Is it normal to feel behind on day 40 of class 11?
Aarav Kulkarni11th Sample
12 Aug 2026 · 2 min read
Okay so this might sound dumb, but I need to ask.
It's day 40 since school started (I counted, because of course I did), and I feel like everybody else already knows something I don't. In my coaching batch there are kids who finished the whole Mole Concept chapter in the first two weeks and are already doing advanced problems. I am still on the part where I mix up molarity and molality. In Biology I've read Cell: The Unit of Life twice and I still blank when someone asks me the difference between smooth and rough ER.
I made a big colourful 12-month timeline with all chapters on it and at day 40 I'm about 10 days behind it. Every night I look at the timeline and feel sick. Last night I couldn't fall asleep until 1:30 am because I was calculating how many hours I need per day to "catch up".
What I've tried: I cut my sleep to 6 hours (didn't help, I was just useless the next day), I added a Sunday bonus 4-hour block (felt guilty when I skipped it), and I stopped watching the cricket match with my dad. Which was kind of sad.
So my questions are:
- Is this normal at day 40, or am I actually behind?
- How do I know if the other kids are really ahead, or if it just looks that way?
- Should I change the timeline, or is that "giving up"?
Please be honest. I'd rather know. Thanks 🙏
14 answers & replies
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[+][–]Ananya Reddy11thSample· 2mo ago
Aarav, I could have written this word for word 😭 I'm literally two weeks behind my colour-coded plan and I wanted to cry when I saw the grey cells. I don't have the answer, but you're not the only one. Mine is also a "10 days late" situation. So that's two of us in the same boat at least.
[+][–]Meera Patel11thSample· 2mo ago
Short answer: yes, this is very normal. At day 40 you are not meant to have finished most of the course, you're meant to be building the basics. The students you describe who finish Mole Concept in two weeks have usually studied it before, in class 9-10 foundation courses or in a previous year. It looks like speed, but it is often a head start.
On question 3, changing a timeline is not giving up. A plan is a tool, and a plan that makes you sick every night has stopped being a tool. I'd suggest making the plan flexible, say a "weekly target" rather than a daily one, with one blank buffer day per week for catch-up. Things always slip, so the plan should assume it.
[+][–]Aarav Kulkarni11thSample· 2mo agoAuthor
Thanks Meera. The buffer day idea is good, I never put one in. I thought slack time = laziness.
[+][–]Yash Tiwari11thSample· 2mo ago
bhai same scene yahan bhi, mera to timeline hi nahi hai 😂 mai toh bas daily jo class me hua woh padh leta hu. but ek baat bolu, 6 ghante ki neend me kuch nahi hota, raat ko jaldi so jaa. cricket match dad ke saath dekh, woh bhi important hai yaar. match ke baad padh lena.
[+][–]Siddharth RaoDropperSample· 2mo ago
Dropper here, so I've seen the other side of this. Two things.
First, the kids who "finished it in two weeks" are very often the ones who've been here before or who've been in an advanced programme for years. I met a lot of them in my first year. Some of them were great, but many hadn't actually understood the chapters, they had just done them quickly. Speed in September doesn't predict anything about May.
Second, on molarity vs molality, since that's a concrete place you're stuck: molarity is moles of solute per litre of solution (), and molality is moles of solute per kilogram of solvent (). Molarity changes with temperature because volume changes; molality does not, because mass doesn't. Say that out loud three times and see if it sticks. If it does, you've just cleared one confusion, and that's a real day-40 win.
[+][–]Aarav Kulkarni11thSample· 2mo agoAuthor
Oh!! The temperature part is the bit I never got. Volume changes with temp but mass doesn't, so molality is stable. That actually makes sense, thanks Siddharth bhaiya.
[+][–]Rohan Sharma11thSample· 2mo ago
wait so molality is moles per litre of solvent right? and molarity is per kg? i always flip them 😅
[+][–]Siddharth RaoDropperSample· 2mo ago
Other way round, Rohan. Molarity is moles per litre of solution, and molality is moles per kilogram of solvent. Easy trick: "molaLity" and "kiLogram" both have an L-ish feel, or just think m for mass (molality) and M for Measured volume. Whatever works, just not the flipped version 🙂
[+][–]Rohan Sharma11thSample· 2mo ago
okay "m for mass" is going on my formula sheet. thanks bhaiya
[+][–]Rohan Sharma11thSample· 2mo ago
day 40 and i'm still figuring out what the syllabus even is 💀 you're ahead of me honestly
[+][–]Diya Menon11thSample· 2mo ago
omg Aarav, also for the ER thing, think of rough ER as the "factory with workers" because ribosomes are stuck on it making proteins, and smooth ER as the "clean room" with no ribosomes, it deals with lipids and detox (in liver cells especially). Ribosomes = roughness. That's the entire difference, ahh it really is that simple!
[+][–]Aarav Kulkarni11thSample· 2mo agoAuthor
Okay Diya that analogy is going straight into my notes. thank you!!
[+][–]Harsh Gupta12thSample· 2mo ago
Class 12 here. Day 40 of class 11 me was watching a YouTube video called "how to top NEET in 1 year" for 3 hours. Net result: zero. Your problem is being too serious, which is a nice problem to have. Go watch the cricket match.
[+][–]Kavya NaikDropperSample· 2mo ago
Second attempt student here. I'd add: the question isn't "am I behind", it's "am I understanding." If you can explain a concept to a friend in plain words, you're not behind, even if the timeline says so. If you can't, the answer is to slow down on that topic, not to speed up.
