How Dev Sharma Cracked JEE Main Chemistry: Topper Story

Dev Sharma was the student everyone thought would do well in physics and maths but struggle with chemistry. He proved them wrong. Scoring 99.5 percentile in JEE Main Chemistry, he turned what was his weakest subject into his highest scorer. His approach was built on discipline, a very specific reading strategy, and a revision system that might be the simplest and most effective in this guide.

NCERT First, Every Time

Dev's foundational rule was non-negotiable: every chemistry chapter started with NCERT, read word by word. Not skimmed — read. He highlighted every reaction, definition, and example in a single pass, then closed the book and tried to reproduce it from memory. Only after two clean NCERT read-throughs did he pick up a reference book. He argues that JEE Main Chemistry is 70% NCERT — not spirit-of-NCERT, but direct-from-NCERT. Our NCERT chemistry strategy guide validates this with specific chapter-by-chapter data.

The Inorganic Chemistry System That Changed Everything

Dev initially hated inorganic chemistry. He had no system — just a pile of reactions and properties that refused to stick. His breakthrough came when he switched to table-based memorisation: for each group, he created a table with rows for atomic radius, ionisation energy, key compounds, colour, oxidation states, and anomalies. He reviewed one table every morning before studying. Within three months, inorganic went from his lowest-scoring area to his most reliable. For the memory tricks that underpin this system, see our inorganic chemistry memory tricks guide.

Physical Chemistry: The Formula Notebook

For physical chemistry numericals, Dev maintained a single formula notebook. What made it different from others' notebooks was the conditions column: next to every formula he wrote when it applies and when it does not. So instead of just PV = nRT, his entry read: "Ideal gas, low pressure, high temperature — deviates with van der Waals at high P/low T." This conditioned understanding prevented the formula-application errors that cost so many students marks.

Organic Chemistry: Pattern Over Mechanism

Dev was practical about organic: he spent one month mastering the major named reactions and their products before going deep into mechanisms. His reasoning — JEE Main gives you the mechanism mark far less often than the product mark. He drilled reagent → product for every named reaction until the answers were instant, then went back to understand the mechanism to cement retention. This product-first approach is controversial but it prioritised the marks available in the actual exam.

Mock Tests and the Recovery Habit

Dev's weekly mocks were non-negotiable, but what set him apart was his recovery habit: after every mock, he spent 30 minutes on the exact questions he got wrong, solving them fresh from scratch the following morning. Not reviewing the solution — resolving completely cold. He found that this 24-hour re-attempt fixed mistakes far more permanently than reading the solution immediately. He encourages all aspirants to take a free mock test and build this re-attempt habit from day one.

His Message

Dev's path shows that chemistry rewards system over talent. NCERT first, table-based inorganic revision, formula notebooks with conditions, product-first organic, and the re-attempt mock habit — these are all replicable. He reminds students that his initial chemistry score was well below average. The gap between that score and his 99.5 percentile was closed entirely by disciplined habit change, not intelligence change.