Tackling CBSE Question Paper

You prepared well, wrote your CBSE Question Paper satisfactorily and accordingly calculated your score to lie somewhere between 75-80%.  But your final results leave you feeling shocked! For no apparent reasons, you seemed to have scored far less than your expectations. Does this not sound familiar too many of you students who are reading this?

Let us try and understand what might have happened. Though you attempted the CBSE Question Paper to the best of your best ability, you might have overlooked some important points while writing the answers to the CBSE Question Paper. Let me spell out a few tips that you can use the next time you write/prepare for your CBSE Question Paper:

1. Read all the instructions carefully and use the 15 minutes allotted for reading the question paper judiciously. While glancing at the CBSE Question Paper, pay attention to key words like ‘elaborate’, ‘classify’, ‘comment’ etc and tailor your answer accordingly.
2. Strictly adhere to the word limit prescribed for the CBSE Question Paper. Many students may not know that marks are deducted for exceeding the word limit. Therefore, the next time you answer a short answer question carrying two marks weightage, there is no point writing unending paragraphs for the same. Try to restrict your answer to 2-3 lines.
3. It is advisable to attempt all the questions in a section at a single go (like section A, B, C) while writing your CBSE Question Paper. Irrespective of the order of the sections, attempt first the section that you are most comfortable with. Doing so will boost your confidence as you smoothly tackle section after section and will set the pace for writing the answers to those tricky questions, as you attempt the CBSE Question Paper.
4. Start by attempting those questions within a section the answers to which you are 100% confident about. A terrific start makes a positive impression on the examiner and there are chances that he/she might just overlook some of your minor mistakes.
5. Students make the common mistake of not marking the question number clearly in their answer sheets while attempting their CBSE Question Paper. An answer like this may go unnoticed by the examiner while checking the CBSE Questions Paper and thereby you may lose precious marks. To avoid such a situation the next time you attempt the CBSE Question Paper highlight the question number in the answer sheet.
6. While answering the comprehension type of questions, especially in the language papers read the whole paragraph first and understand it in totality before attempting to answer. Doing so will help you score better.
7. While attempting your CBSE Question Paper, base your answers on your NCERT text books. For an enhanced conceptual understanding of some topics, you may refer to other books but you will earn more marks if your answers are aligned as per the content in the NCERT books.
8. To avoid skipping a question in the CBSE, ICSE, SSLC question paper, each time you are done with a question, tick off the corresponding question number on the CBSE Question Paper so as to avoid any confusion.
9. Pay special attention to correct spellings, a neat and legible handwriting, a tidy and organized paper etc. as these can fetch you that additional mark or two, that can give you the much needed edge!.

Hope these tips will help you identify and take care of these small but significant details the next time you attempt your CBSE Question Paper.

How to revise for CBSE Papers?

With the CBSE papers approaching, this time around students must be done with their studying of all the chapters and will be busy preparing for the very essential revision exercise. In order to score great marks in the final CBSE papers, revising in the right manner is of utmost importance. 

Often students face problems with the right technique on how to go about with revising. If you are one of those students, this article could be of immense help. Before starting to revise for your final CBSE papers it is very important to plan your revision exercise well in advance. Here are a few tips that all you students out there could use and incorporate in your revision activity schedule to gain the maximum out of it. 

• Your revision for the CBSE papers should be a time-bound activity. There should be a definite starting date and ending date for the ‘actual’ revision exercise. Often it happens that students who lack confidence tend to over-revise for the final CBSE papers and in the process waste precious time that could be invested in some other productive activities. To help students get over their habit of over-revising and also beat examination related stress students should stick to the allotted time period.
• While revising for the CBSE papers students should set realistic and achievable goals that help them push themselves that extra bit. Students should neither set too high targets that are in non-achievable nor set targets that are too low such that they can be achieved easily without much effort. Striking the right balance while setting goals is the key to an effective revision exercise for the CBSE papers.
• Students should also ensure the right environment while revising for the CBSE papers. The space that students choose to study in should be well-lit and free from all distractions. Study space that is free of distractions and organized is the ideal study corner that can make studying and revising for the CBSE papers effective and quick.
• During the study sessions, students should try to impose some guidelines and arrangements with respect to ‘do not disturb’. While revising for the CBSE papers students should keep themselves away from unwanted distractions, unsolicited calls and everything else that can hamper their single-minded focus of quality studying. To maintain the highest possible levels of concentration, students should also keep away from various modes of entertainment like television, cell phones, video games, novels and comic books etc. For rejuvenation a student may choose to seek respite using simple body and mind relaxation exercises.
• While revising for the CBSE papers students should try to incorporate small breaks in their study schedule so as to make learning effective. Studying for long hours without required breaks can often result in reduced retention and recall thereby making memorization weak. Therefore, while revising for the CBSE papers students should make sure that studying with small breaks can help both their mind and body stay relaxed and fresh.

Students studying for the CBSE papers can further make learning effective by revising using revision notes. Students can prepare CBSE revision notes themselves or can choose to seek help from the revision notes made available online by a variety of websites.

