The Boards are here. For the student community, it is a moment of reckoning. Atul Prashar, examination expert, tcyonline.com, responded to queries from students and parents alike on last-minute tips, revision tactics and food habits. An online initiative of Top Careers & You (TCY), the portal provides free practice tests for school and college level test preparation.
Here we reproduce the full text of the chat:
Piyush Mody: Sir, what do I have to do for Hindi grammar?
Atul Prashar: This is the time for revision only, Piyush. Still if you have problems, get hold of your class teacher or a good friend who is good at it.
Mithila: Math is my weak point sir. To enhance my skills in math I have been solving exhaustive question papers. In the course of solving question papers I usually get stuck in 2 or 3 important difficult sums. The papers I try are usually from Padma Sheshadri School, Sindhi High School, National Public School, Board papers and other sample papers too. What will be the standard of the CBSE Board Math paper and how must I prepare for it?
Atul Prashar: Practice in Math is helpful in some particular topics only. Then you need to analyse where you went wrong before taking the next test. Send us your problems at [email protected]. Our experts on our helpline if you have some specific problems.
N S Sandhu: My son has got bored studying the same things again & again. Now he seems to be blank. How can i help him?
Atul Prashar: You have the solution in your question itself. Give him a mix of preparation for the various subjects. Also, you may search for more info on some of the boring (for him) topics and give it to him.
Vijit: What kind of questions should we do first in Maths? Should we start with Section D including the long ones which take more time and keep short ones for last or do the short and easy ones first and keep the big ones for last – what should be the maximum time spent on each type of question?
Atul Prashar: I have given detailed plan for the same in my article on IBN live.
Mohit: For 1 mark questions in maths should we show the steps or can we directly write the answer?
Atul Prashar: Directly write the answer.
Ayush: Are Foreign Papers comparatively easier?
Atul Prashar: Easy or difficult is a subjective opinion. Anything easier for you may be very difficult for your foreign friend.
PAGE_BREAK
Ranjan Dhingra: If those additional exercise questions of maths will also be required to be done then why have they been declared as not from exam point of view?
Atul Prashar: Because the questions requiring HOTS may need you to practice them.
R C Pandian: For the students who are aiming for centum, what are excess reading required? Kindly advise reference materials for maths, science and social?
Atul Prashar: The child must take keywords from the book in case s/he requires diagrammatic representation or further details on the topic. You (not him) put the keywords in the Wikipedia and get more info for him / her.
Mohit: I really get bored while reading biology and history chapters and often sleep while reading; what to do to cope up with this problem of mine?
Atul Prashar: Club them with mathematics practice.
Girish Pai: How deeply must I study the Geography text? For example, 1)"the Balaghat mines in MP produce 52% of India's copper"-must I study 'the state', and %? 2) Its given in text that 'this' port transports 'this' item - must I study what item it specialises in too?? 3) Must I study all the abbreviations given in text? Also, there are too many one word questions from the lessons-'Manufacturing industries' and 'Minerals and energy resources'!! Will one word questions come on these? Or are these only for map pointing?
Atul Prashar: I would say that you must at least know what a particular place is particularly known for. Try remembering the fractions if percentages are difficult.
Vaishnavi A: I don’t have much of a problem with maths and science . How do I prepare for social studies?
Atul Prashar: History is basically the story of the events happened in the past. Hence, try to make the study a little objective - study thru the flow of the events in the past. Mapping and drawing are good in ensuring thorough understanding and retention.
Ayush: For maths and science we have leave for about 1 week. How would you suggest us to study?
Atul Prashar: Do not study the details now. Just surf through the revision note. If you have not made some, get them from www.steps,tcyonline.com.
Sanmithra: What type of diet should I take during my board exams?
Atul Prashar: Have nutritious food. Avoid eating out. Have more of bananas, curd. Also avoid coffee and tea.
Ketki: In maths paper if we write rs .1000 or 1000 rs does it make any difference?
Atul Prashar:Write preferably Rs. 1000/-. That is a standardised syntax for mentioning the currency.
Vibha Belawadi Chandramouli: Now that the Boards are very near, till when we should solve FLT?
Atul Prashar: Do zoom in, zoom out. Zoom out (that is take an FLT) and then analyse it. Then, Zoom in (take the chapterwise tests for the topics that didn’t perform well in) for improvement.
PAGE_BREAK
Nishchay: I need to do a lot of practice for maths. Pl. suggest any book or any website where I can attempt questions chapter wise.
Atul Prashar: Take one good question bank. Also, visit www.steps.tcyonline.com regularly.
