With pre-board exams around the corner, time management and strategies towards effective preparation is the key to score higher, says Aakash Chaudhry
The pre board exams lay a solid foundation for the student’s future. Their results determine how well you are prepared for your board exams which is very important for your career ahead and hence, it becomes crucial to give the pre- board exams your best shot. They guide you towards examining the problem areas in your preparation and ensure you are better prepared to face the final test in advance.
The key to pre-board exam preparation is to devise a strategy that suits your daily schedule, individual studying capacity and concentration levels. Most students tend to blindly follow the study routine set by other brighter students in class and end up lagging behind and feeling lost when they cannot keep up with the demanding schedules; leading to stress and last minute tension. If you don’t wish to fall in to the same rut, get realistic and analyse your weaknesses. Then plan your preparatory schedule step by step.
The first step is to adopt a positive attitude and be confident of achieving your goals by the end of the preparation. Use the time in hand to focus on issues like the size of your syllabus, how much time you will need to tackle each subject one by one and the skills you’ll need to develop to take on the examination.
Make a time table to allot adequate time to every subject in the course. Prepare a list of testable material for the exam. Keep room for revision.
Identify the difficult topics of each subject that you find challenging. Design strategies that can be used to improvise on them. Mark out those topics and chapters that carry maximum scoring opportunity and practice those without fail.
If you plan to study selectively, do it smartly so as to ensure you don’t end up missing out on significant topics. Pay special attention to the required readings that the professors recommend and recurring topics in exam papers to prepare accordingly.
Make an objective review of your preparation. See what is consuming maximum time and if it is worth it. Get rid of distracting factors and make sure you are in control of your preparation with frequent follow ups.
Set realistic deadlines for yourself so that you can balance your classes, extra tuitions as well as study time at home, leaving some time for recreational activity so that you aren’t overwhelmed by it all.
Make sure you leave enough time for basic activities like sleep, meals and exercise as these will go a long way in maintaining a healthy body and mind. As the prelims approach, increase your study time prioritising it over domestic chores and social activities.
Get question papers of previous years and solve them on a regular basis. These will give you a fair perception of the marks distribution, no. of questions and time management during exam.
There are three sources you can tap while preparing for the exam—
THE NCERT textbook contains understanding based questions on every concept dealt in the book. It encourages systematic learning and assessment of the sub-topics so that you gain in depth knowledge and do not indulge in surface learning. Sharpen your skill set as per the mistakes you make while solving questions and rework on them with expert help.
A question bank offers a topic or concept wise index. It helps you scour the syllabus for relevant questions listed that you must prepare for and makes you aware of the concepts that you need to practice harder.
Solving previous years’ question papers and thoroughly reviewing class notes also help set for the pre-boards.
Sort out the time taken to solve questions as per their importance and length. leave time for proof reading the paper at the end of the exam. If you think you are stuck with one question, go ahead with others and come back to it later. Keep a check on time so that you don’t end up running out of it at the last minute.
It is imperative to take the pre-board exams seriously as they reflect the potential results that you’ll achieve in your actual boards. Most schools debar students failing in prelims. This is just an indication of the fact that students need to pull up their socks in advance so that they don’t fall back on their pre-board exam preparations when there is time in hand.
last but not the least; free your mind of niggling fears and anxiety about your preparation. Make sure your study area at home is brightly lit, silent and clutter free to make it a favourable environment to increase concentration. let your loved ones and teachers serve as moral support as well as dependable anchors to help you sail through.
The writer is director of Aakash Educational Services ltd.