All India topper may not continue at IIT

KOTA: While IIT directors are encouraging the young students to take up research work rather than going for a lucrative job, Arun Kumar Baranwal, father of IIT-JEE topper Shitikanth, is yet not convinced with the efforts being made by the institutes.

Talking to TOI over phone from Patna, Baranwal said, "Shitikanth might not continue at Indian Institute at Technology for long because he is determined to go for research in Physics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology". He also said he wanted to join MIT for full-fledged research work, the institutes here in India were keener on giving classroom knowledge.

Reminiscing son's dialogue, he said Shitikanth, around one year back, shared his dream to go to MIT and do research in Physics. "Though initially we were surprised but we knew he was different to other children and would do things differently," he added.
More surprisingly, he is not at all in administrative services as he says, "No one even recognizes IAS, once he retires from his post." All set to go to Hanoi in June for Physics International Olympiad, Shitikanth would receive gold medal from Chief Justice of India for being topper in National Science Olympiad on June 1, said proud father.

Source : The Times of India

Who is IIT JEE 2008 topper?

According to reports, Shitikant Bihari may well be the proud holder of this title. Shitikant, 17 from Bihar expects a score of about 440 marks in JEE.
"I had expected to be amongst the top 5 and since the scores are not out yet -- I am hoping to get a score of 440," told Shitikanth .

The sons of doctor parents, Shitikant says he will opt for IIT-Kanpur to pursue a degree in computer science. "I have always been interested in it and feel not only is a good field but will also give me great scope for research."

Having scored 91.4 per cent in his Class XII examination this year, Shitikanth says he followed a very flexible study schedule. After Class X, he moved to Kota in Rajasthan, at a popular centre of coaching for competitive examinations, where he attended up to three-and-half hours of coaching and studied up to 6 to 7 hours on his own every day.

He recieved congratulation messages from the Bihar CM Nitish Kumar for his impressive performance.

His tip for aspirants:
"Focus. Give every subject equal importance. Keep a basic but flexible schedule where you say that I will finish so much in so much time."

Meanwhile, the Super-30 guys have announced a cent percent result this time. Super 30 is a group of financially weak students coached to crack IIT. While a high success rate was not very uncommon to Super 30, this time their success has hit a high point. Hats off to them!

Download Advanced Textbooks on Physics by Benjamin Crowell [E-Book]

These books are written by Author Benjamin Crowell and are from the Light and Matter Series. They cover topics like Newtonian Mechanics, Conservation Laws, Vibration and Waves, Electricity and Magnetism, Optics , Modern Revolution in Physics [which is not within the scope of JEE Syllabus], and Conceptual Physics


Download
Newtonian Mechanics
Conservation Laws
Vibration and Waves
Electricity and Magnetism
Optics
Modern Revolution in Physics [Optional]

Conceptual Physics

Calculus
This short introductory text focuses mainly on integration and differentiation of functions of a single variable, although iterated integrals are discussedProofs are given for all important results, but are often relegated to the back of the book, and the emphasis is on teaching the techniques of calculus rather than on abstract results.

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Fasten up your calculations using Ancient Indian principles of Vedic Maths

Trick 1 : Multiply any two numbers from 11 to 20 in your head.
Take 15 x 13 for example..Place the larger no. first in your mind and then do something like this Take the larger no on the top and the second digit of the smaller no. in the bottom.
15
3
The rest is quite simple. Add 15+3 = 18 . Then multiply 18 x 10 = 180 ...
Now multiply the second digit of both the no.s (ie; 5 x 3 = 15) Now add 180 + 15
Here is the answer 180 + 15 = 195 .
Think over it. This is a simple trick. It will help you a lot.
Trick 2 : Multiply any two digit number with 11.
This trick is much simpler than the previous one and it is more useful too. Let the number be 27 . Therefore 27 x 11
Divide the number as 2 _ 7
Add 2+ 7 = 9
Thus the answer is 2 9 7
Wasn't this one simple. But there is one complication. If you take a number like 57 Thus _57 x 11
Divide the number as 5 _ 7
Add 5 + 7 = 12
Now add 1 to 5 and place 2 in the middle so the answer is 5+1_2 _7 = _627
Thus the answer is 627
Trick 3 : Multiply any number from 1 to 10 by 9 To multiply by 9,try this:

(1) Spread your two hands out and place them on a desk or table in front of you.

(2) To multiply by 3, fold down the 3rd finger from the left. To multiply by 4, it would be the 4th finger and so on.

(3) the answer is 27 ... READ it from the two fingers on the left of the folded down finger and the 7 fingers on the right of it.This one was really cool wasn't it


Trick 4 : Square a two digit number ending in five This one is as easy as the previous ones but you have to pay a little more attention to this one . Read carefully :Let the number be 35
35 x 35
Multiply the last digits of both the numbers ; thus ___ 5 x 5 = 25
now add 1 to 3 thus 3 + 1 = 4
multiply 4 x 3 = 12
thus answer 1225
You will have to think over this one carefully.As 5 has to come in the end so the last two digits o the answer will be 25 . Add 1 to the first digit and multiply it by the original first digit . Now this answer forms the digits before the 25. Thus we get an answer .
Trick 5 : Square any two digit number
Suppose the number is 47 . Look for the nearest multiple of 10 . ie; in this case 50 . We will reach 50 if we add 3 to 47. So multiply (47+3) x (47-3) = 50 x 44 = 2200 This is the 1st interim answer.
We had added 3 to reach the nearest multiple of 10 that is 50 thus 3x 3 = 9 This is the second interim answer.
The final answer is 2200 + 9 = 2209 ... Practice This one on paper first.
Trick 6 : Multiply any number by 11 .
Trick number 2 tells you how to multiply a two digit number by 11 but what if you have a number like 12345678 . Well that is very easy if you our trick as given below . Read it carefully.
Let the number be 12345678 __ thus 12345678 x 11
Write down the number as 012345678 ( Add a 0 in the beginning)
Now starting from the units digit write down the numbers after adding the number to the right
So the answer will be 135802458
This one is simple if you think over it properly all you got to do is to add the number on the right . If you are getting a carry over then add that to the number on the left. So I will tell you how I got the answer . Read carefully. The number was 12345678 ___ I put a 0 before the number ____ so the new number 012345678 Now I wrote ___ 012345678
Then for the answer

