5 Tips on How To Make Excellent Revision Notes

Revision notes for any subject or any class hold the same significance. The practice of using revision notes for exam preparation or test preparation is a tried and test way to strengthen one’s knowledge base and create scope for high scores too! However, it is not like any kind of revision notes will help you achieve this. Revision notes of the right kind consist of comprehensive information within small number of lines. We have listed down for you, some tips you can use to write useful and effective revision notes. Here are a few:

1. Underline important paragraphs and lines from the text

Once you have read the chapters you are supposed to make revision notes for, make sure you have underlined or marked the lines you feel are important, as well as the parts you think contain important words and phrases. This way, you will not forget what all the notes have to include.

2. Use different colored inks for different types of notes

When writing these notes, one should use different color inks for the various kinds of notes they make. This way, students know where short notes, definitions or important phrases are written.

3. Revisit books after a session of writing notes

Once you have already written some notes, search the reference books again, so as to make sure you have not left out any important stuff.

4. Search for alternative resources

The kind of notes that you make can be improved if you look at different resources for these notes. The more you look for various important things to remember and write down in these revision notes, the more chances you have to create a better knowledge base for exams.

5. Do not create random, loose sheets of notes

In case you have created revision notes in various loose sheets, you may forget some of these somewhere and not be able to collect them when required. The ideal way to keep all your notes on one place is to make cue cards in a stack or make stapled sheets of paper.

If you are looking for prepared notes online from an expert-certified and reliable set of notes, students can explore the same on meritnation.com! The website holds the best revision notes for students of all classes from 1 to 12 for different educational boards like CBSE, ICSE, and state boards in Maharashtra, Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu.

How to Avoid Typical Silly Mistakes Students Make in Exams

Pooja is an exceptionally smart kind when it comes to academics. She needs barely a couple of hours to perfectly prepare for tests, can recite poems from memory and can solve most practical questions in her math and science tests. One would easily think she must score a lot of 100s in her exams, right? Except, she ends up being a bit far from the three-digit score. What is she doing wrong, you may want to ask. Here come those infamous ‘silly mistakes’ that your parents and teachers always warned you about and scolded you for. It is those few things that she does not manage to remember while writing the exam that took away her chance to score full marks.

Pooja is not alone in this. There are several students across the globe who lose out on marks because of careless or silly mistakes that can be eliminated only with a few steps taken in the direction. We put together some extremely useful tips for you to ponder upon and refer to, as and when you are to appear for exams:

1. Do not be in a hurry to complete the exam and run

You have to be aware of the fact that the maximum number of mistakes made happen in a state of unnecessary hurry. There is no way you can make any unwanted mistakes if you have maintained your calm and composure through the entire length of the exam.

 2. Revise as you go through with the exam

We know that is a tough thing to do when we have loads of questions to answer. But believe us when we say that it is actually saving your time. When you check your answers as you go, you will require lesser time in the end for revision and the scope of having committed mistakes lessens by half.

 3. Keep some time in the end for revision too

We ask you to do this since there could be questions that you could have left out from the question paper. By keeping ten minutes aside for the revision of the entire exam in the end, one could avoid grave as well as silly mistakes liking the one mentioned above and others like marking answer serial numbers wrong or mismatching questions with answers.

 4. Check stuff like the date, question numbers, your name on each sheet

Though a very rare occurrence, writing the wrong serial numbers for questions and putting in wrong dates can get a lot of marks deducted from your answer sheet. Also, make sure you have written your name in every supplementary sheet you take. You may also want to check if you have written all the answers in the correct number and order.

 5. Spellings and labelling

Another important aspect of avoiding minor mistakes in exams is to check for incorrect words and spellings at different places in the answer sheet. This way you will find spelling mistakes if any, making your answer complete.


Now that you know some of the most important things to look out for. You may now go forward with these recommended tips and tricks in mind and be sure that you can score the best marks possible!

How to Look For The Best Textbook Solutions

In the midst of several options and choices, we often pick up things that we do not need, or want. The very fact that we have so many options makes us dizzy with expectation, hence hindering us from making the ideal choice. Why is it that, even in the presence of a real requirement and presence of the best options, we cannot make the right choices? The answer is simple. It is the lack of proper information that makes us grab randomly at the choices most prominent, without paying heed to our requirement.

Why are we mentioning this here? Because we are going to discuss the availability of several types and categories of textbook solutions for students today. Textbooks solutions started out being just another medium of revision, which students used to take their preparation slightly further. But with the increase in its popularity, the use of alternative textbooks authored by experienced writers like RD Sharma and HC Verma has gone up.

These textbooks are designed to give students a one-stop solution for all their revision, practice and improvement purposes. A lot of students, however, are unable to make full use of these textbooks and their solutions, simply because they do not which book to use for which subject. Here is a brief list of suggestions for students of CBSE board, on how to select the right textbook solutions:

1. The author matters

Just taking the help of any author for a particular subject might not give students the best result. Looking at the prescribed textbooks at school may give you an idea about which author would be most similar, and as a consequence, more useful.

2. Make use of online solutions for more options

In addition to the textbooks, the solutions are an important participant in your preparation. Go online and find out which textbooks have the most reliable solutions available. Without the availability of solutions, the textbook questions cannot suffice.

3. Look for the most comprehensive solutions

Once you have found the most appropriate solutions, check whether the solutions available are enough to clear your doubts and queries. Only when you understand the entire method of solving a particular sum or problem can your preparation be on the right track.

