JEEcompass
23 October 2026 · All posts

The JEE Study Routine I Used to Get Into IIT Bombay

By JEEcompass (IIT Bombay, JEE Advanced AIR 764)

Part of 10 Hours of Study vs 5 Hours: What Actually Counts in JEE Prep.

Most JEE timetables fail within a week. They are built from time slots like “6 to 8 pm Maths”, so there is nothing to finish and nothing to measure. The result is a growing backlog and a feeling of being behind.

This post is the routine I used, and the one I teach. It is part of the JEE study habits guide. I got AIR 764 in JEE Advanced and now study at IIT Bombay. Take the structure, not my exact hours.

Short answer

  • Set goals as tasks, not time. “30 PYQs on circular motion”, not “2 to 3 pm Physics”.
  • Write them the night before, in a dated diary.
  • Study in focus blocks of about 50 minutes to 1.5 hours with a phone-free break.
  • Hardest task first. Order the day from most to least difficult.
  • Fix your sleep time and move your body every day.

Step 1: Get a dated diary

Use a diary with dates, not a blank notebook, for the whole year. It becomes a record of every day. At the top of each page I wrote an overall study-hours goal, as a minimum and never as a maximum. My minimum was 15 hours. In the last six months I averaged 16 to 17. I also say plainly that I was not perfect every day, and I covered lapses later.

Do not copy my number. Choose a floor that you can actually hit on an average day.

Step 2: Write tomorrow’s goals tonight

Night is the right time to plan. You have the day’s data: what went wrong, which topic is urgent, what is pending. In the morning you have none of that, so you waste energy deciding what to solve and you slide into low-energy work.

A goal has to be a specific task. Compare:

Vague Task-based
2 to 3 pm solve questions 30 PYQs on circular motion
Study organic 30 questions of GOC from one named book
Revise chemistry Short notes for chemical bonding and gaseous state
Do maths 30 maths questions on quadratics

My own day often had 10 or 11 small, ambitious tasks. Choose them from a pipeline:

  1. Theory
  2. Solved examples
  3. Mains-level questions
  4. Advanced-level questions
  5. Short notes

An example list from my notes: read theory, 20 SHM questions from Cengage, 30 problems from N. Awasthi Level 1, and 30 solved examples from Cengage maths. Always include something ahead of what coaching is teaching in class, so you are not only reacting.

If you do not know what to put in the pipeline, start from your syllabus plan.

Step 3: Order the day hardest first

Arrange the list from the most difficult task to the least difficult. Your best energy goes to the work that matters, and the day gets easier as it goes. In practice this often means question solving early and note-making late.

A planned day can still fail if it is vague, and this is the usual reason. If you cannot say when a task is done, you cannot judge yourself.

Step 4: Add small non-academic goals

Along with academic tasks I kept a few small daily goals:

  • 5 minutes of meditation
  • Visualising my goal before bed, and visualising a hard problem during papers
  • 10 minutes of a non-academic book
  • 3 sets of pushups

The point is momentum. On a bad academic day, ticking these keeps the day from feeling wasted. They cost little and they keep the habit of finishing things alive.

Step 5: Study in blocks, break without your phone

Use a timer. My rule in the routine video was a 50 minute session, then a 5 to 10 minute break with no phone and no stimulation. In another video I described slots of 1, 1.5 or 2 hours with a 5 minute break. Both versions work on the same logic.

Good break activities:

  • Meditation or breathing
  • A short nap
  • A walk
  • Talking to family

Before a long session I also take 2 minutes of deep breathing with one clear target, such as 90 minutes of chemistry PYQs. The break is the weak point of most routines. If it becomes scrolling, it eats 30 to 90 minutes. See how to stop distractions for fixes.

Step 6: Build in long breaks

Breakfast, lunch, dinner and a bath are part of the plan. So is 15 to 20 minutes or more of physical activity every day. I admit I used to watch episodes while eating in my JEE days, and I would call it slightly distracting. If you can, leave the screen for meals.

A sample morning block

One example from my notes: study from 6:30 to 10:00 continuously with 2 or 3 short breaks before breakfast. Another structure I describe for focus is:

  1. No phone on waking.
  2. 5 to 10 pushups or jumping jacks.
  3. Wash your face and have warm water.
  4. First 30 minutes: revise short notes or the chapter you will practise.
  5. Then the hardest work, usually question solving.

Whether mornings suit you is a separate question. I cover that in morning vs night study.

Step 7: Fix sleep and wind down

Keep a fixed sleep and wake time, and unwind for 30 minutes before bed. That is when I did tomorrow’s planning, a quick journal and visualisation. Sleep tips in more detail are in the morning vs night post.

Where revision fits

Revision should be in the diary as tasks, like short notes or a 10 minute recall pass, not “revise when free”. See how to revise for JEE.

When the routine breaks down

Some weeks you will fall short. Do not scrap the system. Cut the list, keep the order, and write a smaller list for tomorrow. If you feel drained rather than lazy, read how to fix JEE burnout. Half-hearted effort loses to lakhs of people giving everything, so the aim is a steady day you can repeat, not a perfect day once.

Common mistakes

  • Writing time slots instead of tasks.
  • Planning in the morning with no data.
  • Ten goals with no order.
  • Phone in the break.
  • Copying someone’s hours instead of finding your own rhythm. I do not give one fixed timetable because toppers find their own.

FAQ

Should I make a time-based or task-based timetable? Task-based. Time slots give you no way to tell whether the slot worked.

How many tasks should I set a day? I used about 10 or 11 small ones. Start with fewer if that is too many.

Do I need a diary, or can I use an app? I used a dated diary. Use what you will open every night.

How long should a break be? 5 to 10 minutes after a 50 minute block, or 5 minutes after 1 to 2 hours. Keep it phone-free.

What if I miss my goals? Move the leftover into tomorrow’s list and shrink the list. Do not skip the night planning.

Need help with your own plan?

If you feel you are drifting off track and want an IIT student to guide you through preparation without costly mistakes, check our mentorship page. Explore JEEcompass mentorship

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