8 + 0 = 8

7 + 8 = 15 (1 gets carry carried over)

6+1+7 = 14 ( 1 gets carried over)

5 + 1 + 6 = 12 ( 1 gets carried over)

4 + 1 + 5 = 10 ( 1 gets carried over)

3 + 1 + 4 = 8

2 + 3 = 5

1 + 2 = 3

0 + 1 = 1

Thus the answer = 135802458

Trick 7 : Square a 2 Digit Number, for this example 37:
Look for the nearest 10 boundary
In this case up 3 from 37 to 40.
Since you went UP 3 to 40 go DOWN 3 from 37 to 34.
Now mentally multiply 34x40
The way I do it is 34x10=340;
Double it mentally to 680
Double it again mentally to 1360
This 1360 is the FIRST interim answer.
37 is "3" away from the 10 boundary 40.
Square this "3" distance from 10 boundary.
3x3=9 which is the SECOND interim answer.
Add the two interim answers to get the final answer.
Answer: 1360 + 9 = 1369
With practice this can easily be done in your head.
I hope you enjoyed this post.Please dont forget to rate this!

Interview with IIT 2007 Topper

He has trounced the myth that an urban environment is mandatory for cracking the toughest exam of the country. He has been a merit holder in the eighth, tenth and the twelfth Punjab Board exams. From the classroom of Sadaram Bansal Memorial Senior Secondary School in Kotkapura, a small town in Punjab to the erudite corridors of IIT, the journey has been blended with hope, confidence and an elephantine will power.
In an exclusive interview with 2007 IIT topper, Achin Bansal tells Vikas his mantra for success, his recipe for academic acumen, his intellectual trajectory and much more.
What are the factors that have made you notch the highest rank in the JEE exam?
Regular hard work, determination and confidence. After I entered my eleventh grade, I would put in regular 8-10 hours for IIT preparations. Whenever I would study, it would be with full concentration. Concentration is a vital key to success. One can study for 16 hours minus concentration. This will not fructify any positive results.
When did you seriously started thinking on writing the JEE exam?
I had always been standing first in my class from the sixth standard. My father is a doctor but I wanted to become an engineer. I wanted to inhale the aroma of the best engineering institute of the country. The initial desire to study in IIT filtered into me when I entered the ninth standard. Till the tenth one can do well through rote learning. But IIT exam requires a different set of knowledge. The fundas have to be cleared and you should have a good analytical capacity.
How did you prepare for the exams?
I use to solve all the problems of different books. And yes, I attended the Bansal classes in Kota during my summer vacations and whenever I felt the need to be guided. The lectures and assignments of Bansal classes have groomed me a lot for the exam. Then I used to always participate in the various competitions that were held in the Bansal classes. I was mostly ranked between one to ten in these competitions. This bolstered my confidence a lot.
Where would you like to join? What do you intend doing after your BTech?
I am planning to join Computer Science in IIT Mumbai. Mumbai offers a plethora of co-curricular activities. There are many options after engineering. I can do MBA, MS or M Tech. Frankly speaking I have not yet decided anything firmly.
Did anyone motivate you to study?
Yes, my parents, my teachers. But success comes only if the motivation is from within. I was never under any duress to study. It was my own will power and desire to excel. Without these two factors any amount of coaching will not reap any results.
In your dictionary, what is more important hard work or intelligence?
It is 80 percent hard work, five percent intelligence and the rest is what we say fate or destiny.
Do small cities have disadvantage as far as coaching is concerned?
Yes, certainly. Good coaching and proper guidance are the two vital ingredients for cracking the exam
Any advice you would like to prescribe for the aspirants?
Work very hard. There is no other prescription but hard work. But when you inch close to your exam, be relaxed. Stress can sometimes hamper results. Quality of study is important. Quantity is not important. Your target should be clear. Work hard and leave the rest to God.
How did you react when you saw your result?
I was confident on getting a rank amongst the first ten. My parents were busy ringing up to find out about the results as the web line traffic was intense. Finally when I got my roll no on the computer screen with ranking as 1, my first reaction was that it was an error. ?There should have one more figure after one.? So I kept checking the results again and again till finally the verdict was clear.
Was it all books and tutorials or you took out time for recreation?
I used to watch a movie once a month. I am also very fond of sports. But then academics was my sole priority.
How are you celebrating your success?
I have thrown a party for my friends in Kota. There are some more parties on the sleeve. Then there were a lot of media interviews. I am doing a lot of net surfing these days. And yes, I just watched Chini Kum movie.
And lastly what helped you in your moments of stress?
My Dadaji always used to say believe in God. He gave me the Hanuman Chalisa and that is the best gift that I have I ever got. This transmits strength and gives me power to weather any vicissitude.

Preparing for JEE

St.Francis of Assisi said once, ‘start by doing what is required, then do what is possible and you will realize that you have done the impossible.’

This philosophy works well for the preparation of IIT-JEE, one of the toughest examinations conducted at the plus two level. It is the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) conducted by the Indian Institutes Of Technology (IITs) to admit students into engineering and science courses they offer.

The exam will be held on 13th April 2008 and is going to be totally objective type. There will be one question paper of two hours duration in each of the subjects Physics Math, & Chemistry. There will be short write-ups followed by objective type questions to test the analytical ability of students. Those who get a rank in this exam will be offered admission into IITs or BHU through a counseling session, which is typically held at Chennai for the south zone students.

To be successful in the JEE, a student should first master the fundamentals of Intermediate (or 11th and 12th) syllabus, followed by attempts to get into the depth of the subject by solving relevant short but twisted problems from various text books. Potentially, attending a good coaching center could boost an individual’s rank or help get a rank in the first place. Parents and students have to realize, though, that a coaching center can never be a substitute for intelligence and hard work.