Jarman: How can I improve my trigonometry? Please tell some websites having trigonometry sums of 10th level
Atul Prashar: www.steps.tcyonine.com
Ayush: Where can we practice the newly introduced HOTS questions from?
Atul Prashar: Just know the structure of such questions. You will yourself get an idea to answer them. You do not require additional knowledge for them. They are a way to check your decision-making and inferential reasoning skills only. Also, visit steps.tcyonline.com regularly. More questions in this classification are being uploaded.
Harshita Sinha: Can any question be out of book as said it would be analytical as said by Mr. Ashok Ganguly?
Atul Prashar: The info and inputs will be from the book but the questions may foster judgement (a higher order skill).
Kavitha: If my end answer in maths is wrong , will I get marks for the correct steps?
Atul Prashar: Yes. Sure. You may look at the Mathematics marking scheme given in the CBSE'S website
Gursimran: Is the pattern of questions in Boards same as that in the sample papers issued by CBSE?
Atul Prashar: Yes.
VG: What about HOTS? I read in the newspaper that this year some question would be of higher order?
Atul Prashar: HOTS is Higher order thinking skills. Lower order skills are recalling and application based. However, higher order skills are synthesis and evaluation based wherein the student is required to use the lower level skills and given information to synthesis a hypothesis or generalize the result. Higher order skills are required in decision making.
Vijit: What kind of approach should we put forward for social studies n specially history? Do we need to concentrate on small details like the boxes and sources or we should be within limits of the point, not going into minor details? What should be ideal diet for this 1.1/2 month period?
Atul Prashar: History is basically the story of the events happened in the past. Hence, try to make the study a little objective - study thru he flow of the events in the past. Mapping and drawing are good in ensuring thorough understanding and retention. Details must be directly proportional to the marks for the question. Have nutritious food. Avoid eating out. Have more of bananas, curd. Also avoid coffee and tea.
Ajit Nambiyar: Are there any set rules in solving trigonometry problems?
Atul Prashar: There are some - like approaching from LHS; approaching from RHS or approaching from both sides. Then in Hts and distns a carefully drawn figure is half the solution. Rest can be mastered with more and more practice.
PAGE_BREAK
Ayush: Is it possible to score 95% in the board exams when you've scored about 90-92% in your pre and pre-Boards?
Atul Prashar: It is even possible to score 100, dear. The only effort required to reach from 90 to 100 is careful analysis of the pre-boards. Do it and you will surely get 100. You may read some articles on www.steps.tcyonline.com on how to efficiently analyse your tests.
Raj Jaswal: In mathematics, which questions should be attempted first and how should I manage my time during the exam?
Atul Prashar: Answer questions as per your areas of strength in the first round. And look at the difficult one in the middle of the test. You may read an explained feature on the same on IBN Live. Also, a lot of material is available on time management on www.steps.tcyonline.com
Mithila: Sir, other than NCERT what should be the other reference books we must use?
Atul Prashar: All books are good, Mithila. But make sure you do not do them all in all. Know the chapters that you need to practice more and take up any question bank for practice.
Yogish Lavanis: The admissions to engineering will be determined by the entrance tests (JEE, AIEE, BITSAT). Is it really necessary to slog so much for the Board exams? Is it not better to focus more on the above tests instead?
Atul Prashar: You are right, Yogish - as long as the "building of fundamentals" is thoroughly covered in the preparation. However, If the preparation for competitive examination is merely focused at testing, it’s good spending quality time on the building concepts thru NCERT text books first.
Raja: Is there any source where can I get questions on lab experiments?
Atul Prashar: You may find many at www.steps.tcyonline.com
Ayush: I have not made any notes as such, but I have underlined important points in the book. From tomorrow I plan to start S.St, so should I make notes as I read the chapters and revise all of them just before the day of the exam?
Atul Prashar: A very bright idea. Do implement it. All the best.
Mohit: Should we underline the important points in answers and will it help in increasing the marks?
Atul Prashar: It will assist the examiner in checking and giving good impression to the examiner.
PAGE_BREAK
Kiran Bakhru: Are there any ways to learn trigonometry and solve trigonometry problems? Will the ones only from the NCERT textbook come?
Atul Prashar: There are many ways which can be mastered when you do them. Try as many problems on trigonometry as possible from the various books over and above NCERT.
Ketki: Is it necessary to draw the diagrams using a scale? Will free-hand figures do?
Atul Prashar: Unless it is specified and / or the diagram's dimensions are an important input to the solution, you may draw them free hand.
