THE World University Rankings – Panjab university ahead of IITs

For the very first time Panjab university is under top 400 in Times Higher Education World University Rankings and second surprise is that Panjab university is well ahead of old IITs. .

If we look at Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2012, only two indian institutes (IIT Kharagpur and IIT Roorkee) were under top 400, but this year Panjab university has also joined this group and has beat all IITs this time.

“Though the IITs have done well in certain disciplines in other earlier rankings, neither the IITs nor the IIMs are multi-disciplinary institutes. However, that’s no excuse to slip up in these rankings. IITs need to do better by focusing on aspects like research output,” said MM Pallam Raju, Union minister of human resource development, commenting on the IITs faring poorly in the global rankings.

	Higher Education ranking worldwide
	2013-14	2012-13
Panjab University	226-250	Not ranked
IIT Delhi	351-400	Not ranked
IIT Kanpur	351-400	Not ranked
IIT Kharagpur	351-400	226-250
IIT Roorkee	351-400	351-400

How can you score well in chemistry part of JEE Examination?

Setting a goal is not the main thing. It is deciding how you will go about  achieving it and staying with that plan.”

When you think of IIT JEE, certainly chemistry would be the soft to crack the nut and excel your rank. Chemistry is the subject which majority of students find difficult to master. Unlike physics and mathematics, it requires a lot of remembering.But,Chemistry is one such subject which can assure you guaranteed marks in IIT JEE if you have prepared well. Most of the topics in chemistry are not very much twisted and get tested directly.

Scoring in Chemistry is more about planning than about application and understanding of concepts.

Certain topics like organic chemistry are pretty much like mathematics and physics as far as IIT JEE is concerned as it relies on testing of concepts and questions are always framed considering multiple concepts together. Unlike organic chemistry, inorganic chemistry is directly opposite as all questions asked are always direct and do not need much application. Topics like stoichiometry are always difficult to handle and need lot of in depth knowledge about reactions and mole concept.

Here are a few things, which I followed for studying chemistry :

Physical Chemistry  Physical Chemistry requires a good understanding of concepts. Try to understand all the formulae used in physical chemistry, instead of just applying them blindly, as a particular formula may not be applicable to the question. (Example, instead of a dilute solution, the given solution may be concentrated, making most formulae invalid, in that case understanding of the basic principles will help.) Try to solve various types of problems for perfection in physical chemistry, but don’t try to solve various books, as problems tend to repeat a lot among books. Just pick one good book, and stick to it.

Topics covered under IIT JEE physical chemistry are :-

Basic Concepts

Mole Concept

Redox Reactions

Stoichiometry

Gaseous and Liquid states

Atomic structureChemical Bonding

Chemical Energetics

Chemical EquilibriumIonic Equilibrium

Electrochemistry

Chemical Kinetics

Solid State

States of Matter

Solutions & collegative properties

Surface Chemistry

Organic Chemistry :To score well in Organic Chemistry, you must be comfortable with the initial chapters of organic chemistry i.e. inductive and resonance effects, stability of carbocations etc. as these are referenced in almost all further chapters in organic chemistry. Organic chemistry requires both understanding and some remembering reactions. Make sure that you know all the major reactions, their mechanisms (at least for those in NCERT books) and effect of external factors on the reaction, if applicable.

Topics covered under IIT JEE Organic chemistry are :-

Basic Concepts

Nomenclature

Isomerism

Reaction Mechanism

Saturated hydrocarbons

Alkenes and alkynes

Reactions of benzene

Aromatic compounds

Alkyl halides Alcohols and ethers

Aldehydes and Ketones

Carboxylic acid and their derivatives

Amines

Carbohydrates, amino acids and peptides.

Uses of some important polymers.

Inorganic Chemistry :Inorganic Chemistry is the branch of chemistry which deals with the chemical changes in most primitive manner. It is not mathematical in nature and deals in elemental form of nature. The Mendeleev’s Periodic Table becomes the basis of study as we divide the elements according to their groups and then study them. These groups are regrouped as s-block, p-block, d-block and f-block elements. In these p-block is not the bulkiest but also the most important part. The order of importance is followed by s-block elements. The chapter of Coordination Compounds is also important from the scoring point of view. The other chapters of Analytical Chemistry and Extraction of Elements also fetch few questions which are direct in nature.

Perfection is not only the concept mastery but it is consolidation also. Perfection roust be measured in terms of good performance. A holistic approach is required for the subject. A simple and independent strategy can help to achieve that in chemistry. Primarily, instead of segregating physical, organic and inorganic one should segregate a group of chapters which are consist of the fundamentals of whole chemistry, which have lots of connection in other chapters and which greatly influence the understanding of other chapters also.

