the exam time. And one more thing… NO AC/ coolers. The exam centres aren’t generous enough to provide those when you write the exam, so why take the extra luxury in the simulation?

Okay, now that we have you acquainted to the setting, the time management and the weather, just two more things remain. Support and your mentality. Lets talk about those as well, one at a time.

On the D-day, your parents are your best support. In the two hours, do not think about or discuss the first paper, just gear up so that the second one should be even better. This is a win-win, since if you lost out on the first, score well in the second and you will fare decently. If you rocked the first one and still go with the mentality to do better in the second, congrats, you’ve hit gold. In the two hours, catch a good nap if you can, preferably in your car or the hall of the exam centre. All of this support would cool you down, and get you ready for round two.

Mentality!! That’s the most important. If you’ve read this article so far, you can definitely survive through bad things that give you stress. This simply implies you already have that mentality. Keep it the way it is during JEE, skip questions, there’s absolutely no penalty for those. Attempt the easier ones first, or maybe, just maybe take a guess if you’ve eliminated options. Remember that this is important, but not life or death important, and take it at face value. Concentration doesn’t happen for 3 hours at once, at happens 10 minutes at a time. Do as much as you can correctly, and that would be good enough to get you the seat you’ve been dreaming of. Seat? Why did I even say that? It doesn’t matter. The only thing that matters right now is that paper.

That paper is the last hurdle. You’e survived the past 2-3 or 10 years (for many), now what’s left is a mere 6 hour paper. You see how half a day made it better? Now go ahead, do your best and get where you deserve to be. PS: After the dreaded 6 hours are over, go for a nice party, watch a good movie or something. You’re dead no more!

DO NOT CHECK THE PAPERS.

Solutions are mostly wrong, and even if they aren’t, they won’t let you feel like the conquerer you are.

So NO. JUST DON’T DO IT.