Acing Board Exam Like a Pro: Smart Strategies for Top Scores

Sweaty hands, nervous smiles, and foot tapping are behaviors that clearly distinguish board exam students from the pack. Board exams seem like a student’s most significant hurdle, months of preparation, a lot of revision, and mounting pressure to deliver. 

However, if you adopt the right mindset, planning, and study methods, you can transform this challenge into an opportunity to shine. Just passing your boards is not just about doing the hard work; it is about working smart.

Here is your complete guide to preparing, focusing on how to prepare for exams and how to crack your board exams like a pro.

1. Examination pattern overview

It should be routine for students to examine previous years’ question papers and/or sample papers to compile a list of essential topics/chapters for each of their subject papers. 

Now that you have your list, the work is not complete for students, but it does allow them to see where they can spend time studying high-yield topics efficiently, both in terms of time and water. It’s minimal, but it is a systematic way for students to prioritize important or marks-heavy chapters/topics. 

2. Preparation of short notes

Students should be making notes on each topic as they study for exams, and it should be second nature by now. Maintain a separate set of notes for each chapter and a separate notebook for each subject. 

They should include the main keywords from the subheadings, and they should be extensive enough to cover the entire chapter. This should serve as a guide or ready reckoner when you need to review for your syllabus or during a limited time period.

3. Prefer the textbook to the reference book 

More often than not, many of us would prefer to exhaustively answer the questions in every reference book on the list than to just focus on mastering our own prescribed textbook during exam preparation.

This can have terrible consequences to your preparation, and thus, you must always aim to be thorough with your textbook first, and only move to another book when you are finished with the prescribed book.

4. Attempt all past years’ papers

As a rule of thumb, Examiners tend to repeat questions; therefore, it can be helpful to attempt past years’ question papers. 

Finally, when you are completing past papers, make sure you document repeat questions and practice rehearsing them, as they are likely to crop up again.

5. The significance of underlining and highlighting

Students often underline and highlight every single word on the page of their textbook without any use. Nonetheless, if done correctly, underlining and highlighting can enhance students’ memory. 

Always remember to underline/highlight only the necessary keywords, as going over them can help students ‘visually’ recall their understanding of the concept.

6. Revisit the easy chapters with deliberation

Once students prepare for board exams, it is easy to specify the difficulty level of each chapter/module. Now they must strategize accordingly.

Once they are confident of the difficult level of each chapter by understanding it, they must sharpen their focus in preparation for the specific chapters within the easy chapters/modules. The easier chapters/modules will be the best-scoring for students.

7. Do not ignore the languages

STEM students or commerce students studying Maths typically think of other subjects besides languages.

Please keep in mind that even if subjects are combined will count as a percentage of the other subjects. Therefore, it is essential not to ignore subjects like English and to use them to your advantage to strengthen your overall percentage across all subjects.

8. Keep formula lists

For every student studying Maths or Physics for the board exams, you should prepare formula lists.

These should be just for that topic and placed or written in the first place where you are studying, or in areas where you are frequently at, so they become repetitively ingrained into your mind, giving yourself the best chance they will remain embedded for the exam.

9. Create a structured study plan

This is another cheat code for topping the boards, fashioning your study plan smartly.

Always pair complex subjects with’ easier subjects to prevent fatigue too soon. Subject and subject in your study time to ensure variety.

10. Presentation

Believe it or not, presentation is key in the board exams. A well-organised answer sheet will boost you higher into the marks ladder.

Solving question papers and focusing on quickly organising your answers are good habits that improve your presentation and organisational skills. Be prepared to underline specific keywords and draw a line after every answer.

Conclusion 

Passing board exams like a pro doesn’t require any special formula; it takes discipline, clarity, and strategy. There is a lot of advice coming out there, and you will see and hear all kinds of things, but in all this chaos, it is crucial to figure out what works for you in terms of clear headspace. For everything else, the best coaching centre in Dehradun has your back!

Start early, use the best study techniques, understand well, practice consistently, and maintain a positive attitude. Where your hard work overlaps with savvy techniques, success will be a natural endpoint. Also, remember your boards are one achievement, not the endpoint. And with the proper mindset, you are already halfway there!

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