Senior threatens to rape girls

According to sources a PG student of Pondicherry University threatened to rape girls and warned them not to file a complanint agianst him. In a written complaint filed by girls they said, a senior student from the department of physical education ‘Jithu’ made snide remarks about them while they were going to the mess for dinner on September 21. When the girls registered their protest, the student abused them verbally and made vulgar gestures towards them. He allegedly threatened to rape them and warned that he would assault and molest them in the next two years if they lodged any complaint against him.

A day after the incident, he again approached the girls and threatened to abuse them sexually. He warned that he would spread rumours about them to tarnish their image. The girls gathered courage and lodged complaints with the vice-chancellor and the Kalapet police.

“The mental depression we went through after the incident is inexplicable. Now we are in such a situation that we have to live under constant fear of being harassed and sexually assaulted at any moment. We fear that we could not finish our course in the university. We request you to take necessary action to ensure that such incidents will not recur in the future,” the girls said in the complaint

50% of successful candidates in JEE 2013 didn’t take any coaching

Every year IITs ask every student who takes IIT entrance examination, whether they took help from any coaching or prepared on their own. This year survey reveals that 50% of successful candidates in JEE Advanced prepared on their own.

On the basis of last year data, 60% of IIT entrants were from coaching classes, in 2008 only 45% of IIT entrants were from coaching classes.

Coaching classes doubt on this data published after survey. Heads of coaching centres say it isn’t easy to bag a rank without professional help. In fact, the coaching syndrome is so deeply ingrained that IIT insiders too doubt the authenticity of the data they have collected. A faculty member who teaches mathematics in IIT-Guwahati did not agree with claims made by students. “I do not think all students are giving us the correct picture on the coaching front. Surely, there are some students who make it from extremely poor and disadvantaged backgrounds, but I feel most other candidates take some sort of coaching,” he said.

Marks analysis
Total marks: 360
Highest mark: 332
Lowest mark: minus 70

Number of students scoring over 300 marks: 23
Number of students scoring over 250 marks: 326

CBSE asking for students votes for new syllabus

As reported CBSE is reducing syllabus in social sciences, comprising History, Geography, Political Science and Economics, and has asked ninth and tenth graders and teaching faculty to provide feedback via an online questionnaire.

“The CBSE has received a number of requests to reduce the social science syllabus in classes IX and X,”said Sadhna parashar, Academic Director, CBSE.

There is a feedback form consisting 14 question, where CBSE has asked students about the number of lectures allocated to the subject every week, the most challenging aspect of the subject (volume/ concepts), and the need to reduce the syllabus and so on.

Seema Raina, a social science teacher for classes IX and X at The Orchid School, said, “The social sciences syllabus is crammed and enormous.

Varied topics like the French and Russian Revolutions, the rise of Nazism, conceptual learning like pastoralists in the Modern world, power-sharing mechanisms in democracy et al cannot be taught on a peripheral basis.”

IIT Bombay student attempts suicide

As reported out, an M.Tech student of IIT Bombay attempted suicide in hostel room last week. He slit his wrist and after some time approached to gurads. Guards took him to hospital. Reason behind this suicide attempt is unknown yet.

A professor said that the student’s parents had told the institute that their ward had problems adjusting in the hostel better off the previous year, when he was living with a roommate.

While some students claim that the first phase of MTech project evaluation, which will start from this month-end, is stressful, another set of students believe it is not. “We have only the project work to deal with, so it should not be stressful. The student kept to himself and did not interact much with his classmates. He could have been under some stress, but academic,” said a classmate. Not many students on the campus are aware about the incident.

In another incident, a 26-year-old youth from Andhra Pradesh, Venkatpuram Chari, committed suicide at CETTM hostel near IIT Powai on September 21. Senior inspector Y L Jadhav from Powai police station claimed the youth was probably in the city to attend a seminar at the institute. According to the complaint filed, Chari left a suicide note stating he was facing financial problems and was unable to arrange money for the same.

Girl shot by second year engineering student in Delhi

Reportedly a 20 year old girl ‘pinki’ was shot by second year engineering student ‘Deepak’ at outer delhi. Allegedly this attack was not intentional, Deepak was just testing to check if the gun was working. He was, however, arrested for causing harm to the victim.

Police said that Deepak fired pellets from his air gun from the balcony of his house and Pinki was hit while riding pillion on her father’s scooter.

Deepak in second year engineering student in a private institute in Bahadurgarh, Haryana.