Volume II Published

Release of Volume II

Volume II of my book,”IIT JEE Physics,Problems and Solutions” , published by Notion Press has just been released. This covers the topics I described earlier, viz. electricity, magnetism,  sound,light and modern physics. It has solutions to 450 problems from Irodov's book, and another 85 problems besides.100 pages of notes are included. Together with volume I (already published) covering statics, dynamics, thermodynamics  and liquids, and containing solutions to another 400 problems from Irodov and 30 other problems, along with another 100 pages of notes, the two volumes together present a comprehensive and excellent resource for higher secondary students preparing for the IIT Joint Entrance test in Physics. 

 

Volume I itself has entered its second edition; the principal change being a rearrangement of the layout that allowed an increase in font size of the mathematical expressions to improve reader experience, and the addition of Notes and worked-out problems on heat transfer.

My publisher has arranged an author page for me at https://notionpress.com/author/g_ganguli.This is a gateway to multiple on-line book-stores. If you have purchased either volume, please leave a review at the Amazon platform.

With this, the compilation and publication of the late Dr. R.G.Chatterji's papers is complete. It has been an eventful eighteen months since I decided to take up this task , based on my conviction that this would make available a significant resource of incredibly high quality to students preparing for the IIT JEE examinations; and that this was the best way to honor the legacy of this remarkable teacher.

Arranging,formally presenting and double-checking the solutions scattered among several manuscripts was an onerous task. This was possible because I have experience in the matter, having coached Higher Secondary school students for the IIT JEE Physics paper in the past before the demands of Corporate life intervened. My wife patiently bore the many hours I literally tore off from family time and lavished on the project. Thank you, Indrani.

The final issue was the publication itself. Kolkata, the city where I live, has a robust publishing industry, but no one was interested in backing an unknown author in a specialized genre. Fortunately I was able to contact Notion Press, Chennai who have been very professional and very helpful in the way they handled the publications.

The A4 size selected for the book made both volumes easy to convert to an e-book format . Also, the books themselves are compact and easy to handle.

The quality of what has been produced fills me with satisfaction. The time and effort spent has been huge but something of real value has been produced.

A few pointers.

There are other books available on this topic. Two things make these volumes stand out.

First,the method. There are always more ways than one to solve a problem. Dr. Chatterji was a born teacher and always addressed the needs of his students. He chose methods that were simple and intuitive , and he seldom used mathematics beyond the Higher Secondary level. Where there was simply no other option,he explained the particular concept in very simple and useful terms in his notes.

Second, the notes. When he taught, he would devote a fair amount of time to review, distill and encapsulate the necessary physics and maths theory and present it as notes for the students in a manner that was concise,accurate, yet easily retained ; because these concepts,results and expressions are vitally necessary for problem-solving at this level. In these volumes as many as 200 of the 900 pages or so are devoted to notes, making them quite unique.

I personally believe that the notes presented in the books are extremely important and well worth the study, and will repay the student many times over for his or her effort to master them.

How to use these books.

If you are a student, and want to prepare for the IIT JEE Physics paper, it is possible to do so using these books. Start by asking yourself the following questions :

1. At the start of Class X, would you ( and your teachers and class-mates) say you are quite good in Maths and Science?

2.Do you really have the ambition to enter IIT and the capacity and willingness to work very hard for this goal?

The answer to both questions must be a resounding “yes.” Because, let's face it, you will have to invest a considerable amount of your time and effort for this. There is no short-cut. Be certain of your motivation before you start the journey.

The books have been designed for self-study; as work-books rather than books of reference. They must be complemented by a copy of “Problems in General Physics” by A.E.Irodov, available as a free download from 

https://archive.org/details/IrodovProblemsInGeneralPhysics or an inexpensive hard copy from an on-line store. This renowned publication of international acclaim, now in the public domain, is widely considered to be the very best question bank of problems in Physics available anywhere. It is particularly suitable for preparing for the IIT JEE Physics paper, and is the source of 850 of the 1000 problems to which solutions are presented. Any higher secondary school student who is able to independently solve most of the problems in the books will be in an excellent position to tackle the tough IIT JEE Physics paper. The concepts and expressions are readily available in the Notes- but of course, for a deeper treatment of the theory you will have to consult your favorite Physics text book.

The preparation is thus simple in principle. Start with the problems,not the solutions. Work out each problem with pen and paper in sequence, starting with the beginning of Volume I and ending with the end of Volume II. Check your work with the solutions provided. Refer to the notes and use them frequently,

This is not as difficult as it sounds. The greatest help you can give yourself is to form a study-group of 4-8 motivated and serious students . Meeting once a week for two hours,and sharing the work-load, the group can present solutions to 12-16 problems on the black-board to each other and answer questions from the others on the presentation. Home-work for 4 hours a week will be necessary , working out these problems with pen and paper and then checking the answers using the solutions provided. Thus through a study of 6 hrs per week over one and a half years the entire material can be meaningfully covered and assimilated. The compact solutions and the encapsulated notes make this eminently doable.

Although the solutions are self-explanatory, during the preparation of a subject like this, questions will inevitably arise. It is here that each group will benefit immensely by the presence of a mentor. I hope Higher Secondary Physics teachers will be motivated to help talented students fulfill their IIT dreams and set up study groups in their locality. I shall try to support such initiatives by teachers and groups, wherever they are,whatever their size,if they get in touch with me, in whatever way I can. Those interested can leave a comment on my blog.

The future

I would like to set up a web site so that any questions on any part of the content in these books can be asked and answered on line. The idea is to give more control to each reader to learn at his or her own pace. This is an ambitious project; one that is not going to happen any time soon. But it can be done. I invite anyone with a constructive idea about it to leave a comment in this blog.