Though, the model of IIT-JEE 2008 is going to be almost same as that of AIEEE, EAMCET etc., the method of questioning will be completely different. To get through AIEEE, EAMCET, it is enough for the student to know which answer, among the four choices, is correct. To get through the IIT JEE, the student should know why the remaining three choices are incorrect. Though seemingly obvious, mastering this subtle difference can help the students go a long way. The comprehension type questions which are going to be introduced from JEE-2008, demand a much thorough understanding of the questions compared to AIEEE and EAMCET. To be successful in the JEE, a student should develop basic aptitude towards mathematics and physical sciences. This aptitude is best developed among children at the High School level, but most schools prefer the “cramming stuff into the head” approach to the “conceptual understanding” approach. Good coaching centers start to instill the basic understanding approach back into the students, thus providing what the high schools (and many times Junior Colleges) have been unable to. The mad rush to get into these coaching centers is thus an obvious phenomenon.

Thanks to some of these good coaching centers, the number of students appearing for and qualifying through JEE, from Hyderabad, has been regularly increasing. With the crop of these good coaching centers come the weeds that have brought a bad name to the industry. Taking advantage of the desperate students and parents, they work on the principle of instilling fear of JEE into the hearts of parents and students. The result of this misguidance leads the innocent customers to believe that students need to learn a lot more subject matter and spend a lot more time than they actually have to. The obvious side effects of this have been the decrease in student efficiency (utility or knowledge gained per unit time spent on academics) and a drastic decrease in the amount of time and effort spent on the absolutely necessary, basic intermediate education.

This trend, off late, has lead to unhealthy, cut-throat competition among students. Camaraderie has long been invisible among the students and the overall development of the child (stressing the extracurricular development) has become lowest among the priorities, for parents, teachers and hence students alike.

A lure of this better higher education has had a blinding effect on our society. The hands-off approach adopted by the parents who strongly believe that these coaching centers are the final authority on their kid’s welfare has given additional leeway for the some of the coaching centers to abuse this power. Portraying the intermediate education as a necessary hurdle, rather than a more accurate stepping stone towards success has benefited the wrong parties, leaving the ill-effects to be borne by the products of our society, namely the students graduating.

This has little effect on the students who lie on either extremes of the brightness scale. The worst effect of this bad trend is clearly visible on students who are moderately intelligent and stand a chance to succeed in this competitive environment only when they get the maximum benefit from every minute they put into their academics. A majority of students fall in this middle belt and are ending up spending their time and money on the incorrect priorities, thus leading to failure, while the coaching centers benefit from the success of the few extremely bright ones who are destined to success any way.

In my years of experience as a lecturer, perfection in the intermediate syllabus, followed by practicing complicated problems based on the simple basics is the correct modus operandi for achieving success in the JEE. Solving a problem is important and more important is doing it within the set time limit. This comes only by practice, not by reading alone.

Depending on the grasping power of an individual, he/she can achieve this either by sitting at home or by attending effective coaching classes. Neglecting intermediate syllabus, attending coaching centers which dump inappropriate educational material (of very high standard) on students, mostly to overwhelm them and adopt scary tactics on the innocent parent community have always been and will continue to be, recepies for disaster. Ignorance can no more be an excuse for parents or students. It is time for us, as a society to wake up and do what we think is best for our children.

Download Test on Redox Reactions!

This download will help you analyse your preparation of the topic "Redox Reactions"

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Do notjoin the most popular coaching class in town.

I beg, DO NOT do this blunder. Well, it's under condition that that the coaching has more than 20-25 people in a batch / class. If not, you may join.

I know if the coaching people read this, they'd be behind me. But it's a fact. More often than not they would attempt to coach more than 100 students in a class. What if you have any doubts? I bet, you won't get an answer in the class. What more... if you get your basics wrong, they will always remain unanswered. Complex questions may be, sometimes, answered.

Join some correspondence test series, like of FIIT-JEE, Brilliant Tutorials etc. A lot more have come since I joined in 1996. The national scale test series give you two benefits:

* You get an idea of the examination room. Your heartbeat will run fast in first paper and soon get normal. It will run normally when you sit in real exams.
* You know, right from first test, where you stand nationally. If not precisely, at least approximately.

Oh yes... if you need to join coaching, join a small center where the batch will not be big, the teacher will be enthusiatic to talk and work and your queries will be duly attended.

Is an IITian an Engineer?

This is a question that looks stupid but actually is not. Read ahead to learn more.
A student in an engineering college is considered to be part of a special species. And an IITian is God's gift to earth. But what exactly are we learning in these four years, asks IITian Taru Kapoor.

Before I proceed to say anything, I request you all to kindly excuse any content that maybe regarded as capricious jargon or insensitive ballyhoo on my part, or merely a dangerous figment of my over imaginative faculties. I do not seek to pronounce personal,opinionated judgments on the state of worldly affairs that come under the purview of my limited vision - both physical and mental. I simply want to narrate.

I have dared to use the pronoun "we" more than a few times. The "we" stands for the entire IITian community because I know we share the same sentiments on certain issues. I urge the sensitive, intellectual population of the IIT Front Benchers' Association to kindly overlook my outrageous attempt at humour and avoid filing a defamation suit on the charges of "malice aforethought" against me for the liberties I have carelessly taken.

I am peacefully content, blissfully ignorant, and lazy. And like a substantial chunk of the IIT population, I am perceived as doing something respectable (?) simply by the virtue of having an IITian tag. I've always subscribed to the view that it's not really important what you do, but what matters is what others think you're doing. I've seen this thumb rule work reasonably well within the IIT system too.

One could help one's own grades by a simple trick: take a little pain to wake up from the lecture-time, nap five minutes before the class ends and let a few words and terms enter your ears. Then crowd your prof. at the end of the class (yes, along with those revered front benchers) with some doubt or question. Ask anything whatsoever, but make sure the discussion lasts at least five minutes, and the prof leaves with an impression that at least someone was attentive in his class and he must remember your face (if possible, name and entry number too). A one-to-one meeting with the prof in his room later works thousand times better, but you've to be really brave and more alert for the longer rendezvous…. Clever, huh?

Coming back to the point, these deceptive looks are really handy; especially in front of everyone who's not an IITian. You may be a nine point someone, or a five point no one, but to the average laymen you're the descendant of some highly brilliant species. Sooner or later, we all start enjoying our stay in this ego-boosting castle of illusion and believing in the false superiority.

