Group of students filling admission application form or preparing for exams on college campus by discussing eachother - concept of graduation, skill development and examination Group of students filling admission application form or preparing for exams on college campus by discussing with each other - concept of graduation, skill development and examination
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Most state and Union Territory Educational Boards, CBSE, ICSE, IB, IGCSE and NIOS, have released notifications about the upcoming Class 10th and 12th Board Examination. The National Testing Agencies and Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) have released the dates for various competitive exams for admission to professional courses but also conducted and brought out the results of examinations like CLAT 2024. Here are a few tips that enable a rational Class X and XII (PUC) student to score maximum marks in the Board Examinations.
Plan a self-study time-table
Once examinees get their date sheets, they must make a scientific plan to prepare for the examinations. Normally, the students prepare their daily lesson plan/revision according to the school/college timetable. For many students, Saturdays/Sundays or holidays are a no time table day. Students waste their prime time on non-academic matters. Remember the idiom ‘Practice makes a man perfect’. Allotment of personal time for revising the topics, themes, concepts, solving the previous years’ question papers, etc., is a good learning practice which enables the students to score maximum marks.
Check the syllabus
Refer to your subject syllabus and the scope of the syllabus. All state / Union Territory / CBSE / ICSE and other examination boards have released the curriculum for the concerned year of examination. Schools/colleges have scheduled their annual lesson plans accordingly. The question paper-setting committees do not give questions out of the given syllabus. Textbooks published by NCERT, SCERT and a few private publishers bring out the syllabus for that particular year of examination. The students or parents are not aware of the syllabus. They should contact their wards’ subject teachers and get a syllabus copy. Those students who prepare/revise the exam materials as per the syllabus for that year’s exam can score better marks.
Sample question paper
In common practice, the concerned forms, such as blueprints, patterns of question papers, marking schemes, etc., are familiar to teachers or examiners. Students can also grab the details of such examination matters and score good marks. All the above documents and materials are available on the websites of various examination boards. For example, Karnataka State Board Class X can download the KSEEB, SSLC blueprint 2024 directly from its webpage. The blueprint includes subject-wise names of the topics/chapters and their mark’s weightage. Understanding the blueprint or marking scheme will stimulate the candidate’s confidence to write better in the Board Examinations. The subject-wise weightage allotted to each topic in all subjects can be downloaded by the students from the concerned Boards portals.
Time management skills
Using the given time during the examination is challenging for many students. For this practice, solving previous years’ questionnaires is a good experience. The first 15 minutes are allotted as question paper reading time by all the Boards. But the questions will carry only marks, not the question-wise timings. The time allotted to attempt the whole question paper is printed on the top of the question papers. Many schools or state boards like Karnataka School Education conduct preparatory or pre-board examinations to familiarise students with time management skills. The research has proved that those students who practise/solve previous years’ question papers or attempt pre-finals can score better marks in the final exams.
Quizzing oneself is the strongest self-study technique. Self-examination is a good exercise which helps retention and comprehension. It includes setting up questions, sitting and writing the same questions following the duration, assessing the self-written answers, etc., which will boost the students’ confidence and enable them to make temporary corrections.
A final word to the students
Be optimistic and confident
Compete with yourself to improve previous scores
Be determined, focused, self-motivated
Give equal importance to both marks and knowledge
Learn from past failures/success
Understand that success needs several chances/attempts
Eat nutritious food; stay healthy and hydrated
Be always in the mind’s comfort zone
(The writer is the Principal of Coorg Public School and PU College, Gonikoppal)