Top 10 tips for students preparing for ICSE / ISC examinations
With the exams coming near, we know some of you out there might be having exam blues, and some of you might be shivering as to what will happen as nothing seems to work. Either you haven’t started your studies yet or you have been studying all this while but without effective result. If you are into any of the above mentioned situation, then you are reading the right article at the right time. “How to prepare for Exams?” has always been a mi llion dollar question for the students, but no more. Scoring in ICSE and ISC is no big deal. If you focus on some key aspects of preparing for your examination, then it won’t be difficult to score well. Even if you feel under -prepared, -prepared, you can do a lot with the short time you have left. Below are top 10 tips for preparing for your exams and excelling in it. Follow them and see the result for yourself. 1) You know yourself better:
So, if you had been fooling around thinking that you have enough time for your preparation, then this is the time to stop. You have just few more days left for the exams. Forget about how much syllabus your friend X has completed, forget about the constant pestering of your friend Y with questions, and forget about how friend Z, who, like you has still not started his studies yet. Forget about all these unnecessary stress because it is really important to believe in yourself, to be confident and to think positive. Work on the points we have mentioned below for these few days till your exams get over, and then you will have ample time to fool around. But if you are reading this just a day before your exams, and till now you have been fooling around thinking to get hold of such top 10 tips and get a 90% by following them, then no need to waste your your time reading this dear. Carry on with with your awesome work of fooling around, as none does that better than you. 2) Plan your study:
Proper Time Management and Planned study in such crucial stage is important. If you have less time, then don’t try and overdose your plan by trying to fit in every lessons of the subject. Don’t aim to finish all lessons of any particular subject somehow or the other. If you have 10 chapters, and only 8 of them would be possible to study properly, then do that. Prepare a time table to be followed till your exams. List in it all the subjects along with the days and amount of time per day, you can give to some subjects in it. Like, If you cannot study for more than 4 hours a day, then break down that 4 hours into 2 subjects per day i.e. 2 hours each or 1.5 hour for one subject and 2.5 hours for the other, or whatever you feel like would be enough. Tough subjects can be given more time and easier ones less. So, if you have 10 subjects in all, and you divide the time as described above, then in 5 days you will be going through each subject once. That’s the minimum we can expect from you. Don’t study for hours at a stretch. You need some time to relax. Divide your time to fit in some relaxation, as it is better to revise when you are feeling relaxed than to exhaust yourself studying all day! But don’t go overboard in relaxing. Maintain a balance. 3) Go Through Previous Years Papers:
After you have planned out a time table, take out the subject you are supposed to study today as per the time table and go through the previous year’s question papers (at least for the last five 1
years) of that subject in order to analyze the portions of the subjects from where questions are most frequently set. Note these topics down on a paper. This will be really helpful in order to plan out your preparation for the subject. [Note: While going through the whole syllabus in correct order is important, you cannot neglect the fact that you don’t have much time as of now to do that.] 4) Mark Important Points:
After having noted down the frequently asked topics, open your text books or copy, and read through these topics at least once, but be sure to underline the important points you find in those topics, like some definitions, keywords etc. 5) Revision Charts:
This might seem strange, but believe me it definitely works. After reading through the topics once, and marking out the important keywords and points in it, draw out a char consisting of these important points or brief notes, and stick it on the wall, where you face more often while doing anything. This process will help you to revise and remember important key points of the lesson well, whenever you see that wall. This will also serve as a quick revision guide for you just before the day of final examination. 6) Mind Mapping:
Try and mind map the chart which you just created. Look at a portion of the chart and try and rebuild it in your memory by closing your eyes. Believe me it can do wonders in improving your memory and power of retaining important points. 7) Avoid Cramming:
Cramming isn’t a good idea at all. Study less, but understand what you study. Cramming is one of your friends who ditches you in the exam hall. Additionally, cramming the night before your exams is proven to be ineffective, because you’re taking in so much information at once that it’s impossible to memorize it at all. In fact, you will hardly retain anything. Try the alternatives for cramming which are mentioned in points 2 onwards till point 6. 8) Practice by Writing:
This is a really effective method. After giving the allotted time to a subject in a day, close your book, and ask yourself questions relating to the lesson you just studied to see if you have remembered what you just studied. Then try and write down the answers to your questions on a paper without referring to a book. When you are unable to remember an important part of your question (after trying much), then open the book and go through it once, close the book again, and write it down again on your own. Practice diagrams, derivations, and programs by writing it down from your memory, as much as you can. 9) Solve Sample Papers:
This is important in order to access your level of preparation. But, this proves beneficial only when you stick to few basic things. To improve yourself and to extract maximum benefit from these sample papers, choose a suitable time for yourself, and have the required time (i.e. the time within which you are allowed to complete the paper) in your hand. Then try to solve this paper in the time limit given at the head of the paper taking 15 minutes extra for reading the paper.