Normally whenever I happen to meet, or am introduced to an over enthusiastic neighbour at home, an inquisitive relative, an aware sexagenarian, or a semi-intelligent professional, I'm used to zealous congratulations, gratuitous advice and good lucks. But then an incident occurred, which shook me out from my perpetual state of utopian bliss and self-satisfaction. I was home for my vacations, when one of my father's old-time friend came to our house for lunch. After the usual exchange of greetings, introductions and the first round of tea and snacks, everyone settled for some conversation and discussion. Uncle asked me what I was doing. I casually replied I was studying at IIT expecting the usual set of dialogues.

"What are you studying child?", asked his wife suddenly. "Well, auntie, I'm studying at IIT Delhi" I retorted confidently. "That's fine, but what do you study?" She repeated her question. I looked at her calm face and half-laughed to myself thinking here comes another who doesn't even know what is taught at IITs. Outwardly though, I just said, "I'm doing my B.Tech. in Chemical Engineering. Just into Second Year."

"Good, so that means you'll soon be an engineer. In fact you already are 25% of one." "Uh..well…" I hardly knew how to respond. But she continued. "So, who is an engineer? What does an engineer do? In other words what exactly are you going to do as your job all your life?"

It was sheer luck that saved me from the mess. Almost miraculously my phone rang at that very instant and I got a little reprieve. The guests left in a couple of hours, but the question didn't really leave me. The storm hadn't really abated, at least not the one within. Suddenly a single innocuous stone of reality had shattered the castle of my illusions. One of the first things I did once they left was check out the dictionary for the meaning of the word "engineer": A skilled professional who applies scientific knowledge for the planning, design, manufacture and utilization of a technological enterprise! Heavy words indeed, but is that really the direction in which my steps are heading?

Well, I certainly plan enterprises, but technological??? I know how to cover up for lost sleep during lectures, and to finish practical files and assignments. But if someone says "manufacture" the only thing that comes to my mind is MEL120 class, and, well, that makes me yawn immediately. Are we really gonna become skilled professionals by practising our routine skills - bunking classes to make up for those night hours lost in gossip, attending lectures only to avoid attendance Fs and oblige friends with proxies, discussing Nescafe coffees, Sassi paranthas, and somehow scraping through the years? I don't think any of us actually learns anything from the curriculum - except for how to be an expert fraud thanks to the practicals.

I recently asked one of my seniors at the fag end of his third year if he really feels like 75% of an engineer. He was initially aghast, but later responded, "Only if I were to get a degree in redundancy and not electrical engineering, yeah I'm 75% there…" We both giggled. But I knew it was true.

And if this was the situation at IIT - supposedly the best of the lot - what about the thousands of other engineering colleges across the country? Do we really do what we are supposed to be doing? Or is it sufficient that a lot of people think we are doing something good? I don't really know. I would have pondered more and worried myself to death over the future of my beloved country. But the fatigue of my suddenly over-exercised mind now threatens to drown me and I know very soon I'm going to revert back to my utopian world of egocentricity.

Until then, just a single thought rankles my brain: Am I really becoming an engineer, or an unbecoming one?

Article taken from JAM

Tips for ProblemSolving in Physics!

Besides what you might expect to learn about physics concepts, a very valuable skill
you should hope to take away from your physics course is the ability to solve complicated
problems. The way physicists approach complex situations and break them
down into manageable pieces is extremely useful. When working
on problems, the secret is to keep your GOAL in mind!
GOAL PROBLEM-SOLVING STEPS
Gather information
The first thing to do when approaching a problem is to understand the situation.
Carefully read the problem statement, looking for key phrases like “at rest” or
“freely falls.” What information is given? Exactly what is the question asking? Don’t
forget to gather information from your own experiences and common sense. What
should a reasonable answer look like? You wouldn’t expect to calculate the speed
of an automobile to be 5
106 m/s. Do you know what units to expect? Are there
any limiting cases you can consider? What happens when an angle approaches 0°
or 90° or when a mass becomes huge or goes to zero? Also make sure you carefully
study any drawings that accompany the problem.
Organize your approach
Once you have a really good idea of what the problem is about, you need to think
about what to do next. Have you seen this type of question before? Being able to
classify a problem can make it much easier to lay out a plan to solve it. You should
almost always make a quick drawing of the situation. Label important events with
circled letters. Indicate any known values, perhaps in a table or directly on your
sketch.
Analyze the problem
Because you have already categorized the problem, it should not be too difficult to
select relevant equations that apply to this type of situation. Use algebra (and calculus,
if necessary) to solve for the unknown variable in terms of what is given.
Substitute in the appropriate numbers, calculate the result, and round it to the
proper number of significant figures.
Learn from your efforts
This is the most important part. Examine your numerical answer. Does it meet
your expectations from the first step? What about the algebraic form of the result—
before you plugged in numbers? Does it make sense? (Try looking at the
variables in it to see whether the answer would change in a physically meaningful
way if they were drastically increased or decreased or even became zero.) Think
about how this problem compares with others you have done. How was it similar?
In what critical ways did it differ? Why was this problem assigned? You should have
learned something by doing it. Can you figure out what?
When solving complex problems, you may need to identify a series of subproblems
and apply the GOAL process to each. For very simple problems, you probably
don’t need GOAL at all. But when you are looking at a problem and you don’t
know what to do next, remember what the letters in GOAL stand for and use that
as a guide.

Going to Kota? Read this first.

The name that has been synonymous with IIT is Kota [and quota!] Is it really a temple of knowledge or is the story all hyped up? This article from JAM [Just another Magazine] investigates!
About 40 years ago, the directors of 5 institutes noticed that the number of people who wanted to study there was starting to exceed the number of people who could be trained. So they devised a system, a system which they named the Joint Entrance Examination.

Cut to Year 1981. A mechanical engineer trained at the Benares Hindu University felt like he had no reason left to live. He had muscular dystrophy and thus had to be wheelchair bound for the rest of his life. He had consulted doctors from India and abroad but in vain. It was a very rare variant of the disease which, to his profound grief was supposedly incurable. He was reading a letter wrote to him by a UK doctor with a suggestion to try teaching in order to keep his mind off his disease. A week later, he started. This was V K Bansal.

