Preparing for the Board Exams

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Millions of students appear in the CBSE board exams every year. These exams are very crucial to every student since a student’s score in these exams determines which college/university they get admitted to and which career path do they choose. source:udupitoday.com

Ever since the AIEEE has been ruled out by the JEE (Joint Entrance Exams), the new criteria has intensified the need for scoring well in the CBSE board exams. Entrance exams like NEET (for medical students), JEE Mains and JEE Advanced (for engineering students) select the candidates on the basis of their CBSE board exams score.

Every Student’s Problem

You’re done with the syllabus, you’ve revised each chapter but you still don’t feel confident enough. There are some basic situations which most of the students face during the last months of their academic session. It’s very essential to find out the root cause behind this feeling so that you could get over it before you finally appear for the board examination. Here are some of these situations:

• Your classmates are discussing a question with you and their answer doesn’t seem to be compelling to you.
• You’re trying to solve a question and realize that you are not able to do it.
• Your teacher is discussing a topic which you’re quite good at but you realize that there is a lot more than what you know.

The Actual Problem

In all of the above mentioned cases, the actual problem is that even though you have grasped the knowledge, you can’t use that knowledge to your benefit. This is mainly due to the lack of in-depth knowledge of the concepts. You read through the content for acquiring maximum knowledge about a concept and but what you actually acquire is simply apparent. To the complete knowledge you need to practice the right kind of questions.

The Resources

There are primarily 3 resources where you can find the “right” questions to study: 1.  NCERT textbooks The NCERT textbooks contain comprehension based questions after discussing each concept of the chapters. NCERT books have actually been structured to facilitate step-by-step understanding and evaluation of the sub-topics rather than emphasizing upon the overall understanding of the topics. The final answers to some questions might also be given in these textbooks but the entire solving methods are not provided. You can try solving the questions and then get them evaluated by a teacher. Remember (or rather note down) which questions did you answer wrong so that you could revise the related concepts before attempting to solve them again. 2.  Question banks Question banks are nothing but books which are indexed topic-wise or concept-wise. These are easily available at all good book stores. Buy the book which is indexed concept-wise. Like the NCERT books, the complete answers of all the questions are usually unavailable in the question banks too. Try to solve the questions asked after every concept and then get it evaluated by an expert. 3.  Online Resources A lot of websites provide free tests and accurate evaluation. Although they’re well structured, some students find NCERT textbooks to be non-comprehensive. They feel that NCERT books can only help them identify the bigger shortcomings in your preparation. Similarly the questions in Question Banks too don’t seem to be understanding oriented to some students.  Also, getting the answers evaluated by an expert isn't possible every time. This is where online resources can come to your help.

Quick Tips

Preparing for the Exam

• Make a goal - Since CBSE usually conducts board exams in the month of March, your prime goal should be to finish the syllabus till the end of January and then focus on proper revision during the month of February.
• Focus on the pre-boards. They’re actually conducted to prepare you for the finals.
• Make an efficient study plan where in you can give time to each subject regularly.
• Finish making your academic assignments and report files as early as possible.
• Study the difficult subjects when you are the highest level of energy and concentration.
• Try to write down whatever you revise.
• Practice the diagrams. They carry a lot of marks in some major subjects, especially Biology.
• Do not hesitate in clearing all your doubts by taking help from your teachers.
• Don’t let the parental pressure affect your mind.

Exam Day

• Don’t be nervous due to what you don’t know well. Be confident about what you know well.
• Be systematic while answering the questions and don’t mix up the sections.
• Be specific with your answers and try to answer each question in points.
• Diagrams matter a lot. Draw all the diagrams neatly and label them properly.         
• Set aside the last 15 minutes for revising the entire answer sheet.

All of us are well aware of the fact that C.B.S.E exams are very crucial for admissions into colleges and universities, professional courses and also in getting employment. The final exams are coming up. If you’re a 10^th/12^th grade student and need tuitions for preparation, you can post your 10^th/12^th tuition need here. You can leave your opinions in the comments below.