Message For My Icse Friends

This is probably the best time to write this article because summer vacation is going on and you have ample of time to prepare for the 10th boards. Firstly if you are stressed out then please just relax. This is how it's going to be for the rest of the year and the only way to pull through this is remaining calm and doing your best. I appeared for my board exams this year and I will share some tips which had benefited me and some that I learnt from my mistakes.

1. Study tips
‌Regular Consistent Hard Work is the door to success in the board exam. I believe that it's not just one year of boards preparation, it should be 3 or more years of continuous sweating to excel in boards. That means you should start studying very seriously at least from 8th grade. If you haven't started then don't worry. ICSE tenth exam will be the easiest exam of your life(only if you study). So if you want you can cover a lot in one year also. Start from day 1. Complete the portions at home that is taught in school that day itself. Write down all your doubts in a copy and clear it the next day. Be very attentive in the class and don't forget to take down the running notes. In my case, running notes truly helped me a lot. We often think that everything's in the book so no need to note down anything. But when you go home and fair out the running notes 30% is already ingrained in your mind. Later when you sit to study the topic it becomes much easier to memorize. Moreover running notes tend to explain the complex topics in a simpler way. When you are memorizing a portion, please try to understand and visualize it. Jot down the points and keywords and go through them just before the exam.The last month before the boards revise everything thoroughly and plan out things according to the exam timetable. One mistake that I regret making is that I started some new practice books and guides in the last month. But I hardly had any time to go through them before the exam day and I was not able to recall anything that I learnt from these books. Honestly speaking neither you have time to do a lot of books nor it is necessary to do any extra book. Questions will come from the prescribed books only. Practise the previous ten years question paper. That's very important because questions are repeated in the boards. Don't listen to your seniors and your friends who give you all wrong advices and make you panic by telling you to do all the absolutely useless books. Listen only to the school teachers instead of all your outside tutors if you want to do good. I would not say to retract yourself from all types of entertainments but yes quit all the social media. Watching TV for not more than an hour a day is okay because I feel it is comparatively less addictive. Playing outdoor games is the best for recreation than anything else. Put your shoulder to the wheel and give it your best, I guarantee you nothing can stop you from getting good marks.

2. Tips for getting extra marks
Imagine you are loaded with tons of homework and have to complete them in one day. Howsoever you try, at one moment you will be frustrated. Similarly the examiners get exhausted checking all the papers(after all they are humans). So it is your duty to please the examiner with your answers. Make sure you write short and to-the-point answers. That's what ICSE demands. Keep your answer paper clean and avoid scratches. Don't change the sequence of the answers. If you miss out any answer then please mention it to check it in the last page. Don't attempt extra questions if you don't have enough time for checking. Remember that if it is 90% of your hard work, it is that 10% of the blessings that actually counts. So at least from this year start respecting your parents, elders and teachers. Help all your friends and try to do some charity as well. Okay okay it's not the Aastha channel so I will end it here. Rest you are all intelligent you know it all, right!

All the best. Hope it helps you. As they say Rome was not built in a day,so you have to be patient and go on working hard. Even if you fail in your attempt the knowledge is going to stay with you forever and yes, hard work never goes in vain.

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