Cut to the year 2005
Every year, about 5000 students out of about 1.5 lakh applicants are selected through the JEE for admission to B.Tech, B.Tech M.Tech Integrated and M.Sc. Integrated degree programs in the seven IITs, IT-BHU Varanasi, and The Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad. And 1/3rd of these 5000 students get there courtesy Mr. VK Bansal, who set up the coaching scene in Kota, a once sleepy city in Rajasthan.

Of course, each region in India has its own little IIT Factory. Hyderabad has Ramaiah Classes, which apparently has classes at 4 in the morning. Delhi has the much talked about Vidyamandir Classes. Both have better success rates than Bansal's or for that matter, any other coaching institute in Kota. In JEE 2004, about 74% of Vidyamandir Classes' and 86% of Ramaiah students got through the JEE. What makes Kota click then?

The answer is a combination of many factors. The first one of the lot is student selectivity. Both these coaching institutes select only a small number of students through their own entrance exam. Every year, about 7-9 thousand students sit for the Ramaiah Classes' entrance test for selection of about 160 students. Vidyamandir selects about 250 students every year. Bansal's on the other hand, select about 1700 students to coach every year. There have been cases where students who couldn't get through the entrance exams for these coaching institutes have got good ranks in the JEE. In fact, these days another level is added to the coaching chain. There are coaching institutes which coach students to get through the entrance test for admission in another coaching institute which in turn, coaches students for the JEE.

The JEE, without an iota of doubt, is a tough exam and thus requires preparation quite different from that for HSC exams, at least in its current pattern. Every now and then, we come across students who have cleared JEE with good ranks without studying specifically for it, but that is the exception rather than the norm. So eventually, it all boils down to the dedicated hard work one puts in, and that's what makes Kota what it is today. It sells dedication; it sells the conditions a student wants to devote his/her entire time and energy to one task, the IIT-JEE. The town has little to offer in the department of distractions, there are no movie theaters, no bowling alleys, no pool tables, and no video game arcades in the near vicinity of the coaching centers. Every year, about 25,000 students from Kota appear in the JEE, and Kota is a small-ish town. So, chances are that every other guy you meet at the neighborhood "Chai ki dukaan" is preparing for JEE. "I've seen complete strangers discussing JEE in public places" Says Nikhil Aggarwal, a student of Resonance Institute, Kota. Also, you get schools with zero per cent attendance funda, which means that you could focus your mind at JEE without having frequent nightmares about your school grades going haywire.

JEE coaching at Kota apart from being successful is big business. Every year, about Rs. 80 crores change hands in coaching fees alone. The city has some teachers who earn as high as Rs. 50 Lakhs per annum. About 500 coaching centers have opened all over the town to milk the students who couldn't get through the entrance tests of top Kota coaching institutes. The top institutes are so popular that authors of standard books for JEE and even retired professors from IITs have taken to coaching.

But every silver lining, has a dark cloud somewhere in its near vicinity. Kota drives initiative and independent thinking out of your system. You won't find any Silicon Valley heroes who have started their life at Kota. "Today, the best employers are taking pre-emptive action," says the Mumbai-based HR head at a foreign bank. "They directly ask you if you went through Kota. They scan your school records to see if you have passed out of a local institute or have a couple of years missing. If you have a Kota taint, you can say goodbye to your chances of bagging that dream job."

You won't find HR people publicly admitting this; they don't want to be accused of discrimination. The Kota bubble will therefore never burst, or will it? Only time can tell.

WINDS OF CHANGE
The latest on the JEE front is that only those with 60% in the 12th Std board exams will be allowed into IIT. Also there will be changes in the test pattern (it will be made easier) and no more than 2 attempts will be allowed. Will this affect the Kota coaching boom? We think that’s unlikely. But let’s wait and watch!

Test on Ionic Equilibrium

This test will hep you know how well the sub topic "Ionic Equilibrium" has been prepared.

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Speech by Bill Gates for Indian Institute of Technology's 50th Anniversary Celebration

BILL GATES: Well, good evening. It's a great honor for me to speak at this jubilee celebration. After all, I'm not 50-years old yet, pretty close, I never graduated from college, yet, although I'm not sure I'll be changing that because I'm a little busy right now, but I get a chance to talk with you about an incredible institution that has really changed the world and has the potential to do even more in the years ahead than it's already done.

Rajat asked me to speak and at first my reaction, "Well, I don't speak at many college events. There's more opportunity than there is time." But when I thought about it and I thought about the great things that people from IIT have done at Microsoft, the role that I think IIT can play inside India in tapping into its potential I decided I'd make a very special exception and come here tonight. (Applause.)

I was careful to do research for this speech so I went up to the Web site -- the IIT Web site -- and sort of browsed around, and after I did that I thought, well, I'll go to the MIT Web site and browse around just to see, you know, these things seem very similar. And on the MIT Web site the hot news was that the coffee house was closing down because people weren't spending enough money there. (Laughter.) On the IIT Bombay site, though, things were far more interesting. They said that they had caught a leopard on the campus recently. (Laughter, applause.) And that's something these U.S. universities just can't offer in terms of an experience. (Laughter.)

Well, it is quite phenomenal to look back at the start of IIT and realize that a young nation was willing to pour very precious resources into creating this institution. Most people back then didn't understand how important science and engineering would be and yet the early leaders who got behind IIT obviously saw through and knew that the long-term investment would have a huge payout.

Prime Minister Nehru described IIT as representing India's urges, India's future in the making and the people here and the other graduates of IIT have made that come true.

The impact, of course, has been worldwide, not just on India and the seven campuses but the research and the incredible talent is having a huge impact.

Just one example of that is the incredible revolution taking place in India where literally hundreds of thousands and in the future millions of jobs will be created by taking the educational focus of the country and applying that computer science and high value service type activities and connecting up with the needs for those capabilities not only in India but around the world. It's amazing to see that happening and I think IIT has had a huge role in providing the education and the vision that's led to that wonderful result.