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You can find some sample papers for Computer Applications (Class 10) here: ICSE Computer Application Sample Paper and for Computer Science (Class 12) here: ISC Computer Science Sample Paper Never let these papers demoralize you if you find questions which you can’t answer. If there were topics which you were not prepared in, then go back and follow step 3 onwards.
10) Stick to the guidance of the Teacher:
While we would not suggest attending tuition at this time, but would definitely suggest you to stick to your school/private teacher’s guidance till the end. This is what is found missing in students nowadays. Once their syllabus is completed they don’t car e about their teachers guidance. This is a mistake. Be in contact with him/her on every issues of the subject you come across either via phone or email or by going to his/her house if that is possible. Whenever you come across a topic hard to grasp, ask the concerned teachers. They will gladly help.
Additional points to be taken care of:
● Health is important, so don’t neglect foods and don’t compromise with your sleep [we are referring to the normal required sleep]. Avoid junk foods or any other such food which may keep you unfit. You should eat only as much as required. Try not to put stress on both your stomach AND your mind. ● Keep away from all undue personal stress. Keep away from phone calls and social networking sites. ● Remember, be positive, stay calm, and mobilize your energies to do the best job possible every day by trying your best to do justice with the plan you created for your exam preparation. ● Forget about cheating in the exams. The amount of time you give for planning and preparing your means of cheating are more than enough to actually prepare that lesson if you follow the above tips properly. ● After you are done with an exam, avoid doing its postmortem by discussing the answers with your friends. Doing this won’t increase your marks, but can demoralize you if what you wrote was incorrect, which in turn will affect the rest of your exams. As soon as one exam is over, move swiftly to focusing on the next one. Dwelling on an exam that you have completed wastes energy and time, and will drive you crazy.
We hope that the above mentioned tips will benefit students in many ways and will help them in scoring good marks in their examination. We would be gladly waiting for your feedback, as it can additionally boost up those students who are still in the shoes in which you were once before following these tips.
Source: http://www.javaforschool.com/368-top-10-tips-for-students-preparing-for-icseiscexaminations/#ixzz2X6GKtK7Q
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Tips to prepare well for class 10 Math examination
1. While revising the subjects, you feel that there is still a lot to study. Don’t get tensed up. No person in the world feels totally prepared for his exams. 2. To avoid visual disturbance, read in a dark room under a table light facing the wall. Dawn is the best time to study. 3. Create an artificial dawn by sleeping for an hour in the afternoon during pr eparation holidays;
brush your teeth, bathe and read. It’s called “one day -two dawns theory”. 4. Avoid sweets, oily foods and cool drinks. You may get a brief high due to initial insulin release,
but it drives you to ‘sugar coma’. 5. If you do not have a regular coffee/tea habit, don’t make it now to stay late hours. 6. Stick on to the healthy habit of sleeping before midnight to be fit physically and mentally. 7. A student’s attention deteriorates after reading for an hour. Sit straight and cover your eyes with a wet cloth for five minutes. Close your left nostril with middle finger; take a deep breath and release. Repeat it with your right nostril. This exercise astonishingly re-energises your mood and you feel rejuvenated. Just try. 8. If you have sleeping problem due to tension, stop reading before bedtime and relax. 9. Don’t watch TV after studies. 10. A glass of milk along with a banana drives you to a good sleep. But never take milk ‘before’ the commencement of studies in the night.
