Negative marking in competitive examinations has been a cause of concern for many aspirants. But to be honest, such negative marking maintains the competitiveness of the exams. The same is the issue with aspirants while attempting the JEE Main Question Papers. JEE Main has always been a prominent exam in India, hence to maintain the difficulty level and competitiveness of the exam, a negative marking system is there. With this system, it ensures that students are accurate and showcase high standards while attempting the JEE Main Question papers. If there is no negative marking, then the quality of students will decline as well. So, now rather than worrying with negative marking, let’s find a way to deal with it. Here we will share a few ways to avoid negative marking while attempting the JEE Main Question Papers.
Why is Negative Marking included in JEE Main Exam?
To conduct a fair examination, negative marking was introduced into JEE Main exams. This will undoubtedly put a check on students who randomly guess any answer, and take away the credibility of the real efforts put in by other students. Doing guesswork and getting away scoring odd marks or without any deduction is unfair on those hard-working students. It also takes away the beauty and competitiveness of the exam. Hence negative marking is introduced to ensure a regular exam for students attempting JEE Main Question Papers.
Causes leading to Negative Marking while attempting JEE Main Question Papers
- Guesswork: Students tend to pursue guesswork when they aren’t entirely sure about the answer to give themselves a chance to attempt maximum questions.
- Overconfidence: Choosing an option without appropriately reading the question carefully is a sign of overconfidence and often leads to the wrong option being chosen.
- Push One’s Luck: Luck isn’t something you count upon every time, especially when it comes to attempting JEE Main Exam.
- Incorrect Filling of OMR Sheet: This is one of the frequent mistakes that students commit while marking their chosen answer. Once marked incorrectly, often students don’t get the time, in the end, to recheck the options they’ve marked, which can lead to mistakes and hence negative marking.
- Calculation Errors:Even when you know the exact concepts and formulas, mistakes during the calculations can persist. Even a single calculation gone wrong, the answer obtained will be wrong.
Tips to Avoid Negative Marking while attempting JEE Main Question Papers
- Trust Your Instincts: Reading the JEE Main Question Papers for the very first time gives aspirants a rough idea about how well they know the concepts required for the solve the questions. You know in your mind, whether you’ll be able to solve the question or not. So trust yourself with your instincts and act accordingly so that you do not devote unnecessary time in attempting a question in vain and opting for an incorrect answer.
- Devise a Strategy: Don’t just go about hastily attempting every question in the JEE Main Question Papers. Formulate a strategy wherein you categorically segregate each question among three categories.
The first being the easy one, where you include every question that can be solved quite easily with basic applications of concepts. The second category should include all the questions that would require some vital calculations to be done precisely but are known to you. In the last category, include all the questions that you think are tough & aren’t entirely sure about how to go about them.
Sequentially, attempt the first category of questions, then the second category and finally, the third one. If possible, avoid attempting questions in the third category if you think that would unnecessarily consume your time without fruitful results.
- Enhance Your Time Management Skills: Time plays a pivotal role in competitive exams like JEE Main. With 75 questions and a time cap of 180 minutes, you’ve got about two-and-a-half minutes to devote to each question. To enhance your time management skills, challenge yourself with mock tests regularly, and try solving previous year JEE Main Question Papers within the stipulated time. Mock tests would serve a great deed in making your organized and formulate efficient strategies to attempt the JEE-Mains 2020 paper pragmatically.
- Stay Optimistic and Persistent: There may come a time when you might not be able to derive the correct answers or not be able to solve the questions. Do not let that disappointment dominate you as that would cloud your judgment for the upcoming questions. It will hamper confidence. Stay optimistic and do not let your focus unsettle.
- Build Your Foundation: Nothing beats hard work and dedication. Study the chapters thoroughly, solve important questions based upon them, and devise short-cut methods & tricks that would help you to save crucial time during the examination. If your subject foundations are strong and clear, the chances of mistakes while attempting JEE Main Question Papers will be less.
- Modify Your Perception: Instead of perceiving negative marking as an issue. Consider it an advantage that you possess over under-prepared students who would inevitably make mistakes while attempting the JEE Main Question Papers. This gives you an edge over such ill-prepared students.
- The answer Lays in the Options: Each question has four options, and you know for a fact that the answer has to be among the four provided options. Therefore, one convenient way to solve difficult questions is to operate backwards while assuming each option one by one to identify the answer to that question. This can efficiently reduce the time consumed and help to avoid negative marking.
JEE Main 2020 is scheduled on 1 to 6th September, so check these tips as mentioned above to improve your scoring by avoiding negative marking. These tips, along with the smart implementation of these ideas, will surely help you get rid of negative marking while attempting JEE Main Question Papers.
