JEE is a journey, and a very challenging one at that

 JEE is a journey, and a very challenging one at that. It requires sacrifices, and it really strengthens the candidates along the way. It has the ability to bring out the best in people.

Some sacrifices made by me during the JEE preparation:

• No outings or parties with friends: I had minimized my outings to almost non-existent during the JEE preparation phase. As a result, I could not attend the birthday parties of my friends or go for movie outings with them.
• Tussle with school: My attendance started dropping in school, because I spent most of my time at home studying for JEE. This led to quite a lot of tussle and arguments with my class teacher, who felt that Class XII board exam was the only determining factor in one’s career.
• No computer games: I used to play a lot of computer games before I started preparing for JEE. Age of Empires used to be my favourite. Not a day would go by without me playing Age of Empires. I stopped that during JEE preparation, and I soon lost interest in computer games. I haven’t played any computer game since then.
• Control over sleep: I used to study till late night and then wake up early in the morning to study again. My dad used to fill a full jug with cold coffee and keep it by my side at night, so that I could concentrate.

The JEE preparation phase was a defining period in my life, and led to many positive developments:

• I gained an excellent friend circle: While I could not go out with my school friends, I developed a new friend circle in my coaching. All of us had similar goals, and we soon became really close.
• I started developing new hobbies: I started playing Badminton everyday for a couple of hours in the evening to keep myself fit. I also read novels whenever I found any free time.
• I started becoming more confident: JEE preparation makes you more confident in life, especially because the JEE syllabus is tougher than the school syllabus by a huge margin. You start looking even at real-life problems from a different angle, and develop a structured thought process.

I have very fond memories from my JEE days. Those two years of JEE preparation have taught me a lot.

-Rohan Jain