On a reader’s request, here are some last minute (updated) tips to prepare for the grammar (and comprehension) portion of ICSE Class 10 English I:
- Go through a list of prepositions and prepositional phrases (you can find plenty of such lists on the internet, or in the textbooks prescribed here: Textbook, Textbook.. Which to choose? and keep practicing these every night. They’ll help a lot while doing the “Fill in the blank” questions.
- Practice grammar from previous years’ question papers (which you will find through this page: Important CISCE Publications as this is your best source to brush up your grammar in the little time left before exams. Some questions related to changing the tense or speech are often repeated.
- Go through the official formats and guidelines given by the CISCE for formal and informal letters and notice and email writing. You can access the official links here: ICSE Syllabus 2019
- Practice vocabulary (go through the words whose meanings have been asked in the comprehension part of previous years’ papers) as these carry one-mark weightage and such a question is often asked
- For tips on essay writing, check out our post where we offer easy and practical guidelines to write better essays: English I: How to Improve Your Essays (TIPS)
- Practice précis writing (if you have enough time left) and make sure you read the question correctly. Is it asking for a summary of the entire passage? Or is it asking you to write what you think of a certain paragraph? Are you supposed to write in general or related to a specific aspect of the passage? Keep these things in mind.
- Punctuation is not considered a word, so don’t count it in your 50 word limit.
- It is advisable not to use contractions in any English paper, so you might want to keep that in mind even in précis writing. e.g. use cannot instead of can’t, do not instead of don’t. Yes, contractions do save space, but it is advisable not to use them as much as you can avoid it.
- Also, if you wish, you may make a rough table or grid for précis writing before writing the fair one. This will make your table look neater.
- Further, do make sure to number the rows and columns of the table for précis writing. I would suggest making a “10 rows x 5 columns“ table so that your words are evenly spaced out. Also write the word count on the bottom right corner below the grid.
- Go through a list of commonly misspelled English words (you can find plenty of such lists on the internet) to improve your writing.
- Go through a list of homophones, synonyms of commonly used words, etc. to help spice up your essays and enhance your vocabulary
- Review your past mistakes from previously written exam/test papers, if they are available to you.
- Check out our post on how to write and present your board exam paper here: How to Write Your Board Exam Papers (TIPS)
- Also make sure you have everything you need for the exam: Things You Need on the Day of Your Board Exam (Pre-examination Checklist!)
Hope these tips and pointers help you when you write your ICSE English Language Board Exam! If you have suggestions, do let us know in the comments below. All the best! 🙂
Note: You are forbidden to reproduce any part of this work without our prior permission. For more information, please contact us or go through our copyright policy.
Also see other posts to help you prepare for the 2019 ICSE Board Exams:
English I: How to Improve Your Essays (TIPS)
ICSE Geography: Last-minute Tips before Board Exams
Quick Links: all ICSE notes and tips in one place
Please yourself suggest some good sites for practising propositions and also other grammar questions…Practise for preposition is really important
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Hey there I am confused about the format of informal letter can u justvrespond me fast tommorow i have exam so.
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Hi I always find difficulty in english 1 exams as I wouldn’t be able to make proper words in essay
And in chemistry I find problem in the chapters of study of compounds such as ammonia ;HCl ;H2so4 ,HNO3 so please give me tips
And I wouldn’t be able to write some exams on time such as math,phyics and geograpy
Please help me
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HI Sahil,
Apologies for the delayed response! We hope you had kept yourself updated with our #LastMinuteTips and #LastMinuteRevision posts that we shared on Twitter. Additionally, we have other posts on the blog, too, which already address these doubts such as for the acids in chemistry: https://wp.me/p3jow4-fU.
Again, we regret not being able to reply earlier. Hope your exams went well! All the best, and thanks for visiting!
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Sir, what according to you must be the order of solving the paper?I mean to say whether to solve essay/grammar/letter/or comprehension first in hindi as well as eng language
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Hi Apurva,
There is no sacrosanct method/order of solving a paper. However, do begin with the question with which you are most confident and continue likewise. For me, I was most confident in grammar. Hence, I would start with grammar and then move on to the comprehension as these had short questions which could be answered quickly. I would then do the letter as this was shorter than the essay and could be put aside. I would save the essay for last so that I could take my time and think about it and not rush it. I enjoyed the essay writing and wanted to not have to worry about finishing the other questions, which is why I would save it for last.
Ultimately, it’s your choice. Do what you feel is right for you, don’t be influenced by others’ methods. Hope this helps! All the best, and do keep visiting. 🙂
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I has a doubt in the pattern of writing history answers
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Hi Madhu,
Please specify your doubt so that we may help.
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Day after tomorrow is my ICSE English I exam…..Lol,am excited as hell…
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Hi Pranav,
How was your exam? Hope they are going well. Good luck for the rest of your papers! 🙂
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where can i find good essays to improve my essay writing skills?can you upload a few good essays in this website or tell me a website where i can find it.
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where can i find good essay to improve my essay writing skills,can you upload a few good essays in this website
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Hey can you suggest me which authors “last 10 years solved ICSE papers” are the best ?I’ve heard my teachers saying that most of them have wrong answers .Do you know which has the right answers? Arundeep or Evergreen or other?
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Hi Sanjana,
Thank you for stopping by and welcome to our space!
