Many JEE aspirants focus on complicated, higher-level questions and concepts while neglecting the NCERT books. This is the single biggest cause of poor performance in Chemistry in JEE Main.
Many students face a problem in preparing for JEE Main and JEE Advanced Chemistry due to the vastness of the subject and the amount of theory that needs to be learnt. If you’re an aspirant who wants to score more than 95 percentile in JEE Main Chemistry, I’ve put together 6 extremely important tips that will help you score very well and ace the subject, be it Organic Chemistry, Inorganic Chemistry or Physical Chemistry.
1) Focus on NCERT Chemistry Textbooks: Chemistry is largely a theory-heavy subject, and all the relevant theory for JEE Main is in the NCERT textbooks. If there is one mantra for succeeding in Chemistry, it is to know and understand the chapters as explained in these textbooks.
Most theory questions are picked directly from the NCERT textbooks. Especially for Inorganic Chemistry, it is absolutely essential to read and re-read the relevant topics till one has mastered all the content. Many JEE aspirants focus on complicated, higher-level questions and concepts while neglecting the NCERT books. This is the single biggest cause of poor performance in Chemistry in JEE Main.
For Organic Chemistry, make sure you focus on reactions and especially the reagents used and conditions mentioned in NCERT textbooks. Also, don’t forget to read the chapters on Biomolecules, Polymers and Chemistry in Everyday Life thoroughly, as the questions from these chapters are directly textual and easy to score off.
2) Atomic Structure, Periodic Properties and Chemical Bonding is critical: The entire Inorganic Chemistry and its reactions are based on concepts in these 3 chapters. If a student is able to master Chemical Bonding and Periodic properties, most questions in Inorganic Chemistry just become application of these concepts.
While topics like Coordination Complexes are directly related to chemical bonding, the various blocks (s,p,d and f) are largely dependent on periodic properties for the common concepts and chemical bonding for the structures of the compounds. Especially focus on hybridisation, resonance and structure drawing in chemical bonding. For periodic properties, it is important to focus on both general trends as well as cases where the trends get modified due to special factors.
3) Organic Chemistry is all about Written Practice: No matter how good you may be at understanding Organic Chemistry and its reactions, the key is to practice, practice and practise- and that too in written manner. The more you write the organic reactions, the better you will remember the reagents, conditions and their actions.
Just reading Organic Chemistry is not enough. A good way to practice is to regularly write 10 organic reactions every day. Even if you cannot remember, just copy the reaction from the NCERT textbook directly. You’ll be surprised how super-effective this is in helping you build a long-term memory of these reactions!
4) Named Reactions in Organic Chemistry are important: Many of the questions in Organic Chemistry in JEE Main are based on named reactions. The most important topics from which such questions are asked include Aromatics Compounds, Alkyl and Aryl Halides, Aldehydes and Ketones, Carboxylic Acids and derivatives and Nitrogen Containing Compounds.
In general, Wurtz reaction, Aldol condensation, Cannizzaro reaction, HVZ reaction, Esterification, Ester hydrolysis, Haloform reaction, Hoffmann Bromamide degradation, Gabriel Phthalimide synthesis and the various oxidation and reduction reactions and tests are very important. Grignard reagent and its reactions are also asked very commonly.
5) General Organic Chemistry (GOC) and Reaction Mechanisms is a must-know: Many of the problems in Organic Chemistry rely on the knowledge of reaction intermediates and reaction mechanisms. It is common to see questions based on Electrophilic Aromatic Substitution (EAS), Nucleophilic Substitution (Sn1 and Sn2) and Elimination (E1 and E2) reaction mechanisms in JEE Main papers.
Specifically, the correlation of optical activity with some of these mechanisms is important. Stability of reaction intermediates like carbocations, carbanions, ree radicals as well as knowledge of inductive effect, hyperconjugation and mesomeric effect is a must-know. Focusing on concepts such as nucleophilicity, basic strength and strength of acids is highly recommended.
6) Know Mole Concept and learn Formulae in Physical Chemistry: First and foremost, Mole Concept is the base of Physical Chemistry. To do well in Physical Chemistry, one must master Mole Concept and Stoichiometry. Knowledge of Molarity, Normality and Molality are also most important.
Additionally, make sure to focus on the formulae in every chapter of Physical Chemistry, since many questions are directly based on formula application. A good strategy will be to create a formula sheet for oneself which can be regularly revised. Especially in chapters such as Electrochemistry, Chemical Kinetics and Chemical Energetics, formulas and their use-cases must be focused on.
Chemistry is usually the easiest subject to score in as far as the JEE Main is concerned. All you need is the right approach and some hard-work! And of course- you need a teacher who makes Chemistry fun!
If you’re looking at preparing for JEE Main and need help or guidance for scoring well in Physics, Chemistry and/or Mathematics, the author of the article is Tejas Shyam, edu-preneur and founder of The Education Journey. For more insights, he can be contacted at institute@tejtutorials.com
(Disclaimer: The views expressed above are the author's own and do not reflect those of DNA.)
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