How do I make a good timetable?

So there is no good timetable that will work for all.

Still, when I was preparing for JEE, I had tried many timetables. Also finally I was able to crack JEE Advance with AIR 686. So, I think sharing my experiences might help you or motivate you to make best timetable of yours🙃

This is timetable of my friend. He made this just for fun😂😂.(Don’t take it seriously) I found it in my phone, so thought to share it. Btw, this friend of mine, Piyush too worked hard, and is now in IIT Kgp.

My favourite timetable:

1. Sleep at 9 or 10 PM. (Ya, this early. Early to bed, Early to rise. Makes a person Happy, Healthy and Wise ;-)

2. Wake up between 3:30 to 5 AM. Listen to some songs, so that I don’t feel sleepy.(Don’t just keep listening them for an hour or so… ;-)

3. Study straight for 3.5 to 4 hrs. This is really necessary. It should be in your habit to study straight without breaks for more than 3 hrs.

4. Back then I used to live in a rented room. So at 9 or 10 AM, I used to cook breakfast (for lunch and dinner we had tiffins) and have it.

5. At 10 AM or so, back to studies for two or 3 hrs.

6. Ya, now it’s time to have a bath. Why I didn’t bath early??? Actually when I wake up, my body and mind are fresh. But by 1 AM, I have already studied for 6 hrs and now feeling bit tired. Taking a bath will refresh me and then I’ll be back to studies with full energy.

7. At 1 or 2 PM, again 2–3 hours of study.

8. At 4 PM, well, I have studied for 8–10 hrs, so feeling happy.( Yups, you do feel happy if you have studied sufficiently.)

9. Well now I’m having 4 hrs… I can talk to my friends and family members over calls. Also can go outside. Or anything. If I have to study more, Sometimes I even do that.

10. Again sleep at 9 or 10 PM.

Did I followed it strictly?:

Nah!!!! Not really strictly. Many times I feel like not studying or something like that. So, I’ll just take a walk, or call my friend or eat something. But the time I spend in these things… I’d make sure I cover it up in evening time… As you saw, that was not allotted to anything. But, ya I made sure that I have completed 8 - 10 hrs.

Also when I had class… schedule would be pretty same, I’ll go to coaching from 3:30 to 8:30.

Habit:

First of all, instead of making timetable, make habits. The key is, when it’s your habit to study, you’ll study whatever the situation may be. Like when it became my habit to study, then I was finding it fun to study, like even when I was in train or even when my Diwali vacations were going on. So you just need to follow what best suits to you, with a positive attitude(ya, that’s like really really important), till it becomes your habit.

Late night or early morning:

I have tried both of them, for really long periods of time. And also the normal one, i.e sleeping at 12 or 1 and waking up at 7 or 8. For me, best one was waking up early, at about 3:30 or 4:30 AM, and sleeping at 9 or 10 PM. But may be something else is best for you. But many teachers and and great and successful persons also advise to wake up early and do stuff. So you should surely make some efforts, for I’ll say a month, to wake up early before you decide. For you, who have 2 years… I’ll say you too experiment on yourself, and finally find what’s the best. After all, I think JEE is all about finding optimal strategy for you. I, writing this answer, am just motivating you to do so, to find best for you, to give to an idea how to start.

How many hours to study:

Hours of study strictly means hours of self-study, for me, so it should mean for you. Hours spent in classes are not self study hours.

You should decide this too according to you. At least 7-8 hrs are must.

Well, I used to study 7–10 hours. I studied in Allen Jaipur. We had classes from 4–8, on alternate days, i.e. 3 days a week normally(These were frequent extra-classes too). So, on those three days, when I had classes, I usually studied for 6–8 hrs. And on days when I didn’t had classes that was 8–10 hrs. But, when I say I study for 7 hrs, those are really 7 hours of full concentration. Keep that in mind, when ever you study, do it with extreme concentration and devotion.

Breaks:

Breaks you can do better if you use your breaks in better ways. How I used them? I have a great friend Shreyansh Agrawal, we kinda studied together for JEE. So, when I was bored with studying, I would just call him, we would discuss about some topic, or question, or strategy that we should follow, and, ya of course, about other random things. This thing really helped us. We became even better friends. This thing helped in two ways:

1. Discussing topics and question crystal clears a concept. You get to know about others point of view on a topic or question. Also you get if there’s a way to solve question faster than how you do.

2. Those discussions motivated me for the entire day. My physics teacher used to say, listening to a teacher or a motivational speaker only gives motivation for 5 min. , but a good friend can motivate for each and every second. And so was the case with us.

Finally, this was just the way I used to utilize even my breaks during studies. You should find what suits you. You should surely try this one, what if this suits you too.

So, here it is. I think I have explained pretty well. Please comment down, I have written this to help out you guys, I’ll love to see comments.☺️

Also I’m working on writing some more descriptive answers like this, so do follow me. Feel free to contact me. I’ll love to help you out.

If you liked it, please upvote and share so that more students can see this.

I hope it helped. Hope to see you too at IIT Delhi.

~ Raman Agarwal