8 tips to beat the stress

Board exams: 8 tips to beat the stress

You may have thought that with the Government's decision to make board examinations optional for Class 10 students, examination stress would soon be a thing of the past. But despite all the hype, the hard reality is that Class 10 students are still required to take a final examination either held by the board or by their own schools.

No matter what kind of exam they take -- board or inter-school, the stress is bound to continue. So we still need to overcome it -- and it is possible to transform the tension into zeal and fervor instead. The students and their parents can also work together to create a new atmosphere of self belief, courage and confidence. The objective is to take the fear out from the minds of children and substitute it with excitement and enthusiasm. Parents have to help their children see examinations as an opportunity to prove their worth.

Here are a few tips for parents to help their children cope.

1. Get closer to your child -- team up! Children generally experience stress because there is nobody around to empathies with them. It is the moral responsibility of parents to talk to them and discuss exam preparations. Help them chalk out an effective action plan to prepare for the exam. Help them develop specific strategies for easy, not-so-easy, and difficult chapters or concepts. This will help your child organize his/her time, and make the preparations more effective. Once children feel part of a team, once they know they are not alone, they will be much more enthusiastic and positive.

2. List out what to do and when to do. It is all about making a clear time table that the child can stick to. Take care in making realistic time frames for various topics, in line with the capabilities of the child. For example, start with moderately difficult topics first, to make the child comfortable, and then move on to the difficult ones later. Allot sufficient time to attempt sample papers once the preparations are over.

3. Support your child's preferred way of learning. Every child has a learning style that he or she is comfortable with. These different styles include learning by reading aloud, learning by writing, and sometimes learning by drawing mind maps. Give your child the freedom to adopt the style he/she likes the most. Revision notes developed by our experts can offer great help here.

4. Attempt previous exam papers and new sample papers. Once the preparations are over, children should take some mock exams to get a feel of the real exam. Initially, the time cap can be ignored, but later on, students need to stick to time constraints. This will give them valuable practice to finish everything well in time.

5. Give regular breaks to recharge. Adequate breaks should be given to the child during preparations. Nobody can maintain a constant attention span. Hence, give sufficient breaks to the children to re-energies themselves and sit and concentrate again. Doing some recreational activity during such breaks is a good idea.

6. Motivate your child by recognizing his good work. A day's good work should not go unnoticed. Give the child his due: a good treat or a chance to watch a movie or to dine out with family. The purpose is to give a moment of pride to your child. Don't be stingy in this aspect.

7. Give optimism a push. Always talk positively about your child's capabilities and efforts. Give him a feeling that you are there with him in any situation. Every time he feels low, remind him of his capabilities and tell him how much you love him. Just instill confidence in him. Then he will take care of things on his own.

8. Feed your child well. Ensure that your child does not skip his meals. Give him a balanced diet with a lot of carbohydrates, proteins, minerals and vitamins. Stimulants like caffeine should be avoided as far as possible. Junk food and fizzy drinks are a strict no-no.

Finally, parenting is not a small responsibility. But nothing can be as rewarding as good parenting. After all, what can be more rewarding than taking your child from a world of stress to a world of joy and enthusiasm?

Top 5 mistakes students make in a board exam

Top 5 mistakes students make in a board exam

Even though students spend more than a year preparing for the board exams, there are times when candidates ignore the basics due to which they find themselves struggling with time during the actual examination.

Here are some common mistakes students make while attempting board exams and how to overcome them:

1. Not reading the question paper

One of the most common mistakes students make is not utilising the 15-minute reading time properly.

Students should read the question paper carefully so that they can organise their thoughts and manage their time well through the exam.

2. Time mismanagement 

Time management is equally important to ace the board exam.

Otherwise, you will find yourself struggling to complete the paper that might create anxiety and panic towards the last few minutes of the exam.

While writing the paper, students should stick to the word limit and time limit they allocate for attempting questions of different weightage.

The paper is usually spread into these categories -- Very Short Answer, Short Answer I/Short Answer II and Long Answer.

Plan in advance how much time you will dedicate to each question and category and stick to it.

If you realise are struggle for too long, move on to the next question, and return to answer if you have the time.

3. Not following the hierarchy

There is much to be said regarding the content of the answer.

Often long, essay type questions are answered without properly planning the order in which various points are to be covered.

The answers should be relevant to the questions and depending upon word limit, must follow a hierarchy of relevance, from the most important to the least.

Schools usually give enough practice to students during internal examinations, so that they are clear about what value points, technical terms and keywords are required in the answers.

Referring to the marking scheme for checking and analysing their own question papers as well as analysing the model papers, during internal assessments is practiced in most schools, at least in classes 11 and 12.

If the students regularly analyse the content of their answers by keeping in mind the value points given in the marking scheme as well as compare their answers with model answers, during the internal assessments, they will be able to develop the skill of determining the hierarchy of relevance of content and will able to score better marks in the Boards.

4. Copying incorrect data

In numerical questions we find that students copy the data incorrectly from the question paper, or from one step of the problem to the next.

Also often they do not convert the data into appropriate units.

5. Diagrams

Diagrams where required should be neat and labeled.

A final word: It would do well for a student to present an examiner-friendly answer script with legible and neat handwriting, sequential presentation of answers and their sub-parts, underlining/highlighting keywords and technical terms.

Finally, re-checking the answer scripts before submitting the same to the examiner.