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 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.

How and when to study from CBSE guess papers

Robust practice sessions using CBSE guess papers can help students fetch their dream score in exams. Students often consider a thorough read of the chapter enough for the final examinations. Undeniably it is important for students to go through the chapter and understand all important concepts in it, but it is also imperative for them to test their understanding of the concepts that they have learned so far. Apart from practicing using the exercises available at the end of each chapter, students can also test their knowledge by trying their hands at CBSE guess papers. CBSE guess paper is a loose prototype of the final CBSE paper and is also considered a sure-shot way to excel in exams. However, it is important for students to know when and how to seek help from CBSE guess papers.

It’s important to go through the chapter first

To start with, students should only start referring to the CBSE guess papers once they are through with giving the entire chapter a thorough read. It is important to first understand and memorise all important concepts in the chapter/s and then start evaluating their understanding levels. A thorough preparation like this before attempting CBSE guess papers will enable students to truly assess their preparation levels for their exams and place them in a better position to identify gaps in their learning.

Follow it up with adaptive/formative assessments

After going through a chapter, students should follow it up by taking adaptive assessments that are geared to assess students’ understanding of concepts in that chapter along with other related concepts. There are a few websites that offer such dynamic adaptive/formative assessments in Maths and Science for CBSE class VI-X. These adaptive/formative assessments are then followed by elaborate performance reports that highlight areas that the student is weak in and also include a custom study plan to fortify learning to every individual student.

Chapter-wise practice tests are important

After going through the chapter, students are advised take chapter-wise practice tests or chapter-wise CBSE guess papers. MCQ and descriptive chapter-wise tests will not only add variety to their learning but will also ensure that students have not missed out on any important concept/ topic in the chapter. Such chapter-wise tests will help students attain a thorough understanding of all concepts in the chapter.

Now is the time to take full course model tests/ CBSE guess papers

After taking chapter-wise practice tests, students should then evaluate their skills related to tackling individual questions, time management etc by practicing using full course CBSE guess papers. Rigorous practice sessions from such CBSE guess papers will help students solidify their preparation for their final exams and will also help them identify flaws in the strategies adopted by them. It will enable students to take timely corrective action so as to be sure of a great score in the final CBSE paper.

I hope that this article will help you learn how to effectively study from the CBSE guess papers for a high scoring academic ride. Following these steps will instil in you the required confidence to help beat exam related stress.

All the best!