My Journey from a Drop Year to IIT Delhi

March, 2009

My tenth class board exams had just concluded. I was looking forward to a summer full of holidays and zero studies. And my parents were like “Not so fast!”. You’re going to IIT coaching at Aakash Institute, starting April.

Thus began my coaching for IIT. At the time, I didn’t know much about IITs, except that they were a big deal. I’d been good in studies, but never gave any thought to career. My parents did that for me! That’s not to say that I was forced against my wishes. I was not much interested in IIT, but the same went for everything else in the far future.

Anyways, it was quite a different experience from the usual school environment that I was used to. If school was an aquarium, this was the open ocean. But not in a bad way. India’s schooling system is nothing to boast of. At coaching, the teachers at least knew what they were doing. And the syllabus was also a lot more challenging, and engaging. I met a different sort of students. Smarter. More competitive. Made some friends.

But like I said, I never took it too seriously. Never bothered much about my rankings in the lots, and lots of tests that we gave. Didn’t pay much attention in class. Didn’t practice much. I just went to coaching because my parents told me to. But I was still one of the top students of my batch, thanks mostly to mom’s efforts and nagging.

I also came to hate chemistry. Due in part to the chemistry teacher at coaching. But physics and maths were fun.

Two years went by in fits and starts. and the JEE was upon us. I was sure I would get into IIT, and hoped to get a under 1000 rank. So I gave the exam, waited for results. I also used the time to make up for my missed summer of lazing post tenth!

Anyways, the result came, and my AIR was 3564. Not bad per se, and a lot of people would say it’s great. But my parents were disappointed in me. They didn’t scold or say anything, but I knew. And so was I. I realised that I had vastly overestimated myself. Counselling followed, and it turned out I wasn’t good enough into any of the “top” branches. Long story short, I got into dual degree in Biotechnology at IIT Madras.

But there was a part of me that said I could do better than this. I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life regretting or second guessing my choice of college and career. So, throwing caution to the winds, I told my parents I wanted to drop a year. They were divided. Dad thought I’d just take it lightly like last time, and probably get a worse rank. Mom wanted to give me a chance. She didn’t want me blaming them for denying me a second shot.

So back I went to Aakash. This time the stakes were higher. There would be no third chance. And if I failed, I’d likely lose my parents faith. I took things much more seriously. Started studying 8 hours a day, including coaching classes. But there were students in my batch who studied 16. But I wasn’t discouraged. I paid attention in class. Actually studied at home. Solved problems. Lots and lots of problems. Previous years’ papers, various books like Irodov, Aakash’s textbooks.

Slowly the gaps in my knowledge began to fill up. The 16 hour guys burned themselves out. But I kept going at it steadily. My rank in the first AIAITS – the institute’s countrywide test series – was 10. Compared to my all time best of 15 while at school. And then 9. 8. 5. 2… Meanwhile, I studied more and more. By February, I was doing over 10 hours. By the time April rolled around, it was 14. It was hard. But not without it’s joys. Cracking harder and harder problems had its own joys.

My second, and last, chance at IIT-JEE. I was confident. But I kept my expectations low, made wiser by my earlier experience. Hopefully AIR less that 500. The exam went well. Thanks to a great chem teacher, my chemistry was no longer as weak. Physics was my strongest subject, and maths went well too. Another summer of doing nothing. Yay!

The day of results. When the course of my life would be decided. My physics sir called me and asked my roll no. etc. And the big reveal…

AIR 88!

I was euphoric. My parents were proud. A top 100 rank!! I’d never expected that much. I could pick and choose pretty much any branch and IIT I liked. I was not to know that the cut-off for CS in IIT Bombay was goint to be at crazy 77-ish. Luckily, my first choice was IIT Delhi, CSE, and I got just that.

Two years later, and I believe my decision to drop a year was the best one I ever took.

So what are my thoughts on coaching? I think it’s here to stay. It’s got its flaws, but so do India’s schools. So does JEE. So do the IITs.

There’s a huge gap between what schools prepare us for, and what it takes to succeed in JEE. And the gap is only getting bigger. And coaching classes are not the evil the media portrays them to be. I learned. I had fun. I worked hard. But in the end it was a great experience. I respect my teachers, and I’ll always be grateful for the efforts they put in – way more than schoolteachers. I owe where I am to my coaching.

And I’ll always be thankful to my parents for enrolling me into coaching.