IIT and Microsoft do have a lot in common, an optimism about the future, a belief that fundamental science will lead to breakthroughs that will let us solve some of the toughest problems that mankind faces, a belief that we can provide better tools than ever before and that we've really just scratched the surface.

Sometimes people say to me, you know, "Haven't you achieved a lot; why don't you retire?" And my simple answer is that the original vision that I had for the personal computer, along with Paul Allen, was a machine that was far more capable, far more straightforward, far more in use by more people than what we have today. And so in some sense if you take a big enough vision, as Microsoft did, you never in your lifetime run out of work to be done to achieve that vision.

IIT has certainly taken on a grand vision. Even as an incredibly world-class institution, it keeps challenging itself to renew itself to move to the forefront. And it's hard to think of anything like IIT anywhere in the world. It is a very unique institution.

Microsoft has given over US$7.5 million of its grants (to IIT), more to any organization except some in the U.S. or in the UK because of what we see going on there. We've hired literally hundreds and hundreds of graduates just in the last two years. Over 50 people have come to Microsoft and we're doing our best to increase the number. (Applause.)

We've also decided one way to increase that number is to have a development center in India, and so we've kicked that off and we're expanding that quite rapidly and that's also become a great thing for our employees who come from India. Many of them have chosen now to go back to India and they can keep their career at Microsoft. In fact, that was a key element in our decision to locate a development center there is that it was a way of retaining incredible talent that wanted to be in India.

We have graduates from all the different IIT schools. I have to say that before tonight's cocktail event I didn't understand there's even competition between the campuses of IIT. (Laughter, applause.) Various ones were saying that they had this person who graduated who worked at Microsoft and this one and so I can say that every single campus, even the newer campuses are well represented.

We are very anxious to see the tradition of academic research that IIT believes in brought to a whole new level. After all, the computer industry is a beneficiary of the kind of partnership that can take place between academia and commercial organizations. Most of the interesting advances in computer science have elements of academic research and elements of commercialization that have come together to build great products. And there's no doubt in our minds that IIT will do more than its share to contribute to this, which is why we sponsor research there and we're very impressed with the things going on.

Despite the distance, we do a lot to host people, have people on sabbaticals at Microsoft, have competitions and encourage our employees also through our matching program to support IIT and all of its different activities.

At one time, people thought the boundary between academia and commercial companies was one that was sacrosanct in a way, that you couldn't collaborate across that boundary and many fields I think have been held back by that belief. The two that have really shown that there is another approach that is far better, the field of computer science and the field of biology, and it's maybe no coincidence that those are the two areas that are changing the world the most, that we can speak about outrageous dreams of how computers will be better and they'll improve life 20 years from now or how medicine through biology will deal with the tough diseases that exist around the world, and it's phenomenal to see the energy, the talent, that's being applied in these areas.

Two of our IIT graduates are now vice presidential level people at Microsoft, which is a group of less than a hundred people, and are making huge contributions. I'll just mention those two by name: Amitabh Srivastava is doing our programming tool work as a distinguished engineer and really incredible breakthroughs. They're helping us in things like security that are so important. Anoop Gupta has worked directly for me for a few years now, is just being promoted to be a vice president to drive our real time communications efforts and, of course, was a professor at Stanford before that and really has a vision that's changing what we're doing in that area. (Applause.)

So the aspirations of Microsoft and IIT are very, very compatible and we think that more collaboration in the future is very, very important.

The vision that we have we've described as the digital decade. What do we mean by that? Well, we mean that in the year 2000 the number of people who really used digital approaches for lots of everyday things was quite small. For word processing or e-mail you could say there was some penetration there but for most tasks -- buying things, taking notes, organizing schedules, dealing with music, dealing with photos, really going through budgeting processes -- most things were not done on a digital basis.

And our belief is that by the end of this decade that will have changed; in fact, they will have changed enough that it will almost be common sense. People will think back and say, "Well, why did we have records that we had to take out of the case and put on the phonograph and treat in this really careful way?" In fact, records, that term itself is obsolete. My daughter, who's six asked me why do they call it the record store. Well, they should call it the CD store. Well, a child born six or seven years from now they won't even have to learn about CDs because things will be done in that purely digital way.

And so this idea that this is a transforming decade in terms of these tools moving into the mainstream it runs a little bit in contrast to a view that there was a lot of promises and those have proven out to be empty hype and empty promises. Certainly in terms of valuations, in terms of timeframes, in terms of the simplicity to get there there was some deep oversimplification. Some people who owned the shares in those companies now appreciate where oversimplification can lead, but, in fact, in terms of what the dreams and aspirations were there most of them were entirely right on.

The idea of being able to buy and sell between any two companies anyplace in the world, you know, that dream is a very interesting dream because it means that the opportunity for someone is more related to their talent, to their education than to where they're located. If somebody is very talented they can offer their services through the Internet with the help of software and digital approaches and be able to apply their talent to problems in different locations. And it's that kind of thinking that makes India a superpower of human talent rather than traditional resource extraction or other ways of measuring the potential of a country.

So the digital decade is something that we're very excited about. It's very transforming. And it requires a bit of patience. It requires laying the infrastructure for these new approaches. It requires simplifying things. Just because these great things work doesn't mean that they'll be used very broadly.

In the debates today about the future, sometimes people get caught up in terms of saying which device will be the winning device. I spoke at the Consumer Electronics Show just a week ago and there the rhetoric, "Was is it the TV or the PC?" Often people say, "Well, no, it's the cell phone, the cell phone is the device. Look at lots of people buy cell phones, don't they?" Well, in fact, it's all these devices working together. If somebody is engaged in a digital lifestyle, they will use devices of all sizes. They will use wall-sized devices that we used to call TVs. They'll use desk-size or tablet size devices we used to call PCs. They'll use pocket size devices that we used to call phones or PDAs or handheld games and yet the device through the magic of hardware and software in devices will be every one of those things.

Just recently at that same CES show we introduced the idea of going even below pocket-sized and this is the idea of going to a wrist-sized device, actually taking something like this, a simple little watch, and making it be one of the devices that can keep you informed of the things that you're interested in.

