IIT Chemistry Study Plan for JEE

Dear Aspirants,

First of all, as we have discussed before, the study of chemistry is somewhat different from other science subjects. It is based upon experimental results. Hence, the study plan for this subject should be such that it incorporates all these points with a non conventional approach.

In this section, I’m going to elaborate the basic study plan for Chemistry. You have to incorporate and mould these basic ideas in a way which suits you best.

The making of study plan involves the following critical points:

§  Various parts of Chemistry:

Chemistry as a subject consists of three major sections viz. Physical, Organic & Inorganic Chemistry. Each part has its own unique characteristics, which are as follows:

1. Physical Chemistry is purely based upon mathematical analysis/relations between chemical quantities, which I prefer to call “Quantitative Study of Chemistry”, clearly; it is purely mathematical and can be mastered quite easily without any confusion.
2. Whereas, Organic Chemistry mainly includes analysis, identification, characterization and estimation of compounds of Carbon(C) with hydrogen (H), Oxygen (O), Nitrogen (N) etc. These compounds play a vital role in any living organism and hence are the link between Chemistry and Biology, as well as with modern Biotechnology and other Engineering streams. With proper concepts and the right direction you can master this part of Chemistry.
3. Apart from these two, we have Inorganic Chemistry which is purely the study of Physical and Chemical characteristics of all elements of periodic table. I prefer to use a phrase “Qualitative Chemistry” for this part as it has plenty of information regarding physical/chemical properties of elements and its important compounds. It also includes the metallurgical aspects of almost every element. Hence, this part requires plenty of hard work to memorize infinite data which is almost impossible without proper revision. Although some part (~20%) of Inorganic Chemistry is conceptual like Co-ordination Compounds, Surface Chemistry, Periodic properties and Chemical Bonding, but most of it needs dedicated study.

So, these are the points you have to consider for the preparation of chemistry for IIT and other elite competitive exams. I would suggest you guys to mould your plan as per your preference but always remember:

1. Generally, teachers suggest studying Inorganic part in the last few days of preparation. This is clearly a wrong concept. As this is the part requiring maximum number of revisions and things to memorize, I would suggest you to take it seriously. Almost every competitive exam asks about 25-35% questions from this part. For better understanding and remembering, I would suggest you to divide this part in many small portions for daily study and then a weekly revision of all the portions you have studied so far. This will help you to save time and get proficient in this part. Try to do conceptual part first as I've discussed before.
2. Physical Chemistry, as I've discussed before, is the mathematical part so it is easy to understand. You can prove and use the formula to get the answer. The serious problem with students in this is that they just memorize the steps and think that they will be able to solve the problem in the exam, which doesn't happen. The correct approach to master this part is via problem solving through which you would be able to know how to apply the formulae. Moreover, you will know exactly which formula to apply and where.

Hence, clearly the main aspect of preparation of Physical Chemistry is by solving problems, solving problems and solving problems!! Without which you cannot develop “solution techniques” required to tackle questions in IIT even though the formula required may be known to you!

So, BEWARE from such conventional preparation plan.

3. For Organic Chemistry, it requires both qualitative and quantitative approach as discussed above for Inorganic and Physical chemistry respectively. But the most important aspect is, in order to conquer it we need to have some basic knowledge of the topics taught in class XI i.e. General Organic Chemistry. Once you master the basics then you can comfortably understand the topics which seemed difficult before. This fact is applied to other fields also. For example, in order to master Coordinate Geometry in Mathematics, mentor usually suggests having clear understanding of Straight Line and Circle. This is because all the topics have the same principle repeated again and again with different equations and curves. This, in turn, implies that the concepts are not increasing but they are repeated in context of different curves.

 On the same note, all the concepts of Organic Chemistry that are required to understand the various topics (starting from Hydrocarbons to Bimolecular) can be understood in General Organic Chemistry (GOC). These concepts are repeated again and again with different functional groups. Hence, I would suggest that in order to triumph over this part of Chemistry maximum importance to GOC must be given. When you have grasped all the concepts of this raw topic, Organic Chemistry will turn out to be a very effortless subject.

That’s all for now, consider my suggestions for making a concrete study plan with due importance to the topics and basics that I've discussed.

Let me know in case of any queries or further assistance. I’d be happy to have you on board!!

Hridesh

Created with Artisteer