Class X Board Exam Preparation Tips

The Class X Board Examination is a crucial exam which determines the college you will attend and shapes the career path of your future. You must therefore study hard, concentrate and focus on ways to score well in this life-determining exam.

But how can you do all of these and yet ease the stress?

Although you should be done with the syllabus and have had revised each chapter, it is understandable if you still do not feel confident enough. This is a typical situation which most tenth graders face during the last months of their academic year. At this point, it is important to analyse the cause of this ill feeling and root it out before you sit for your board exams.

Let us analyse the situation and see how you can overcome it. The three possible reasons are

~ When your peers discuss a question with you and their answer is not quite convincing to you.
~ When you try to solve some problem and realise you are not able to do it.
~ When your teacher initiates a discussion on a topic which you know very well and you discover that there is more to it than what you know.

So what's the REAL problem?

In all these situations, the real problem is that although you have assimilated the knowledge, you don't know how to use that knowledge to your advantage. This could be due to a lack of in-depth understanding of the concept.

The problem arises when you read to gain maximum knowledge about a concept and the knowledge you actually gain is only superficial. To reinforce knowledge and to understand it correctly and completely, you need to practise by solving the right kind of questions.

The Solution: Choosing the RIGHT Questions

Now that we know the underlying problem and its solution, the next task is to ensure that the questions identified by you are the right ones. In fact, there are two sources from where you can get the 'right kinds of questions'.

(1) The NCERT textbook
The NCERT textbook contains certain understanding-based questions after every concept dealt with in the book. Basically, the book has been structured in a way which ensures step-by-step learning and assessment of the sub-topics rather than focusing on overall understanding of the topic.
Try to solve these questions on your own and get your answers checked by an expert. Identify the questions which you have got wrong and revise the relevant concept before you attempt them again.

(2) Online resources
Although presented in a structured way, the NCERT questions are not comprehensive and probing. Another difficulty is that it may not be easy to get your answers evaluated by somebody every single time.

This is where online resources like www.topperlearning.com can give you an edge. In addition to a more advanced platform, the main advantage of the tests available on the website is that they are NCERT-based and are very detailed.

The tests are designed to identify even the minutest chinks in your preparation. A detailed advisory, pinpointing the areas which you need to focus is automatically generated at the end of the test.

A question bank indexed topic-wise can also help serve your purpose. Visit the TopperLearning Question Bank and browse through the questions. Consider the listed questions as a mini test on the concept and take it. Look for the concepts you are weak at and work on them. Visit the Sample Papers page too.

Identifying the chinks in your preparation is perhaps the most important step towards a perfect score. It is equally important that you fill in these chinks with the help of your teachers, peers and adequate practice material including your textbook.