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
havent 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 million 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 wont be difficult to score well. Even if you feel under-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 time reading this dear. Carry on 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 dont try and overdose your plan by trying to fit in every lessons of the subject. Dont
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.
Thats the minimum we can expect from you.
Dont 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 dont 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 years question papers (at least for the last five
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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 dont 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 isnt 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 youre taking in so much information at once that its
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.

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 cant 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 teachers guidance till the end. This is what is found missing in students
nowadays. Once their syllabus is completed they dont care 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 dont neglect foods and dont 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 wont 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

Tips to prepare well for class 10 Math examination

1. While revising the subjects, you feel that there is still a lot to study. Dont 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 preparation holidays;
brush your teeth, bathe and read. Its 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, dont 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 students 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. Dont 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.

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.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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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
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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.
2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

Take at least more than seven hours of sleep before an examination. Go to the examination hall
with a fresh and confidant mind.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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