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How to take an Exam Why students need special attention or care in preparing themselves for these exams? First of all students have to realize why they need special care in preparing themselves for ICSE Board's exam. The following points will help the students to realize the true facts behind this argument and will help them to guide to do well in these exams as well as to reach their aim easily. 1. ICSE stream students have to prepare themselves to write 11 exam papers compared to other Boards exams and surely it put additional burden on the students to prepare themselves for these exams. 2. Students to do well in ICSE exams, clear understanding of basic concepts of every topic and thorough reading of text book are very essential. Unlike other boards exams, questions in these exams are not asked in a direct way or from the questions given at the end of topics of the text books. Questions asked in these exams will test the students’ ability of understanding, their thinking power, their application approach to concepts, how well they gather inference for the questions asked etc. The questioning mode in these exams will assess the students’ calibre rather than their memory power. 3. Language subjects will be given more importance in ICSE stream syllabus. Questions set in language subject exams will test the foundation strength of the Vocabulary and Grammar of students from basic level to tenth class standard level. Those students who are good from the lower classes level to ICSE exam level will do well in these exams. Even in language subjects of ICSE stream exams, questions asked will be of thinking and application type only. 4. The evaluation system of ICSE Board's exams is very strict and tough when compared to any other boards exams. In other boards exams whatever the student write answer for a question, some marks will be given for attempting the question or for the partially correct answer. But in ICSE exam evaluation, examiners don't see the quantity of matter the student write as answer for the question and award marks only for the key words which form answer for the question. 5. A student has to get distinction in these exams has to be perfect in every topic of every subject and has to present answers to the questions with clear mind. How a good student will prepare well for these exams? 'There are no short cut or easy methods for success' is an old proverb is true even in the case of preparation for these exams and one has to work hard to perform well in these exams. 1. Student has to listen carefully the topics explained by the teacher in the classroom. Student has to take running notes noting important points while the teacher is explaining the lesson. Whenever the student gets a doubt has to clear them off immediately from the teacher. This is an important aspect the student has to follow who is taking ICSE stream of exams. 2. Student has to put a lot of good effort to learn and perfect themselves in the topics which are completed in the class in their study time at home or hostel. A thorough reading of the topic with good understanding is very essential and one should not accumulate or postpone topics to
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study just before the time of exams. This type of cramming of topics just before the time of exams would not yield much success with ICSE stream of exams. 3. Usually in ICSE stream following schools will conduct exams at weekends in small units of every subject in an alternative manner i.e. two subjects will be tested every week. So one wish to do well in the final Board's exam have to do well in these small unit exams and which will form a strong foundation for their success in the final exam. If the student is able to score well in these small units indicate that they are understanding the topics well and surely they will do very well in their final exams. If the student is not able to do well in these small units of any subject has to correct themselves at this level. They have to spend some additional time to learn the topics again and rectify the mistakes they are doing with the help of concerned teachers. This is the best way how a good, bright and sincere student will prepare best for the final exams. Some important tips for the students for their good preparation for ICSE stream of examinations 1.
The first thing the student has to remember to prepare these exams is they must have good overall understanding of the topics as well as the basic concepts of the topics is very essential as questions for these exams are set on these lines only. For this, the student has to take the help of the running notes they have taken while the teacher is explaining the topics and also the key points given at the end of each topic of the text books.
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One more important thing the students of this stream have to realize is one has to be thorough with the whole topic rather than parts of the topic. Even the essay questions given in this stream of examination can be found in the form of 5 to 10 short questions. The questions given in this form will cover the entire topic. So the student must have thorough knowledge of the entire topic which only helps them to attempt the entire question to get full marks. Even the average students who are much concentrating towards the exam to pass have to select certain easy topics and has to be thorough with the whole topics to score well.
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A student has to set a time schedule program for self-preparation of all the subjects and it should end well before 30 days of the final examination. More time and weightage should be given for difficult subjects of the student. In this preparation a student has to keep in mind that he or she preparing for the final time before going to write final exams. Student should not take this preparation in a casual way or in a half-hearted way. A student whatever he or she prepares a topic at this stage has to see that they should attain utmost perfection in their preparation.
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It is always better for the student to write important points or brief notes while they are preparing a topic of the subject. This process will help the students to learn and remember important key points of the lesson well. This also helps the students to revise topics well just before the day of final examination of the subject.