Suppu: Is it necessary that the students should answer the questions only in that order? Or if they feel writing the Part C or Part B first is it OK
Atul Prashar: Not at all. But if you are answering arbitrarily, make sure you index it properly to avoid any confusion in the mind of the examiner.
Gursimran: What is the best way of motivating yourself, when you get nervous?
Atul Prashar: By making yourself know that you can still do it. SPEAK IT TWICE when you are in such situation. Also, leave the current problem at once. Most of the time its your ego (that I will and will answer this question) is the hurdle.
Mohit: Should the answers in science be given in points or in paragraph?
Atul Prashar: Giving in points is a better idea. But you must elaborate the point in order to put your point across. It also gives accountability to your answer. However, some kind of questions really require explanation. Try highlighting some part or words in your answers in such questions. Make sure examiner is able to grasp you solution with ease.
Divya: I make very silly mistakes sometimes in maths. Civics and history are a bit difficult. What to do?
Atul Prashar: Can you classify your silly mistakes? If you do, make sure that you spend the last 10 min re-checking the solutions to those type of questions and make final corrections before it is too late. Club civics and history with your favourite subject while revising. Also get hold of a friend who like civics and history like anything. Ask him why. You may also get motivated.
PAGE_BREAK
VR: I perform very well in chapter-wise tests but I am a complete failure in the mock tests. What should I do?
Atul Prashar: Make a list of the type of mistakes you commit and write the marks lost because of those against them. You will yourself get the answer in black in white.
Mohan: How does one, in the role of parent, be supportive to a child having a bit of fear for math, despite the child being reasonably good at it? What support in the form of wise counsel on how to tackle the questions under real exam conditions?
Atul Prashar: Your child need assurances that he is doing well. Make sure he does not get into doing too trickier questions against the manageable ones. Please make sure that he wins more than he looses while doing mathematics. If you are not able to technically help him / her, you may have some of your old friend talk to him over the phone or personally, if he is stuck up. What else a child would expect from his parent?
Sumi: After 10 days, I have my chemistry paper. Sometimes I feel I should start with the difficult chapter and sometimes I feel I should start with an easy chapter. What should I do?
Atul Prashar: Always remember, for a successful end, the beginning must be great. So start with easy chapters. Make notes. Take difficult topics in the middle and again moderate easier topics in the end. Moreover, after you have finished 2-3 topics you will find your nervousness fading away. It is just because you have not started as yet and not because of easy or difficult topics
Saba Asif: I have about 15 days for my boards. I am well prepared in the subjects. But I definitely need to revise everything to do well in the exams. The problem now is that I have been unable to concentrate on my revisions which is increasing my nervousness. Please recommend steps to increase my concentration and avoid getting distracted.
Atul Prashar: Make sure the info that you are reading is lesser and lesser possible. Revision notes are a good way to keep the important points in mind which you can later elaborate on. If you have not made those, you will get some on www.steps.tcyonline.com
Agam Bhamra: How to prepare for maths to secure cent percent result in it?
Atul Prashar: Plan backwards. How much did you score in the most recent pre-boards? If it is between 80 and 100 - just see where did you make the most common mistakes and of what kind. In most cases, calculation mistakes, error in writing the formulae and errors in filling the values of variables are the mistakes that take up 5-10 marks. Also, make sure you write all steps of a solution.
Vibha: In 2 marks questions suppose the diagrams are drawn already in the question paper. Is it necessary to draw again in answer paper?
Atul Prashar: If some parts of the diagram require reference for the answer / solutions you have given, then YES. Else, if you thing you can put your point across without referring to any part of the diagram, you may avoid. However, in most of the cases the diagram surely has some reference to the answer. In such cases, draw a rough sketch. Make sure you use pencil and eraser. It will help you keep the answer sheet neat and clean.
Trilok Chand Aggarwal: My son is preparing for 10th class. I want to ask how many hours he should study.
Atul Prashar: Revision requires at least 10 undisturbed hrs per subject. If some topics are considered very difficult, one may assign more no of hours to it. But whatever you are good at is to be done first.
Mihir: How should we highlight the main points? No other ink other than blue is allowed.
Atul Prashar: Underlining the points; writing them at the center of the page giving a line spacing above and below the heading are ways of highlighting is two colours are not allowed in the paper.
Ayush: Should we study only NCERT? Are questions from sample papers likely to come?
Atul Prashar: Between 60% and 70% questions come every year from NCERT books - either directly or in the applied form. Take NCERT as the basis for building concepts while sample papers are a way to assess our preparation and attempting pattern.
Comments
0 comment