How to Prepare for Board Exams-A Few Tips

How to Prepare for CBSE Board Exams?

In my previous series post, Our IB Tutors discussed the advantages of CBSE board exams. Now, I am suggesting a few tricks for preparing for board exams.

There are many posts on the internet that suggest how to eat, sleep, and manage your stress during board exams, but in this post, I shall only discuss academic tips for preparing for board exams. I am taking class 10 Mathematics as a base subject here, but you can apply the same tricks to almost all your subjects.

Question Paper Break-Up

1. When students see this list, they usually think that algebra has the maximum weight, so they should pay more attention to this segment or be more fascinated by trigonometry.
2. They provide the maximum proportion of their time to this chapter. But they miss the point that there are four chapters in Algebra (Polynomials, Linear Equations in 2 variables, A.P, Quadratic Equations) and two chapters in Trigonometry (Introduction to Trigonometry, Applications of Trigonometry), so we can see that as an average one chapter get only 5-6 marks weight.
3. There are two chapters that we generally ignore (Statistics and probability). Probability is such a small chapter that you can consider it an exercise, given in the chapter Statistics.
4. These are straightforward chapters and have a handsome weight of 11 marks. I advise you to provide them with a proportionate amount of time.
5. I don’t mean we should not learn or work hard in difficult/challenging chapters. I only suggest focusing on accessible chapters like Statistics, Probability, Circles, and Constructions.

Marks-wise Distribution of Question Paper-

Looking at this image, you can understand that students can only do well solving 3-mark and 4-mark questions. In my groups, a few students could be better at Mathematics and skip difficult questions. They should understand that those problematic questions are possible 3-4 exam markers. If they continue skipping them, their exam will be based on 1-2 mark questions that have meager weight (only 18 marks).

Typology of Question Paper

54% of the question paper is based on understanding and remembering. These parts can be easily covered, so the difficulty level of the question paper is moderate. Application-based questions cover 24%(19 marks) of the question paper. These are usually 3-4 mark questions at each exercise’s end. Your only challenge is to tackle HOTS questions that cover only 17% of the question paper (14 marks).

Books You Need to Learn-

(i) NCERT- It’s your base book. You should read and solve all NCERT questions, including the examples. While solving the examples, you should never look at the solutions given there. Please write all example questions on a separate paper and then solve them. You should ask questions previously asked in exams/tests and solve them repeatedly. While solving them, you should note what mistakes you are making. Stay calm about your mistakes. It’s natural for a class of 10th/12th students to make mistakes, but you should avoid repeating similar mistakes.

(ii) Guidelines for Mathematics/Science Laboratory in Schools—This book is designed to help you with your practice exams. It will also help you improve your grades in your internal exams, which have a 20-mark weight.

(iii) NCERT EXEMPLAR—Students must complete NCERT EXEMPLARY book questions. This will take their preparation to the next level. Questions given in this book are usually more complex than NCERT questions. This process helps students solve application-based problems and HOTS. Some students first completely solve NCERT and then start EXEMPLARY, but I suggest they complete a chapter from NCERT and then do the same chapter from EXEMPLARY. It would be best if you did the same for all the chapters.

Consistency Fortis Hospital’s mental health department surveyed 4,100 students aspiring for board exams. This shows that most students are not consistent with their plan/timetable of study. Irregularity leads to incomplete preparation, which results in mental stress. Ultimately, students are not able to perform in board exams. Studying 3-4 hours per day consistently is far better than studying for 8-10 hours for one or two days during exams.

Strong Conceptual knowledge- Students must solve MCQ questions. This will work as a tonic to make their concepts strong. You will be able to understand the question in less time.

Time Management

1. You should develop a time management strategy before entering the examination hall and follow it strictly during exams.
2. Every section should be given time according to its marks weight. Giving extra time to one section will save you time for other sections, resulting in silly mistakes.
3. To make your time management strong, you should solve 4-5 mock tests in 3 hours fix time.
4. Order Of Question Paper- Students need clarification on whether they should start their paper with one-mark or four-mark questions.
5. This strategy differs from student to student. So, there is no standard answer to this question.
6. You can adopt an order of comfort, but remember that you will never change your strategy during exams.
7. If you have practiced solving one-mark questions first, do the same in exams. Preparation, revision, presentation, and time management are critical for preparing for board exams.

Finally, I advise you to be positive, patient, and confident. Believe in yourself and your hard work. You will ROCK!!!