Hello everyone myself Pankaj Gaur , I have completed my M.Sc (Mathematics) from VNIT Nagpur. I have qualified IIT-JAM in the year 2014 with AIR- 671. This is to address all the students who are preparing to take the JAM test. I am going to give a short introduction and then career options after pursuing your Master’s degree. I have also included the name of books for reference under each topic that will be helpful for your preparation. So lets start with what is this exam all about. ·
Introduction :
The Joint Admission Test for M.Sc. (JAM) is an admission test to Master of Science (M.Sc.) and other post-graduate science programs at the Indian Institutes of Technology, National Institutes of Technology, Indian Institute of Science, and other Centrally Funded Technical Institutes. From the Academic Session 2004-05, IITs have started conducting a Joint Admission Test for M.Sc. (JAM). The objective of JAM is to provide admissions to M.Sc. (Two-Year), Joint M.Sc.-Ph.D., M.Sc.-Ph.D. Dual Degree, M.Sc.-M.Tech., and other Post-Bachelor Degree Programs at the IITs and Integrated Ph.D. Degree Programs at IISc and to consolidate Science as a career option for bright students from across the country. The M.Sc. (Two-Year), Joint M.Sc.-Ph.D, M.Sc.-Ph.D., M.Sc.-M.Tech. Dual Degree, and other Post-Bachelor Degree Programs at the IITs & NITs and the integrated Ph.D. Program at IISc offer high quality education in their respective disciplines, comparable to the best in the world. The curricula for these Programs are designed to provide the students with opportunities to develop academic talent leading to challenging and rewarding professional life. The curricula are regularly updated at IISc, IITs & NITs. The interdisciplinary content of the curricula equips the students with the ability to utilize scientific knowledge for practical applications. The test for admission to M.Sc/M. Sc(Tech) programme in IITs is conducted by one of the participating IIT which is called the organising institute. The same IIT is responsible for counselling process for the admission in the IITs. Counselling for admission to M.Sc/M. Sc(Tech) programme in NITs is done by CCMN which uses the JAM score for the admission process. One must be wondering what are the career options after I finished the course. Well, there are many Career Option after M.Sc in Mathematics, some are as follows: ·
1. In Public Sector Units (PSU) : A trained mathematician can be very well employed outside academia. Government departments engaged in space research (the Indian Space Research Organisation, or ISRO), defence research (Defence Research and Development Organisation, or DRDO), aeronautical research (National Aeronautics Limited, or NAL), all employ mathematicians to solve their special problems. Today, cryptology is in vogue (the systems ensuring the safety of your credit card transactions are based on some very sophisticated mathematics). Organisations such as the DRDO and the Society for Electronic Transactions and Security (SETS) are interested in mathematicians with training in this area. ·
2. In Private Sectors : Financial mathematics is another area that leads to well-paid jobs. Computer giants such as IBM and Microsoft have research departments which have highly paid scientists who are either mathematicians or theoretical computer scientists. (They can, for all practical purposes, be considered as mathematicians). Thus, there is plenty of scope, outside academia, for well-paid jobs for mathematicians. ·
3. Teaching and Research : Majority of mathematicians will end up in academic jobs, namely, in research and teaching. In India, all these jobs are in universities or in public-funded research institutions. For the doctoral programmes, university students need to take an examination conducted by bodies like the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research or the DST for a research fellowship. The current rates are Rs.25,000 for the first two years and, subject to satisfactory performance, Rs.28,000 a month thereafter. After PhD the entry point (roughly between the ages of 28 and 32) is that of an Assistant Professor, who can expect to start at a monthly basic salary of Rs.30,000. To this, add the dearness allowance, transport allowance, and (if accommodation is not provided by the employer) a house rent allowance (which touches 30 per cent of the basic in the metros). Thus, before tax, we arrive at something like Rs.60,000 or more a month. Some advantage of this career options are Job security Job satisfaction: you get to choose your research problems. A good quality of life: the timings are regular with vacation periods that are well-defined.Plenty of opportunities to set up research collaborations with fellow-researchers in India and abroad, providing possibilities of interesting domestic and international travel. Here we come after career options, which students are eligible to give this exam and what is the minimum requirement to apply. ·
Eligibility requirements for admission:
The candidates who qualify in JAM 2017 shall have to fulfill the following Eligibility Requirement for admissions in IITs,NITs. All candidates admitted through JAM should have a Bachelor’s degree. At least 55% aggregate marks, without rounding off, (taking into account all subjects, including Languages and Subsidiaries, all years combined) for General/OBC-NCL Category Candidates and at least 50% aggregate marks, without rounding off, (taking into account all subjects, including Languages and Subsidiaries, all years combined) for SC/ST and PwD Category Candidates in the qualifying degree. IIT JAM score is used by many institutes to fill their seats via combined counselling. Students can prefer the institutes according to their rank and choice of course.
My Preparation Strategy:
I started my preparation for JAM when I completed second year of my B.Sc course. In the third year I started preparing specifically for JAM keeping the syllabus in mind. I started with basics and easier topics like linear algebra and group theory. When I got the confidence I moved towards the analysis part. You can start with your choice of subjects in which you are more comfortable. I was solving previous years paper as well to solve the problems of JAM level. I followed the standard textbooks for each subject which made my concepts more clear. I have included the list of the books below. It is very important to plan the study according to the syllabus given by IIT. A regular study of 4 hours apart from your graduation course will be sufficient for getting good rank in the exam. My rank in the exam was not sufficient to get a seat in an IIT. The main reason for this was starting late for preparation. Because the exams are held in February itself we get less time in the third year of the graduation. One should start the preparation in the second year of graduation itself to give sufficient time for each subject. Try to solve past year papers to get the confidence of solving JAM level questions. The most important point is to clear the basic concept of the subjects it will help to solve the tricky questions. In my next blog i will discuss about syllabus and most recommended book as well IITs who offer Mathematics course.
All The Best .
Pankaj Gaur
M.Sc Mathemtaics, (VNIT – Nagpur)