4. Look for different versions of the same textbook solutions

Once you have found the above mentioned solutions, try looking for possible alternatives that are as satisfying. These varying solutions might just tell you different ways to solve the questions and increase your knowledge base, in the process.

Additional tip: Practice regularly

Just buying the textbook and copying their solutions onto word files won’t make you perform well in exams. Students need to practice from the textbook and make sure they are in step (or maybe ahead) of their class, as far as preparation for tests and exams are concerned. Only when you have put in enough practise into these textbook solutions can you reap full benefit of the same.

5 Popular Sports of India

India is a large country. Several cultures, several beliefs. Several things that divide us; make us stand apart. Many things where our views clash, our emotions do not match. Amidst all that, is something that binds us together. The country’s love for sports has a different intensity to it altogether. The unity seen in the people during a match of any popular sport is unbelievable. People forget religious, cultural and economic differences and cheer for the one ultimate identity they all possess: being Indian.

This piece is dedicated to some of the major and most popular sports known in India and the ones India is known for. We give you a chance to bask in the pride that shared by more than 1.2 billion Indians. The games or sports mentioned are in no particular order.

1. Field Hockey: The National Sport of India

The popular team sport is being played in india since 1885-86, has risen to the position of the National Sport, India being the most successful Field Hockey team in the world, winning 8 gold, 1 silver, and 2 bronze medals in Olympics. The game was initially established in Calcutta (now Kolkata) and gained popularity in Bombay (now Mumbai) and Punjab. The men’s national team and the women’s national team for field hockey are the major groups representing the nation today. The accomplishments of the two teams have been seen in the Olympics, Asian Games, Commonwealth Games among several others. The sport also played by several state level teams across the country.

Noted Players: Dhyan Chand, who was probably the greatest hockey player of all time, was followed by players like Leslie Claudius, Udham Singh, Dhanraj Pillay and others.

Governing Body: Hockey India

2. Cricket: A Major Religion

If any sport could be followed as a religion in India, it would have to be Cricket. In fact, it already is. Brought into the country through the British rule, somewhere in the 1700’s, the country over the years started loving and adapting to the game, and today it is has so many achievements in the sport. In India, the forms of cricket played include international as well as domestic. All the matches played by India are watched by millions on television, heard on radios and witnessed live.

Noted Players: The national team for cricket in India has seen several accomplished players from Mohinder Sunil Gavaskar, Mohinder Amarnath, Kapil Dev, rahul Dravid and the living legend Sachin Tendulkar.

Governing Body: BCCI (The Board of Control for Cricket in India)

3. Football: World’s craze for the sport also present in India

Another sport that can rival Cricket in fan following and match-time enthusiasm is Football. Though more popular in the states of West Bengal, Goa, Kerala and the North-eastern states, the football fever can be seen across the country during an international match. The Indian National Team for Football has been a two-time Asian champion. The interest with which the rest of the world watches Football world cup matches is shared equally well by Indian fans as well. The top domestic league in India, the I League is one of the best sports leagues in India. The names of East Bengal F.C. and Mohun Bagan in one sentence can stir up storms in fan’s hearts!

Noted Players: Sailen Manna, one of the best defenders India has ever produced, Mohammed Salim and Baichung Bhutia, one of the most popular international footballers from India.

Governing Body: AIFF (All India Football Federation)

4. Lawn Tennis: The urban game

Lawn Tennis is another game that grabbed the attention of the country in the 1990’s with the first Grand Slam title in mixed doubles. The fan following for Tennis among Indians has led to the establishment of several tennis academies across the country. The sport is played in various age groups on the professional front. The country has seen many noted Tennis players in the last decade in all four Grand Slams and other international tournaments. The excitement of fans can be seen during the grand slams in full flow.

Noted Players: Mahesh Bhupati, Leander Paes, Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna are some names known in the international arena

Governing Body: AITA (All India Tennis Association)

5. Chess: The Mind Game

Featuring last in this list, but not the last, Chess is an indoor game that has seen Indian achievers on the international circuit. Actually, an Indian version of the game has been played in the country since ancient times. The country is anyway known for the high IQ individuals, to which Indian chess players have made a mark too. Chess is a game that required lots of concentration, intellectual drive, alertness and abilities to plan complex moves. Players have to dedicate long hours into exercising their minds for challenges. India has shown its abilities at Chess through a win in the World Chess Championship.

Noted Players: Viswanathan Anand is the current World Chess Champion while Koneru Humpy is the ranked 3 worldwide in the women’s category.

Governing Body: AICF (All India Chess Federation)

CBSE assigns weightage to Value Education in Board Exams

This academic year onwards, the Central Board of Secondary Education will be assigning 5% of the marks for value education in each of the core subjects in Class Xth and XIIth Board Exams. The questions will be for five marks in a 100-marks paper and for 3-4 marks in a paper of 70-90 marks.

Eg- A potential question in Economics is: a father in his will gives 40% each to his son and daughter and 20% to his servant who has been with him for long. Why has he done it and what is the value addition? 8 marks

The answer to this would be based upon Gender equality and charity.
Besides class Xth and class XIIth, schools have also been asked to select such relevant questions to be asked during the final exams for classes IXth and XIth.

The education system in India has been for long under the wrong light for neglecting  the skill and value development of students and making them tunnel-visioned towards  academics. CBSE in recent times has been taking many positive steps to address this concern. School heads have also welcomed the move, saying that the holistic development of a child holds greater importance over only academic development in the long run.

Cheers!