Skip to main content
Physics Guru is an online education and competitive examinations preparation portal founded by Manish Verma, an IIT Madras alumnus, providing learning resources for competitive examinations.

The emphasis is on conceptual understanding, analytical thinking and problem solving rather than simply memorising formulas and standard methods.

The objective is to help students understand what they are learning and develop the ability to solve problems they have not seen before.

10 Keys to Unlock Mains

  • Do not pay emphasis on new topic. It is quite difficult to master a new topic in limited time. It is better to practice the areas that you are already familiar with.
  • There appears to be part-marking in mains. Keep that in mind while writing your answer.
  • It is more important to do a question completely rather than trying to do more half-done questions.
  • In a solution if a mistake is made initially though the later part is correct, there are less chances that the examiner is going to like it.
  • Put yourself under test conditions once a week to get accustomed. Note that too much of test taking does not help. Only a deep understanding can get you through mains and not blind test taking.
  • If your start is not good, i.e. the first paper does not go well, do not worry. Others may find it difficult as well. Remember, "When the going gets tough, the tough get going".
  • Do not spend too much time in one question. Do the easy ones first.
  • You may not get extra sheet to write. Practice well to do a question in limited space.
  • Be mentally prepared for any surprise. It is possible but not necessary that the paper would be based on last year's pattern.
  • Do approximations in calculations keeping an eye on the error.
Some additional points should be referred from the earlier article on tips for screening.