A study plan has to divide the hours between subjects, and there are three numbers to divide by. Marks say what a subject is worth. Units say how much the syllabus lists for it. Your pace says how long a unit takes you. The first two come from the exam body. The third only you can supply.
When marks and units agree
RRB NTPC’s first computer based test has 100 questions of 1 mark each [RRB NTPC 1,2]. General Awareness is 40.0% of the marks and 38.5% of the printed units, Mathematics 30.0% and 28.8%, and General Intelligence and Reasoning 30.0% and 32.7%. A split by marks and a split by units give nearly the same answer, so the starting point is easy.
When they differ
NEET UG gives Biology 50.0% of its marks [NEET UG 1] and its syllabus prints 20.0% of the units, while Physics has 25.0% of the marks and 40.0% of the units. JEE Main Paper 1 gives the three subjects equal marks and unequal lists. In SSC CGL’s Tier-II merit marks, English is 34.6% of the marks and 16.9% of the longer unit lists.
| Exam | Subject | Share of marks | Share of printed units |
|---|---|---|---|
| RRB NTPC, first test | General Awareness | 40.0% | 38.5% |
| RRB NTPC, first test | Mathematics | 30.0% | 28.8% |
| RRB NTPC, first test | General Intelligence and Reasoning | 30.0% | 32.7% |
| NEET UG | Physics | 25.0% | 40.0% |
| NEET UG | Chemistry | 25.0% | 40.0% |
| NEET UG | Biology (Botany and Zoology) | 50.0% | 20.0% |
| JEE Main Paper 1 | Mathematics | 33.3% | 25.9% |
| JEE Main Paper 1 | Physics | 33.3% | 37.0% |
| JEE Main Paper 1 | Chemistry | 33.3% | 37.0% |
| SSC CGL, Tier-II merit marks | Quantitative Aptitude and Mathematical Abilities | 23.1% | 40.4% |
| SSC CGL, Tier-II merit marks | Reasoning | 23.1% | 33.7% |
| SSC CGL, Tier-II merit marks | English | 34.6% | 16.9% |
| SSC CGL, Tier-II merit marks | General Awareness | 19.2% | 9.0% |
A split by units alone would give SSC CGL English about 16.9% of your time for 34.6% of the marks. A split by marks alone would give NEET UG Biology half your time without asking whether its 10 units are small or large. Each number hides something the other shows.
A method that uses all three
- Write each subject with its share of the marks and its unit count. The plan pages for NEET UG, JEE Main, SSC CGL, RRB NTPC, GATE and UPSC CSE give both for each.
- Measure your pace: minutes per unit, averaged over three units of the subject, with pauses and breaks left out.
- Work out the hours for each subject: units × minutes per unit ÷ 60 × rounds.
- Turn the hours into shares and set each subject’s share of hours beside its share of marks. A subject whose share of hours is far above its share of marks costs more per mark. That is a reason to check the plan, such as the depth or the number of rounds. The subject still needs its hours.
- Fit the total into the weeks you have, keep a buffer, and re-time your pace after two weeks.
Example. These numbers are made up. Subject X has 12 units and you measure 120 minutes a unit. Subject Y has 6 units and you measure 360 minutes a unit. One pass takes X 12 × 120 ÷ 60 = 24 hours and Y 6 × 360 ÷ 60 = 36 hours, so Y takes more time with half as many units. If X and Y carry the same marks, Y costs 1.5 times as many hours per mark (36 ÷ 24), and a plan that gave them equal hours would be wrong for you in a way the unit counts alone would not show.
Four ways a split goes wrong
- Equal hours for every subject. It ignores both the marks and the units.
- Hours by liking. Measure your pace first, then adjust for strengths.
- Forgetting a qualifying paper. A qualifying paper needs hours even though its marks do not count. UPSC CSE’s General Studies Paper-II must reach 33% [UPSC CSE 1], and SSC CGL’s Computer Knowledge and Data Entry Speed Test sections must be qualified [SSC CGL 1].
- Treating the unit count as size. Units are the headings a syllabus prints, and the exam bodies print them at different sizes.
How AspirantGoal handles this
- Each subject can have a target in hours. Roadmap compares your targets with the time you have left at your daily budget, and says how many hours short you are when they do not fit.
- The Study Timer and the Stopwatch save the minutes you really studied, so the pace in step 2 is a number you can read back.
- Week shows Available time, Assigned time and Buffer, and each subject is worked out on its own, so extra time in one subject does not quietly cover a gap in another.
See the Features page for the full list.
What this does not tell you
This page does not say how many hours any exam needs or which subject to put first. It does not predict a score, a rank or a cut-off. The shares are arithmetic on the numbers the exam bodies print. AspirantGoal is an independent app with no link to any exam authority, and the exam body’s current documents are the authority.