For over the next month or so, students taking their class X or XII board examinations would have to do a lot of planning. What to revise? How to use the days off in between? How to divide the available time among the remaining subjects? – These are some of the questions students are trying to address.
On ways to make the period between two examinations effective, Lakshmi Srinivasan, Principal, P.S. Senior Secondary School, says students should prefer strategic preparation to systematic preparation now.
“When there is a lot of time, students can prepare systematically. But now, with a few days in between, students have to make use of the available time effectively,” she says.
On how students should plan and manage their study time between examinations, she says: “If the duration between exams is too short, they need to optimise areas they are thorough with, rather than spend time on something very new, or something they are unsure of.”
Conversely, if there is about a week's time or more between two examinations, there is enough time to go back to something or learn a new concept to try and achieve a minimum performance level. “Looking at question papers from the past will also help.”
Principal of DAV Matriculation Higher Secondary School, Rama Subramaniam, says that taking one subject at a time is vital during examinations.
Agreeing with Ms. Srinivasan on the need to refrain from learning something new, she says: “The days between examinations can also be used to revise portions that one needs more practice in. Students can practice theorems and formulae for subjects such as mathematics.”
On managing stress during this time, Ms. Subramaniam says there is no point analysing an examination that is over in great detail. It would only reduce the available time for other examinations. “Parents must also not pester children asking them if they did well enough or whether they would score a centum. An examination that is over is over and students must be allowed to prepare themselves for the remaining papers.”
Students, however, feel that the time between two examinations may not always be proportionate to the difficulty level of the subject. “Each student may find a different subject difficult. We can never have an ideal time-table that way. So it is up to students to plan and utilise the time well,” says a senior teacher of a government higher secondary school.
