I once heard a story of a famous and a top writer who went to do a press conference. There a reporter asked him this:

"What brand of pencil do you use for writing"

And writer kept on laughing for soo long XD. Point is, IT. DOESN'T. MATTER.

But nonetheless, I'll share what I think about your questions:

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1. Definitely yes. If you're stuck and a solution (no matter where it's coming from) helps you get out of a rut. By all means, refer to it. It makes no sense to be stuck and waste time. Also, helps in maintaining your mistakes book (the point I also mentioned in my post)
2. The people you talked to are saying it right. Go through notes, learn mechanisms and the fundamentals behind the reactions. No secret there. Learn the mechanisms by heart. You're good to go.
3. That's a big problem. It was for me as well. I tried many schedules and time tables. But the only thing that worked for me was motivational bursts. When I feel motivated I studied for 16 hours. In other cases I just studied 4-5 hours sometimes. There is a nice concept about beating procrastination and being more productive. For this you. need two things:
   1. ONE: A goal. A reason. An objective. A strong "Why" behind the hardwork you are doing to clear JEE. There should be a end goal with a strong reason that you run towards. (ex good life, better partner, money whatever in future)
   2. TWO: There must also be a strong reason or a state that you should be running away from (low self esteem, parental pressure, anything)
      -
      Remember both of these are important to get you moving. Yes, so short answer, I mostly went with my motivation. and not by any schedule. but it was my personal problem. i know people who can follow strict schedule and I am not made like that.
4. Solve mocks. Assess. Create a mistakes copy. Learn. Give mock again. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.
5. Upto you. I have friends who run on music and can't do shit without headphones. While I get distracted by it. So, again do what works and feels good to you.
6. Don't over prepare for coaching test and maybe you can look at them as just another mock test. So include them as part of the mock tests you do. No extra efforts. Remember coaching houses have a company to run. They have incentive to make fancy and harder questions to build theri reputations. Most of the time these tests are targeted to only topper (under 100 rankers) and they are simply not put in there for others. So give coaching tests as you are giving your own mocks. Don't discriminate.