Board Exams are not new in Pakistan. They are held every year for Matriculation and Intermediate classes from March till June. Every year millions of students from different provincial and federal boards appear in these exams. And most of them successfully pass these exams.
Last year, due to the spread of COVID-19 in the country, the government had to close all the academic institutions and cancel all the board exams. All the students were promoted to the next classes based on the promotion policy announced by the government. That was a temporary relief given to the students at that time. But as the situation improved, the academic institutes, reopened. But the learning and class experience wasn’t like that students had earlier. The COVID-19 SOPs though was a necessity, but the students’ learning was greatly affected. The schools and colleges never went on a regular schedule. The second and third covid waves affected the students badly. The academic year 2020-21 was just short in terms of physical classes. But, the online classes continued for most of the institutions.
Now, at the moment, by the grace of Allah Almighty, the situation is improving rapidly. And this year the government has decided that all the board exams will be conducted physically, under strict SOPs. For the students, this time of the year is quite tough. Most of the students haven’t taken their online classes seriously and other bright students who used to practice their learning through test sessions, haven’t done so. So, at this very moment, the students are quite confused.
Now, students are worried about their exams and don’t know what to do? They are asking that how should we prepare for the exams? How should we prepare in this short time?
Now, in this post, I will be sharing some strategies and tips for the Matric and Intermediate exams for effectively preparing for the exams in this short time. Let’s begin.
1- Divide your subjects
Probably after one month, the exams for matric and intermediate students will start. Now, based on the time you have left, you need to plan your schedule.
Since most of the students appearing in the exams are from science background. So, my strategies will be primarily focused on it.
For the 9th or 10th class, there are a total of 8 subjects. 4 science (Phy, Chem, Maths, Comp. Sc/ Biology) subjects and 4 Arts subjects (English, Urdu, Islamiyat, Pak. Studies). And for intermediate students, there are a total of 6 subjects. 3 science subjects (Phy, Chem/Comp, Maths/Biology) and 3 Arts subjects (English, Urdu, Islamiyat/ Pak. Studies).
Now, choose 1 science subject and 1 art subject and start preparing for it (How to prepare, see in the next step. ). Give this pair one day (4-6 hours each, depending upon how long you can concentrate). In the first phase, it will take you 3/4 days to cover all subjects once. Repeat this step, until all of your syllabi is covered. It will hardly take 15-18 days.
Now, what’s the technique of preparing an individual subject.
2- How to prepare an Individual subject?
Again, we have two divisions, science subjects, and arts subjects. Let’s start with the Science subjects.
2.1 Science Subjects
In science subjects, excepts maths the preparation technique would be quite similar. Now, I am assuming that you have read your books thoroughly and fully grabbed the concepts. Now, you just have to memorize things,
2.1.1 Physics, Chemistry, Computer science, & Biology
For physics, chemistry, computer science, and biology, the technique is quite simple and similar. For these papers, your exam paper will contain three types of questions, MCQs, Short Questions, Long Questions (Theoretical and Numerical).
Shorts Questions
Since short question questions cover most of your marks, you will start preparing them first. Learn all the exercise short questions first, then from the chapter’s inside. This year, you have a smart syllabus, which has further reduced the quantity of your exercise short questions. You will cover all the short questions in 2 or 3 phases. Once you have done so, almost 40-50% of your subject preparation is complete. Now, you will cover numerical questions, in the case of physics.
(Note: When you are learning a short question, don’t start cramming it word by word. Just read it once, understand the concept. Then if you read 4 to 5 times, you will hopefully memorize it.)
Long Questions
Now, after you are done with the short questions. Next, you will have to cover the long questions for each chapter. If you don’t have much time, you can only prepare the long questions of the first six chapters or 6 chapters which are paired in a pairing scheme.
Once you cover long questions, 75-85% preparation is done.
MCQs
Now, you are left with MCQs. Read the chapter completely, if you have enough time. Else, you can solve the exercise MCQs and MCQs from your key book or the guide you are using. It’s completely up to you. If you just look at exercise MCQs, still there’s a chance of getting 50% MCQs right.
2.1.2 Maths-Preparation
The subject of Mathematics is quite different from others. In this case, you can’t really divide it into long and short questions. So, in this case, you have practice questions from each and every exercise. In the case of mathematics, practice is very important. You cannot solve a question in the Exam if you just have looked at its solution. So, try to practice the questions as much as you can.
You can prioritize the chapters based on their weightage in the final exams. For classes 9-10, the initial 6 chapters are very important, so start with them and then move towards the next.
In case you are in 1st year, you need to focus on the trigonometry chapters (9-14), then chapters 3 to 7. and lastly chapters 1, 2. In case you are in the 2nd, year, your priority should be Integration and Differentiation, Chapter 2, 3, and 4. Then, focus on easy chapters, 7, 1, and 5. Lastly, the conic section, chapter 6.
In this way, you can practice the whole syllabus.
2.2 Art Subjects
2.2.1 English
In English, again the major portion of the paper is short questions, especially for intermediate classes. So, begin with them. Learn the exercise and additional short questions. For Matric students, you should move on to the letter, application, stories.
For classes 10 and 12, your second preference should be essays. Then you can move on with the translation passages. Then practice the grammar part. Lastly, focus on the MCQs and synonyms of the chapter.
2.2.2 Urdu
For Urdu, I actually don’t have an actual strategy. Each section or domain almost carries the same marks. So, start any section you like.
2.2.3 Pak Studies and Islamiyat
The maximum portion or almost 50% is based on Short questions. So, start learning them. Then you should MCQs. Lastly, start learning the long questions.
3- Practice through tests and Past Papers
Now, once you have prepared all your subjects in multiple phases, the next step is to test your knowledge, Previously, the majority of you would go through a three-month session by academies. But this time, most of you haven’t gone through it. As the time is very short, my recommendation would at least one past paper on each subject before appearing in the final exams. It will help you a lot in improving your writing skills.
That’s all. After all your efforts and strategies don’t forget to pray. It is very necessary.
Best of luck with your Exams!
Also Read: 6 Ways to Use YouTube as a Free Source of Quality Education
