Shyam completed his grade 10th board exam and felt relieved. The pressure of grade 10th was over and all of a sudden, he found a vacuum. The next board exam is after grade 12. So grade 11 will be an easy year and he can plan a lot with his friends – at least that’s what he thought.
Do you think the same way?
Many students, relieved from the pressure of grade 10th exam find grade 11 to be a time to take it easy and plan to gear up either at the end of the year of at least after they are half way through.
Please…. Please….Please….do not fall into that trap. Here is why.
Prepare for Grade 12 Grade 11 is the first step towards preparation for grade 12 exams. Even if the board exam, after grade 12 may not include the content from grade 11, the knowledge gained in grade 11 syllabus helps you perform better in grade 12. On top of it, there are cases like in 2020-21 when grade 12th exams may not be conducted and the results of grade 11 may literally play role in your grade 12 results. Its better to be safe than sorry.
University?
The door to universities open up after grade 12th exams or Pre-University exams, as it may be called in your vicinity. Many universities or colleges expect you to appear for entrance exams before you qualify for admission there. IITs, NITS, Medical colleges require you to pass an entrance exam. Even though board exams may primarily focus on grade 12 syllabus, the entrance exams will show no such mercy. Most of the entrance exams are based on grade 11 and 12 syllabus combines. Given the fact that grade 11 has more of new concepts and problem solving, a good control over grade 11 syllabus will come handy when you get the entrance exam question papers in hands.
Looking for Long term?
Even if you do not wish to get into engineering and medicine and may plan to prepare for civil services exam or pursue research in natural or social science subjects or even if you plan to take up liberal science/Arts course later on, grade 11 is important.
Grade 11 not merely provides foundation to grade 12 exams but to many competitive exams and higher studies. Understanding of natural or social science needs a foundation, which is provided by grade 11 syllabus.
What should you do?
Plan: If you fail to plan, you plan to fail. So plan your year and create smaller milestones. Benchmark your progress w.r.t to the plan and if needed, recalibrate.
Focus and study: You have worked hard for grade 10 exam. Do not lose the focus now. Concentrate harder and study. Focus inside and outside the class.
Question & Analyze: Most of the concepts are clear if you ask questions. Ask relevant questions and analyze the analyze the answers. Do not accept any concepts if it is not clear to you. Repeat your questions. Re-analyze the answer, accept what’s clear, assimilate.
Revise: Generally, brain retains a small portion of what it learns and in order to retain more of what got in, the brain requires revision. So, revise what you have studied and revise it again. Revise it daily and add new concepts on top of what you have already assimilated
Practice: Especially is you study science, Maths, economics, regular practice problems will definitely help. Practice and solving problems, help us understand the gaps in our understanding and bridge it.
Be Smart: While hard work pays, Smart work pays handsomely.
Be Specific in what you are doing, Measure your progress Set Achievable milestones and reach there in time Be Realistic in setting up your short- and long-term goal. Identify your strengths and weakness and be honest about them. If you are not realistic, you may not be on the right path and would not know where would it lead to Respect Time. Time is one of the most precious resources in your hands. Use that wisely At the end I would just say that have fun while you learn. Having fun and learning are not disjoint sets. We learn the most when we have fun while learning.
Keep up your SMART work and may the success be yours!
All the best.