In my opinion, a person is most productive when his / her all departments are working normally, this includes, body, mind and soul (the connection between body and mind). The term Soul is often connected with spirituality, see detailed definition here https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/soul.
Noises are many, shall you listen to every advice, shall you attend all type of classes, online, offline, crash course, full time etc., etc., etc.. The answer is NO. Whatever you do with full concentration is the most productive part of your productivity system. That is the stage when you focus on One Task, outside noises do not disturb you. Whether you read algebra or go through a history page or you are setting your OKRs for your company, it's completely normal, not tiring and you are into it.
OKRs that stands for Objectives and Key Results. Students can set OKRs for college programmes. To know about OKRs see official website https://www.whatmatters.com/
Listen everyone, but time is limited. Try to listen to those who have already achieved it, who has already cracked an examination, who are already working and taking a product to the next level. Learn from Doers, Hack Gaps, those who are doers will infuse a positive sense of doing in you. Books are many, magazines are many, websites are limitless, AI is bringing you new knowledge, online classes are there, videos can teach you anytime, anywhere, but hold on, before you decide to take that class and learn from lectures, chose certain options, give them a try, and then select one that fits you and not your classmate or a work colleague necessarily.
Learning from different sources is awesome, and knowing more will take you close to success where you will say, Aha, I have cracked this. But in the heavy load of information, being human, and in the quest of to know more, get more, we forget the fact that we have only 24 Hrs in a day, our energy level is certain and our body and mind need continuous resources to strengthen. Information load is so high that we do many things, follow many methods to achieve quick success, we go by stories because stories are interesting. In all this, the most important thing we forget is how much to do around what?
For example, to learn set theory, you can follow your syllabus, take 4/5 mock tests, and buy one guidebook and practice book to increase your problem-solving speed. There is no need at all to solve problems from 10 books that are recommended as marketing gimmicks. Yes, you heard it right. Books are marketed that way too. And no wrong in one sush practice but when you buy a new practice book when exams are nearing, I think that may cause you distraction.
When you solve problems from one practice book, repeat solving them again, do it 2/3 times, you will notice, your approach of problem solving is different as well as time taken.
Entrance Examinations test you not only for knowledge but also for your way of approach to solve a problem. This is not about memorizing or learning. Indeed, this is about how beneficial you would be to college and industry after completing the coursework. The way of approach to solve any problem comes from practice. Yes, when you can do more, do it, that is completely fine, but not meeting your tennis buddy till the exams are over will not help you in cracking Bernoulli's Theorem.
Keep a balance, and you can crack any exam with learning; and learning is the way you approach to solve a problem. Seats are limited, demands are high, no problem in that, it's not about one test only. It's meaningless, if your test preparation won't teach you a problem solving approach, and that approach will come from a selection of a few books, few classes, and a few mock tests. Strike a balance, Hack Gaps. Crack any examination that you want to.
Under preparation and Over preparation both hampers your performance. Before you begin must identify your topics and classify those according to difficulty level. This way you will know how much emphasis to go give on what? Once you know you can prepare better and prevent under doing or over doing.
Inspiration source: Vox.Com, i was searching internet for some articles and found Vox article, the website is pay walled, i read only a few lines before it shown Paywall features, but headline was so interesting that I read it somehow and this idea came in mind perhaps helpful to you test takers. I have not paid them; they need a mention for great work.
First Edit: 3 September 2025
