Tips to Prepare and Score in CBSE Class 12th Board Exam

The class 12th board exam, also known as the HSC (Higher Secondary School Certificate) exam, holds extreme importance in students’ lives as they decide their future career path. From college admission to job interviews, your class 12th board exam mark sheet reflects your potential and aptitude. Even if you opt to get admission in entrance-exam-based colleges/universities, your class 12th board exam marks play a major role. For such a significant exam, you need to prepare adequately and do your best.

Often students are filled with overwhelming anxiety and fear before the board exams. However, rather than being stressed, doing robust preparations with enough practice and revision will help you achieve your dream score. Here we present effective study tips to ace CBSE class 12th board exams and a few subject-wise preparation tips for students to fine-tune their exam performance for better grades.

Effective Study Tips to Ace CBSE Class 12th Board Exams:

1. Know your complete syllabus and exam pattern:

Before beginning your exam preparation, you must familiarise yourself with the exam pattern and syllabus. Details like exam duration, question format, marking scheme, number of questions, sections, chapter-wise weightage of marks, etc., are imperative for exam pattern. Likewise, you must carefully go through the entire syllabus of all subjects. Prepare all chapters/topics according to their weightage, and don’t leave anything. Study your entire prescribed syllabus with NCERT to score good marks.

2. Set up a study plan:

Planning is crucial to achieving your target. For students, it is recommended to set up a proper study schedule and stick to it. Allocate specific time for each subject/topic and study accordingly. Make sure you study a bit of each subject. Identify your weak topics/subjects and allot more time for them. It is also helpful to set daily study targets and achieve them positively before retiring to bed. Following a study schedule will help you in studying at a constant pace and boost your confidence for exams.

3. Practice previous years’ question papers:

As crucial as studying is, solving last year’s question papers is equally important. Therefore, solve as many previous year question papers and sample papers as possible. This will help you to understand how well you’ve prepared the studied topics and concepts. Moreover, try to solve the previous year’s question papers in real exam-like situations within the stipulated time limit to track your question-solving speed and accuracy. This will allow you identify the gaps in your preparation to rectify and boost your confidence for exams.

4. Time Management:

Time management is another important aspect of scoring well in CBSE class 12th board exams. Students need to manage their time not only while preparing but also while writing their exams. Sometimes, students feel that they have all the time in the world for preparation, and in the end, they don’t get enough time for revision. Similarly, while writing exams, they spend too much time on initial questions and have to rush their answers in the end. To avoid that, start your preparation early and divide your study time strategically while preparing and writing your exam. It is recommended to begin with high-marking questions and attempt one or 2-mark questions at the end.

5. Take regular breaks:

It is advisable to take regular and refreshing breaks between your study sessions. Without them, your mind will soon tire, resulting in waving concentration. To avoid that, take a 5-minute break after every 1 hour or 45 minutes and a 10-15 minute break after every two hours to boost your productivity. In addition, you can do some refreshing activities in your break time to restore your energy levels for the next study session.

6. Don’t skip revision:

You cannot expect to score better grades in your board exams without thorough revision. Always start early and complete your entire syllabus on time. Then revise and re-revise until you fully grasp the information. Don’t skip anything; revise all the important points, topics, chapters, facts, and formulae, even the ones you feel confident about. Revise them regularly to learn them by heart. Remember to focus more on difficult topics while revising.

7. Make your answer sheet presentable:

A neat and clean answer sheet fetches more marks than filthier ones. Write your answers in readable handwriting while underlining all the critical words and information. Using diagrams will help you in impressing your evaluator. Avoid overwriting and cutting several times in the answer sheet.

8. Eliminate distractions:

It is crucial to cut down all sorts of distractions like mobile phones, social media, or anything that distracts you from your goal. Limit their usage and stay focused on your preparation. If you need to watch study-related videos or access curriculum-related information from the internet, you can use it, but don’t go overboard. Set a time limit for your usage and get back to concentrating on your studies.

