Special Tips for Exams!

Exams are round the corner and most of you must be busy studying hard, sometimes even through the night! A little bit of exam pressure spurs most students on and they report that they are often able to get down to doing some serious studying! It is however important that you do not let exam stress get the better of you. Keep the anxiety in perspective and remember that at the end of the day, it is after all just an exam!

Here are some tips that you might find useful in preparing for your exams-

• Know your syllabus well. It just might be a good idea to refer to the updated syllabus for your class from the CBSE website just so as to ensure that you have not missed out on any topic.
• Be thorough with your NCERT textbook. Being completely familiar with all question types from the NCERT text book is good way to study while preparing for your exams, particularly Board Exams.
• Solve previous years’ Board Papers. Lay your hands on Board Papers from the previous years and practice. Do make sure that the publisher is authentic 
• Understand the marking scheme followed by CBSE. Your familiarity with the marking scheme will help you work along by keeping in mind the marks allotted for the various steps in the correct answer.
• Avoid last minute cramming. It is important to understand your concepts well if you really want to score high in your exams.
• Sleep well the day before exams. Getting a good night’s sleep will only help you remember all that you have studied and will help you focus better
• While writing the exam, pay attention to the number of marks allotted to a question and write your answers accordingly. Just cos’ you may know a lot more than is asked, writing it all down will not fetch you extra marks!
• Pay particular attention to the key terms used in the question and organize your answer accordingly. For example if the question has ‘Differentiate’ your answer should look different from the answer when the question is ‘Explain’.  Simple stuff, yet critical to get those marks!

Best of Luck!
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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!