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To score or perform well in ICSE stream of examinations, a student has to understand the mode or type of questions given in a particular subject. To get good practice and acquaintance of the type of questions given in these exams, a student whether a bright or average must go through the last 10 years question papers of the Board. A slow learning student who is aiming at least pass in the examination has to be thorough with last ten years question papers of the board so that he or she may get through the examination.
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One more thing the student has to realize about these exams is, the performance or final result of the student depends on not only how well he or she prepares for the exam but also how well he presents the answers on the answer sheet. The answers written must be to the point of the 6
question and correct key words required for the answer should be written to get maximum score. Continuous practice that the student they get in unit, term and revision test exams in the school will help the student in this aspect. On what aspects students have to take care in various subjects of the ICSE exams? In every subject there will be some important parts on which a student has to concentrate well to achieve good score and grade in those subjects. The following information will help the students to prepare well in various subjects of ICSE stream exams. 1. English Scoring well in English papers I and II depends on the ability of student how well he or she uses good English while writing the answers for the questions. To score well the student must be good at vocabulary and grammar. The student has to use good English while writing the answers without any spelling mistakes and grammatical errors. Students have to read the poetry and prose parts of the text books as many times as possible so that they can write the answers fluently. 2. Language II Students while writing the answers must use good meaningful words and the construction of the sentences must be without any grammatical errors. Students must take care about the spelling mistakes while they write difficult words in their answers otherwise they may lose good number of marks for these mistakes. 3. Mathematics Students have to concentrate well on difficult and more scoring chapters like Geometry, Constructions, Statistics, Mensuration etc. to score good marks. Students have to practice well the various model problems of each topic and that will enable them to do the sums quickly without any mistakes. Students must be thorough with all the formulas to do well the sums without any difficulty. Students have to give more importance for understanding of the problem before they attempt it. 4. Science In ICSE stream, Science subject include three papers- Physics, Chemistry and Biology. Students have to concentrate well on definitions, basic concepts of the topics, experiments in all three science subjects. To score well in Physics paper students must be thorough with the derivation and numerical problems of various Physics topics. To score well in Chemistry paper students must be thorough with chemical formula, balancing chemical equations, writing structural formula of chemical compounds and in solving numerical problems in Chemistry. To score well in Biology paper students must be thorough with various structural organization of various parts of plants and human body, technical terms used in various topics, representation of labeled diagrams, functional 7
mechanism of various parts of plants and human body, functions of various parts of plants and human body etc. 5. Social Sciences In ICSE stream, Social sciences include two papers- History and Civics, Geography. Students have to give more importance for understanding of the various aspects of topics in history and Civics rather than by heart them. Students have to give more importance and practice to Map work in Geography paper as it provides maximum marks which can easily scored by every students. 6. Computer Application Students have to score well in this subject has to be thorough with Java program writing aspect. Students have to give more practice to various models of the programs as many times as possible on the computer. This practice will develop the skill of writing any type of programs given in theory paper without mistakes. Prepare Project works well to score maximum marks in subjects In ICSE stream exams, doing assigned project works help the students to get very good score in all the 11 papers. Twenty percent marks are allotted for every paper in these exams. External and internal examiners evaluate these projects. If the students do the assigned project works neatly and sincerely there is every scope of getting maximum marks in this work. What care has to be taken on the day of examination? 1.
Take at least more than seven hours of sleep before an examination. Go to the examination hall with a fresh and confidant mind.
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First read all the instruction of the question paper without leaving any point. In ICSE stream of examinations, 15 minutes time will be allotted for reading the question paper. Utilize this time to understand the questions well so that you can write the answers well afterwards without any ambiguity.
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Student has to allocate proper time to each section of the question paper to answer all questions without leaving any question unanswered. Time management is an important aspect that a student has to take care of to score maximum marks in every paper.
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Give answers to the point of the question and provide correct key words in the answer to get full marks. Give correct question number in your answer sheet for which you are writing the answer, otherwise you may lose your marks for writing wrong question number.
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Do not get nervous if you don't know answer for a small bit of a question. You concentrate to do justice for all the questions you know answers very well. Don't do any last minute hasty changes to the answers you have written already and sometimes this may lead to lose many marks.
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Don't take heavy meal or oily food before attending the exam which may make the student sleepy or uneasy during examination time. It is always good to take light meals before the time of attending the examination. 8