Subject-wise Preparation Tips:

For Mathematics:

• Practice is the key to scoring well in the CBSE class 12th maths exam, so practice as many problems, sample papers, and previous year questions as possible.
• Solve higher weightage questions first during the examination and manage your time wisely.
• Be thorough with NCERT math textbooks; practice each question and example.
• Understand the theory behind every formula and concept.
• Practice and learn every derivation and formula by heart.
• Make separate notes of important formulae and equations to revise regularly.
• Prioritise high-weightage topics (like Calculus- which carries 44% weightage).

For Physics:

• Start with NCERT, understand and learn each and every topic, concept, derivative, and formula thoroughly.
• Prepare a separate list of all the important formulae, derivatives, and experiments and learn them by heart.
• Practice derivatives repetitively. Also, try to understand the concept behind each derivate; this will help you memorise it quickly.
• Numericals are inevitable in physics, so if you find them difficult, practice as many numerical problems as you can – from NCERT and reference books/papers.
• For diagram questions (either a device or a graph), pay special attention to the key features of the diagram.
• Learn the S.I. units of all the entities.
• Solve as many question papers/sample papers and previous years’ question papers as you can to build your speed and accuracy.

For Chemistry:

Chemistry is divided into Physical Chemistry, Organic Chemistry, and Inorganic Chemistry.

Physical Chemistry:

• If your mathematics and calculation part is strong, it will be a scoring portion for you.
• Understand every topic, concept, and formula from NCERT and solve every question (exercise & example) from the textbook
• List down all the formulae with examples in a separate notebook and revise them regularly.
• For numerical, practice as many problems as you can and use log tables for lengthy calculations.

Organic Chemistry:

• For organic chemistry, cover the basics first – be thorough with NCERT. Over the past few years, all the questions were directly or indirectly asked by NCERT.
• Make separate notes for important chemical reactions and the IUPAC naming of compounds.
• Some critical reactions that need to be memorised are- Phenols-Carboxylic Acid reaction, Aldehyde-Ketone reaction, 1,2,3 alcohols, and 1, 2, 3 amines reactions

• Learn all the naming reactions by heart as they were asked directly in the examination. Some important naming reactions are- Wolff-Kishner, Williamson, Clemmensen Reduction, and Hell-Volhard-Zelinsky.
• Practice as many questions as possible daily to develop a deep understanding.

Inorganic Chemistry:

• For inorganic chemistry, memorise the periodic table using mnemonics.
• Learn all about the properties of s-Block, p-Block, d-Block & f-Block elements because direct questions will be asked from these chapters
• Prepare smart notes for Inorganic chemistry and revise them regularly.
• Be thorough with NCERT textbooks; practice each exercise question from it.
• From p-Block elements, practice the structures of the different chemical compounds thoroughly.

For Biology:

• As Biology is a theoretical subject, prepare the basics first with NCERT.
• Learn all the important terminologies and definitions by heart.
• Use flashcards to revise important definitions and diagrams before exams.
• Practice diagrams carefully to understand and learn the description of the process.
• Use diagrams and flowcharts wherever possible to learn and retain new information.
• Always make neat and clean diagrams using a pencil and ruler for labelling. Always do labelling on the right side. And draw the diagram even if the question doesn’t ask for it to gain brownie points.

For English:

• Learn the basic rules of grammar and practice as many grammatical questions as you can to improve it.
• Read novels, newspapers, and science fiction to improve your language skills.
• Keep track of word count and format: practice writing letters, speeches, and applications to understand the format correctly.
• Practice unseen passages thoroughly because they are high scoring and very easy.
• Prepare literature well enough as it contains analytical and content-based questions.
• Make detailed notes for poems and pottery to understand them well.

For Hindi:

• Learn the basic rules of grammar and practice as many grammatical questions as you can to improve it.
• Make detailed notes for poems and pottery to understand their meaning and questions asked.
• Practice writing letters, essays, and descriptive questions to understand the formats and word limit correctly.
• Practice previous years’ questions as much as you can and also cross-check their answers with the solutions.

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