Now that all you students out there know how to effectively plan your revision activity for the CBSE papers, go ahead and prepare a schedule for yourself!

All the best!

How to revise for CBSE board examinations?

With the board exams approaching, students preparing for the CBSE board examinations are again feeling the heat. Exam related anxiety has started taking a toll over the young minds. Something that can help students re-store their wavering confidence and can also help them gear up to beat exam-related stress are repeated and robust revision sessions.

In order to make the revision activity for the CBSE board examinations a thorough and effective exercise, students should follow this simple three-step process.

Step I - Organizing the revision notes! The first step while starting to prepare the CBSE revision notes is to collect and organize the existing study material. Students should first collate all the relevant notes i.e. class lecture notes, notes from NCERT books, tutorial notes etc. The second step is to prepare notes by summarizing all the important and relevant points in one place. Students can then further refine this consolidated text to arrive at their ‘ideal’ and complete CBSE revision notes. Students can further prepare flash cards, summaries etc. from the CBSE revision notes to further make their learning effective. In case students do not have ample time to perform such an elaborate activity for preparing the CBSE revision notes, they can also refer to websites that provide CBSE curriculum aligned revision notes. These revision notes are concise and complete summaries of the chapters. The text in these CBSE revision notes are supported by well illustrated and neatly drawn diagrams that aid in better and speedy understanding of concepts.

Step II - Devise an exam strategy! Once through with preparing the CBSE revision notes the next important step is to start revising from these notes. Along with revising it is also very important for students to device an exam strategy that helps to tackle exam related issues. Their exam strategy should answer questions like how to manage time, how to approach the CBSE question paper on the final examination day, how to tackle stress before and during exams etc. This exam strategy will not only help students manage their studies better, but will also enable them to deliver a better performance. It is also very important for students to device a customized strategy for themselves instead of blindly following ready-made strategy templates often handed down by well meaning friends and relatives. Since each student is unique, their needs and priorities too will be unique. It is therefore imperative for students to have an examination strategy that is devised especially keeping their unique motivations, learning styles, and bio-rhythms in mind.

Step III - Revise using previous years CBSE board papers! Once through with revising and formulating an exam strategy, students should ideally end their revision activity for the CBSE board papers with a thorough practice session using the previous years’ test papers. This will help students assess their preparation levels and will also help gear them up to ace the CBSE board exams confidently. Practicing using the previous years’ CBSE papers or CBSE sample papers in simulated exam conditions will help students gain a first hand experience of how it feels to attempt the CBSE board paper. Students can also seek help from various websites that provide CBSE curriculum aligned practice tests and model tests that will help them take their CBSE board papers head on!

Now that all you students out there preparing for CBSE board paper know how to start revising, I am positive that a great report card is out there waiting for you!

All the very best for exams!

CBSE Question Paper

Students getting anxious about the possible questions that could appear in the final CBSE question paper is quite normal. While studying for the final CBSE examinations, students usually keep in mind the format of the questions that have a higher weightage and the probability of being asked in the exams. Therefore, in order to score exceptionally good marks in all the subjects the students are advised to customize their answers according to the subject and question they are tackling.

To help all you students out there who are to appear in their CBSE exams in the near future, here are a few tips on how customize your answer for each subject.

• Maths:- One simple mantra to score cent percent marks in Maths is to the keep the calculations uncluttered and accurate so as to arrive at the correct answer. While attempting the CBSE question paper for Maths, student should first demarcate space on all the pages in the answer sheet for rough work. This will enable students to keep a track of the calculations they have performed to arrive at the solution. Whenever in doubt, students can re-check their calculations from any stage and be confident of their answer. Also, while a attempting the CBSE question paper for Maths, student should write down all the in-between steps in the answer. This will help students fetch some marks for the steps even if the final answer is incorrect.
• English & Hindi:- For language subjects the key is to build a very good command over the basics of the language and develop a sound vocabulary in order to achieve your dream score. Unlike other subjects like Maths, Accountancy etc, scoring high marks in language subjects is relatively difficult. Therefore, students should not be over ambitious and just focus on attempting their CBSE question paper well. While attempting the reading section in the CBSE question paper for the language subjects, students should first read the unseen passage carefully. Once through with a thorough read, students should then start answering the questions asked from the passage. Whereas, while attempting questions from the text-book section in the CBSE question paper, students should try to answer in ‘to-the-point’ format and stick to the prescribed word limit.
• Science:- Students should not commit the mistake of cramming concepts for a subject like Science in order to score great marks in the final exams. The key to excelling in CBSE question paper for Science is to understand and memorize concepts and processes well. Students should try to supplement their answers with neatly drawn and clearly labeled diagrams. This will help students explain the concepts thoroughly and enable them to score those extra marks in CBSE question papers.
• Social Science:- While attempting the CBSE question paper for Social Science, students should not write mindlessly lengthy answers in order to meet the desired word limit. Rather, students should concentrate on writing precise and complete answers. There is a common notion that writing lengthy answers in Social Sciences can help students score good marks. However, this statement does not hold true.

Therefore while attempting CBSE question paper for any of these subjects, students should keep the following points in mind and customize their answers accordingly.