Now, in this audience I have no fear that I can actually give you the technical specifications of this device and you'll appreciate that. (Laughter, applause.) Just to make a comparison, the original IBM PC that got shipped in 1981, the first machine that ran MS DOS was an 8088 computer running at about 6 megahertz and the base configuration was a 48k machine. It sold for a few thousand dollars and IBM was very conservative; they forecast to sell 60,000 of those the first year. They actually sold a few hundred thousand.

Well, if you look at this watch, this watch has an ARM processor running at 28 megahertz and instead of just having 48k of RAM and 32k of ROM this has 512k of ROM and 384k of RAM.

Not only that, it's about an $8 chip that can receive FM data signals, so-called FM sideband. And so the way it works is you go to a PC screen, you type in the ID of your devices and you indicate what kind of sports scores you care about, what stock prices you care about, what cities you want to know the weather. You point it to your schedule so it will give you the traffic information you care about relative to where you're going and those things -- and it tells time as well. (Laughter.)

And so this idea of this glanceable screen that you can simply just look at the information, it's part of that family of devices and it's not a substitute for a phone or a Tablet PC device or a desktop or a wall-sized device; it's simply something that software will use to present information to you.

And so it's things like this that can come in a fairly natural form factor that I think are why many people are underestimating what happens during this digital decade. During this decade certainly handwriting as a natural input technique, speech as a natural input technique, will become mainstream and we'll just take those for granted.

There is a basic approach in terms of how all these devices find each other and talk to each other called Web services that we're also very optimistic about. It's very state of the art distributing computing work. It's a standardized set of protocols that companies like IBM and Microsoft are working on together. We've committed all our R&D to this approach because we see it as not only the foundation for e-commerce but also solving all the tough manageability problems and data exchange problems that we've had in these systems.

Software systems can be far better. Software systems can be easier to work with so that you don't have to have so many people write glue code into how those work together.

One of the biggest challenges we all face to make the digital decade a reality are the issues around trustworthy computing. After all, the kind of reliability we get out of the water system or electricity system, at least in this country, are good enough that we just take them for granted, and we have to have that same capability into this digital infrastructure.

And there are many tough problems here. Even the very basic things are not there today. People use passwords. Well, passwords are very easy to guess. People use the same password on consumer Web sites they use in their office and it's simply not an adequate way to authenticate people. We'll need to move up to smart cards or biometrics.

Mail protocols: you don't actually know when you get a piece of electronic mail that it really came from the person it purports to. So if somebody spoofs a piece of mail that purports to come from your IT department and they said, you know, please shut off your computer immediately, pay no attention to any messages you get that pretend to come from the IT department because they're just trying to fool you, people would be in a complete state of confusion. And so today's systems were not designed from the bottom up with the key elements that are necessary here.

Now, it's a very solvable problem. Again, deep research coming out of academia will be part of it. It won't be solved overnight. Just like a lot of these tough problems it will take most of this decade to do it, but it's something that absolutely has to be done.

So there's no lack of challenges, challenges of getting broadband out, challenges of getting every industry to see how it takes advantage of these things. Even just thinking about education, I remember speaking with a great Stanford professor about 12 years ago about how the Internet might change things and what would happen and he disagreed with me and so he said, "'Well, I don't even know if Microsoft will be in business ten years from now." And that was fine, but then he stopped and he said, "Well, then again, I don't know what education will look like in ten years either, you know, what will the idea of an expert delivering information and students interacting around that information." Well, in fact, to date education has changed a very modest amount and yet with Tablet PC devices, with online video, certainly technology is going to reach into education. We're just scratching the surface there.

There's certainly an opportunity for IIT, and I expect IIT will seize that to be at the forefront of that and define exactly how that can be used to get great education out to more people and improve the experience, including the experience after you graduate when you want to renew your skills and be kept up to date on the latest things going on. It's possible that over time graduates of IIT will be constantly in touch with IIT not just as a group of alums but also in terms of their ongoing education.

One topic that I know I can speak on in this audience is that if you look back on the success that you've had or the luck you've had, if you look back on how your talent fit in to the talent that today's society demands, if you look at the people who mentored you, I think everyone here can look back and say that they've been very lucky in terms of what has happened to them. And I think for all of us it creates an interesting question of how do we give back, how do we take the responsibility upon us that that imposes.

For myself, in terms of the really outsized luck I've had financially, it's a pretty large responsibility and it's one that I put a lot of energy into thinking about and it's really only in the last five years that in my foundation I've really tried to say how can I give these resources that I'm lucky enough to have back to society in a way that can make an impact.

One of the things that struck me most vividly was that the horizon to think about was not just the United States, not just the richest country in the world. And I was a little bit stunned how much of the philanthropy in the richest country is strictly to the richest country. And certainly the more I learned about health issues, the more I felt like that was something where the awareness of the world, the focus of the world taking its advances and applying those, that, along with the digital decade, would be a major theme of the things that I would try and do my best to give back in.

Just last year late in the year I had an opportunity to make a trip to India and it was a wonderful trip. (Applause.) I had a chance to see partners like Infosys and Mr. Murthy of Infosys is here tonight. (Applause.) And I got a chance to see our development center and look at how rapidly the computer software and engineering and services businesses are developing in India and share my views and understand how Microsoft can help with that more.

But I also got to spend time looking at some of these health issues and in particular the threat of the AIDS epidemic and how that's something that needs more visibility, needs more attention. (Applause.) And so I feel privileged to have been able to hopefully cast a little bit of energy on that, put some resources into it and hopefully stop what could be a very bad development and really slow down India's ability to realize its incredible potential.

So where do we go from here? Well, I think it's quite clear that the theme I will strike tonight is working together: the United States working with India (applause, cheers) -- commercial organizations like Microsoft working with IIT (applause) -- and all of us taking these great advances in science and thinking what we can each do to make sure that not only are these great advances available to the developed countries and the luckiest of us all but to the entirety of humanity. (Applause.)

So with that, let me say I'm very optimistic that we will work together and being here with this incredibly talented group talking about this incredible institution just makes me all the more optimistic about that. Thank you. (Applause.)

Test on Atomic Structure.

This test will help you know how well the sub topic "Atomic Structure" has been prepared.

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Download Complete Video Lectures on Classical Mechanics.

