The preparation of senior secondary school children for professional entrance exams

What value is it to do ordinary Bachelors without following it up with Masters? And what use is it to do your Masters or a specialization in a particular discipline and not enter research in that field but suddenly change your field and land up working in a bank or school? That’s not what a Masters is pursued for is it? Close to 2 lakh students appear for a variety of entrance exams across the country on an annual basis. Some State Board professional exams and some central board professional exams have strict criterion. Right from age to the number of attempts, to the mode of marking: negative marking especially as important factors for the clearing of these exams. Professional Institutes offer limited seats and therefore require a mode of filtering the student’s inorder to get the best. Therefore, they launch common exams for all students. These common exams are also called Competitive exams or Entrance Exams because they create lots of competition among students. Professional institutes take students on the basis of their abilities such as understanding of concepts, sharpness of mind and knowledge. But how should students prepare for such exams? Because so many students study the whole year but still are not selected. Most institutes want to test not only your knowledge but also your concept, common sense for subject and sharp mind. Anybody preparing for the exam with a definite plan in mind with the ability to modify some basic strategies is bound to be able to clear the exam.

1. Belief: Believe you can make it. There is a famous quote: “The thing always happens that you really believe in; and the belief in a thing makes it happen”.

2. Clear Concepts: Clear Concepts are fundamental to clear competitive exams. You can prefect your conceptual knowledge by practicing and attempting different types of questions based on these concepts.

3. Time Management: It is essential to put in a study of 4 hours a day on a minimum for a competitive exam. Begin by making a time table for each day in terms of: time for each subject, part of syllabus completed, time for revision, questions attempted.

4. Speed: Speed is of importance in these competitive exams. It shows your quick response to a tricky question. This is how students are filtered. The best way to manage that is to do as many questions as you can. Try to do questions in as minimum time as possible.

5. Sample Papers: Here comes my last and most important trick. The best way to perform in any exam would be to use former Sample Papers. Attempting so many sample papers helps in mental coherence during the main exams. Sample Papers also helps in achieving a hard, stable concentration during competitive exams.rnSo, let’s say you are not talented enough in physics. What will you do now? Work your way at practicing physics the most. Regular practice will make your subconscious mind develop the new talent in your conscious mind

6. Tutor: The third and final step which is also the most important is to have a good tutor rnFind a good teacher; understand all the topics from him, practice a lot at home using the guidance provided by your teacher. Get inspired daily.

In the course of studying regularly for 6-8 hours every day, there will come a point, after some time(usually in days), when it will be almost impossible to study and understand any further, this point is called the Saturation point. Take one or two days of rest, and continue again.