How to Attempt Board Exam?

Another very important part of the preparation, to ensure maximum marks, is practicing mock papers.

In this video, we will discuss how to attempt board Exam – strategies that you should use while writing your answers. Now we understand that ensuring all of these might be difficult, especially with the pressure of sitting in the examination hall. Therefore we suggest that you make all these points a habit and start incorporating these from sample papers itself.

1. Maintain clean and neat handwriting

   If you have prepared well and written amazing answers, it will be of no use if the examiner cannot understand what you have written! While it is also important to have a decent speed while writing, make sure whatever you write is readable. For maths, make a column on right side of your sheet and do all your rough work in it rather than doing it in the middle of the sheet. You can also use the last sheet of your paper for rough work. Wherever you do rough work, make sure you mention on top that it is rough work. Keep your mainsheets on which you attempt answers neat.

   Try maintaining neatness till the end of the paper. This can be achieved by solving sample papers before the exam.

2. Attempt the paper in sequence

   Do not jumble up questions while attempting. Attempt the paper either from the start, like Q1, 2, 3 to 30 or attempt it in reverse like Q30, 29, 28. Soon, if you want to attempt 5 marks questions first. Make sure to write correct numbering with the correct answer.

   Attempting paper in a sequence is important to ensure that you have not missed any question.

   At the end of the paper, go through your answer key and count the number of answers you have written, It should match the number of questions in the paper.

   If in the middle you feel that you don’t know the answer, leave sufficient space for it and you can come back and answer it at the end. Examiner is anyway not going to deduct your marks for leaving extra space.

3. Write point to point answers

   Examiner has limited time to check your answers. So whatever you are writing, make sure you write all the main points, being as brief as possible. Highlight the important terms and your final answer in numerical and maths. Contrary to popular belief, longer answers will not ensure more marksSupport your answer with a diagram wherever possible, in science as well maths, in chapters like applications of trigonometry.In maths, make sure that you write each and every step. This is helpful because even if your answer is wrong, you can still get some marks on the steps. It will also help in decreasing the chances of making a calculation error.

4. Plan your 3 hours

   CBSE has now planned to give 15 minutes extra, before the exam for just reading the paper. Now it is a very big advantage given by CBSE and should be used very well. The 15 minutes can be put to good use, by making a broad strategy in your mind.First, we suggest you go through the paper and see page numbers and question numbers to verify that you have received the full paper. This might lead to a lot of panics if found in the middle of the paperThen, you can quickly go through the questions in 10 min and see how you want to attempt the paper. If you are comfortable with 1 mark questions, you attempt the paper in sequence. If you know 4 mark (maths) and 5 marks (science) question well, you can attempt paper in reverse order. Basically, decide your strong points in these 10 minutes. However, avoid attempting in any other order

   After this, you should look at the questions which have an internal choice. Start deciding which questions you want to attempt from given options. But make sure that you do not mention or mark anything on question paper in these 15 minutes, it is strictly prohibited by CBSE

   If you are left with time, you can start thinking of answers for PBQ questions, or 1 mark questions

   To get into a habit of using these 15 mins well, you should start using these 15 mins before solving mock papers also.

5. Decide what to do and what to leave

   You get stuck at a question and don’t remember the answer, do not spend more than 2-3 minutes thinking. Just leave some space for it and come back to it later, after you have attempted your paper. This is important because if you spend a lot of time on one question, you might start panicking in the rest of the paper.

   Same goes for diagrams as well. Do not spend a lot of time in beautifying your diagrams. Examiner just wants to see a simple neat diagram with correct labelings. If you think the time may be an issue, leave them for now and come back to them later.

6. Correcting your sample paper

   When you are attempting sample papers at home, attempt them neatly and in sequence. After you have attempted a paper, make sure that you spend 45 mins analyzing how you performed.

   • First of all, check your paper honestly and give yourself marks in each question.
   • For questions you couldn’t answer, go back and see the answer.
   • Note down your mistakes and check if you have made most of the mistakes from the same chapter. This analysis will help you identify which chapter to focus on during revision.
   • Also, total your marks and check if you improved compared to the last mock test you took. If not, try to find out what went wrong.

Repeat this process for EVERY test you check.  

You can also try to work in pairs with a friend, and check each other’s papers. But do remember that this process needs a lot of discipline. You should not waste time if studying with a friend.

Start solving your paper at actual board time to help you get in the schedule and create an exam like environment. For example, your exam is at 10:30 am in the morning, start solving your paper at 10:30 am daily. Go to the washroom before this time and do not get up from your seat from 10:30 am-1:30 pm as you will not be allowed to do so in the exam. Do not use social media or calculators in these hours.

We hope that these points help you in scoring better in your exams. We wish you all the best for your boards.