About Images
Professor Walter Lewin demonstrates that the period of a pendulum is independent of the mass hanging from the pendulum. This demonstration can be viewed on the video of Lecture 10.
Professor Lewin puts his life on the line in Lecture 11 by demonstrating his faith in the Conservation of Mechanical Energy.

About the Lectures
The 35 video lectures by Professor Lewin, were recorded on the MIT campus during the Fall of 1999. Prof. Lewin is well-known at MIT and beyond for his dynamic and engaging lecture style.Thisis a first-semester freshman physics class in Newtonian Mechanics, Fluid Mechanics, and Kinetic Gas Theory. In addition to the basic concepts of Newtonian Mechanics, Fluid Mechanics, and Kinetic Gas Theory, a variety of interesting topics are covered in this course: Binary Stars, Neutron Stars, Black Holes, Resonance Phenomena, Musical Instruments, Stellar Collapse, Supernovae, Astronomical observations from very high flying balloons (lecture 35), and you will be allowed a peek into the intriguing Quantum World.This lecture series can be very useful to aspirants of engineering exams like IIT-JEE and AIEEE.

Download Lectures. [Please note that the file size of each file is about 100 MB]


Powers of Ten - Units - Dimensions - Measurements - Uncertainties - Dimensional Analysis - Scaling Arguments

1D Kinematics - Speed - Velocity - Acceleration

Vectors - Dot Products - Cross Products - 3D Kinematics

3D Kinematics - Free Falling Reference Frames

Circular Motion - Centrifuges Moving - Reference Frames - Perceived Gravity


Newton's Laws

Weight - Perceived Gravity - Weightlessness Free Fall - Zero Gravity in Orbit (misnomer)

Friction

Exam Review

Hooke's Law - Springs - Simple Harmonic Motion - Pendulum - Small Angle Approximation


Work - Kinetic Energy - Potential Energy - Conservative Forces - Conservation of Mechanical Energy - Newton's Law of Universal Gravitation


Non-Conservative Forces - Resistive Forces - Air Drag - Terminal Velocity


Potential Energy - Energy Considerations to Derive Simple Harmonic Motion

Escape Velocities - Bound and Unbound Orbits - Circular Orbits - Various Forms of Energy - Power

Momentum - Conservation of Momentum - Center of Mass

Collisions - Elastic and Inelastic - Center of Mass Frame of Reference

Impulse - Rockets

Exam Review

Rotating Rigid Bodies - Moment of Inertia - Parallel Axis and Perpendicular Axis Theorem - Rotational Kinetic Energy - Fly Wheels - Neutron Stars - Pulsars

Angular Momentum - Torques - Conservation of Angular Momentum - Spinning Neutron Stars - Stellar Collapse


Torques - Oscillating Bodies - Hoops

Kepler's Laws - Elliptical Orbits - Satellites - Change of Orbits - Ham Sandwich

Doppler Effect - Binary Stars - Neutron Stars and Black Holes (Optional)

Rolling Motion - Gyroscopes - VERY NON-INTUITIVE

Static Equilibrium - Stability - Rope Walker

Elasticity - Young's Modulus

Fluid Mechanics - Pascal's Principle - Hydrostatics - Atmospheric Pressure - Over Pressure in Lungs and Tires

Hydrostatics - Archimedes' Principle - Fluid Dynamics - What Makes Your Boat Float? - Bernoulli's Equation

Exam Review

Simple Harmonic Oscillations - Energy Considerations - Torsional Pendulum

Forced Oscillations - Normal Modes - Resonance - Natural Frequencies - Musical Instruments

Heat - Thermal Expansion

Kinetic Gas Theory - Ideal Gas Law - Isothermal Atmosphere - Phase Diagrams - Phase Transitions

The Wonderful Quantum World - Breakdown of Classical Mechanics (Optional)

Farewell Special - High-energy Astrophysics (Optional)

Please let me know if there is anything wrong with the links. Special thanks to the guys at MIT OpenCourseWare.

Cannot View Videos? Dont Worry! Click here for VLC Media Player

Mathematics Olympaid in China [E- Book]

The International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) is a competition for high school students. China has taken part in IMO twenty times since 1985 and has won the top ranking for countries 13 times. The 6 students China sent every year were selected from 20 to 30 students among approximately 130 students who take part in the China Mathematical Competition during the winter months. This volume comprises a collection of original problems with solutions that China used to train their Olympiad team in the years from 2003 to 2006.

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Complete Breakdown of Initution - Non Conservative Fields.

This video features Walter Lewin from MIT demonstrating how we should never trust our own initution about fields.[Non-Conservative]. Some knowledge of Electricity and Magnetism is required. Video is divided into two parts. Download the related lecture notes [from the bottom of the post] too.







Do not trust your Initution!

Shortcuts to problem solving in Physics.

With the Objective type questions becoming the standard in JEE, things have surely become a lot simpler for students. This post deals with how you can effectively utilize the Objective format of the paper to your benefit.
Lets say you have been given a question about finding the acceleration of some object in some system. Normally, the student would start writing the equations and then solve them to get the answer. While this method is certainly correct, the Objective format also rewards time [especially in AIEEE] Instead of solving the question you could check the dimensions of the answers given to eliminate 1-3 options. While this may sound ridiculous, yet its the truth. Pick up any question paper and you are sure to find some questions which can be used to test this trick. Once you have eliminated the options [it takes a few seconds] you can easily crack the problem with a small margin of error.
If the question cannot be cracked by you and you decide to make a calculated guess then this method greatly reduces the probability of error in your answer. Another trick is to check out the feasibility of a solution. Lets say you are having a hard time deciding whether the MOI of a particular linear object about an axis making an angle A with it should be KML^2 X Sin A or KML^2 Cos A [Only an example]. What you can do now is think logically that the Sin function is 0 at 0 and increases as the angle increases such that it is 0 when the object overlaps the axis and maximum when the object is stretched to the maximum possible distance. Sounds logical? Similar reasoning will help you eliminate the Cos A option.
Please be aware that these tricks can only be used as support in some cases and it is not advisable to completely rely on them.

Coming up Next : Complete Breakdown of Initution. [Physics Videos]