Your teachers are quite right. The said books by both publishers have their own shortcomings. There are numerous discrepancies and often, the English itself is not up to the mark. I would recommend you visit your local bookstore, go through the answers for English Literature in both books if you feel that will help, and then choose the best one. Again, both had mistakes/printing errors when I used them back in 2013 and I even sent several e-mails to the publishers highlighting these discrepancies. However, do go through the books once again and take the opinion of the store owner to see which one is more suited to your needs.
Hope this helps! If you have further questions, please do not hesitate to ask.
Keep visiting! 🙂
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How do i study all the hindi grammar words as there are about 200 for bhavvachak, paryayvaci, etc. please suggest a good book if you can.
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Hi there,
We will get back to you on this, soon. Please check back within a couple days!
Thank you for your patience and our sincerest apologies for the delayed response.
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I m a student of ICSE school. I want to change board becose of shifting in mumbai. Ssc board need counter signature on Ttansfer CirCirtificate. From where can I get countersignature. Pls help me
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Atanu,
Hi there! Thanks for visiting our blog. Unfortunately, we aren’t capable of addressing your problem. Please visit the official website of the Council, i.e. http://www.cisce.org, for more information. They are authorized to help you.
Hope this helps! Keep visiting and good luck. 🙂
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Youe tips helped us a lot today!
The paper was a bit tricky but good enough :3
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Juhi,
Hi there!
Glad to know these tips helped! 🙂 I’m sure you all did great, though! Let’s hope for the best for the remaining exams.
Good luck! Keep visiting! 🙂
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Ww
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🙂
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Do we have to answer the paper in the order the questions are asked? I mean, can we write the essay at the end after everything else or is it necessary to write it first on the first page?
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Juhi,
Hi! Thanks for visiting our blog.
You may attempt your English I paper in any order you wish to, as this paper does not have any sections. In fact, I always tend to write my essays in the end. I follow the following pattern as it helps me manage my time well:
1. Grammar
2. Comprehension
3. Letter, FIR, C.V., Testimonial, etc.
4. Essay
However, finish all subquestions before moving on to the next question.
Please visit the following post for a detailed, similar tip:
Hope this helps! If you have further questions, please don’t hesitate to ask.
Good luck! Stay connected. 🙂
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I do the same in my home examinations 🙂
So just wanted to confirm that! Thanks a lot!
Your blog is amazing.
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Juhi,
Great minds think alike! 😀 Jokes apart, follow the pattern which you are comfortable with. 🙂
Glad we could help! Thanks for the kind words. Much appreciated!
Good luck! Stay connected. 🙂
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Thank u …………………so much !!!!
i was very nervous before getting confirmed abt this…………………i was thinking to write an email to u asking that ,but searching in these comments i got cleared my doubt ………………………………… ^_^ 🙂
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Sameer,
Hi! Thanks for stopping by. 🙂
It’s true, most of the times, our readers ask some amazing questions here in the comments section. We try to incorporate the really good, valid questions into future posts so that it’s easier for readers to find what they’re looking for. Come this summer vacation, we will be sifting through all comments and picking out ones which deserve special mention. 🙂 Hope that will make the task easier for future readers of this blog!
Also, glad you found what you were looking for in time for the examination! Hope your exam went well.
Good luck for the rest! Stay connected. 🙂
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http://larae.net/write/synonyms.html
for synonyms…..to get more marks………enjoy
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Hi there!
Thanks for sharing this website! 🙂 Much appreciated.
Keep visiting!
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i wanted to know …how to write question numbers correctly in the answer sheet? because the left hand margine is very small and i dont know whether to write number outside or inside ????????
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Hi there!
Were you the anonymous writer who sent us an email asking about a similar doubt? We replied to the email, but the address provided was an invalid one.
Here’s the reply we sent:
As you have mentioned, the LHS margins are quite narrow and it is possible that if you try to squeeze in the question/answer number, your handwriting may come across as illegible. To stay on the safer side, here’s a sample regarding how you should write your papers.
*Also, please refer to our tips on How to Write Answers, How to Write Your Exam Paper, etc. which you will find on our blog if you search for the same in the search box or go through the dropdown list of Categories/Subjects, both of which you will find on the bottom and right side of the blog. We have included a lot many tips there which you may find useful.
[The attachment cannot be displayed here. Hence, write your question number on the top of the page, in the center, in bold letters. We will upload the attachment as soon as possible.]
Hope you find this useful! If you have further questions, please don’t hesitate to ask!
Thanks for stopping by! Keep visiting. 🙂
P.S. Hope you’re our anonymous reader! If you are, glad we could contact you in time. 🙂
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yes, i was the writer ……and i love what you do and i have been browsing here for two years,i have my boards tomorrow
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Hi, again!
It’s humbling to know we have such dedicated readers who don’t hesitate to express their gratitude. We are truly indebted to readers like you. Thank you for making the experience of writing this blog more enjoyable! 🙂
Good luck for your exams! May God bless you. 🙂
Stay connected!
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thanks for your answer,sir..pew!!!!!!now i can write
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Glad we could help! And, please spare me the “sir.” 🙂
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Today i had icse eng 1 paper and i hope there is no strict corrections done ……and thanks for helping me again
# I was wondering whether last years english stories and poems(2015) would appear again in 2016?
last year 2015:
Poems;inchcape rock and in the bazaars of hyderabad
Stories/Prose;the bet and tiger in the tunnel
we have totally ten poems and ten stories
POETRY:(All poems to be studied)
1) Where the mind is without fear –
Rabindranath Tagore
2) The Inchcape Rock – Robert Southey
3) In The Bazaars of Hyderabad –
Sarojini Naidu
4) Small Pain in my chest – Michael
Mack
5) The Professor – Nissim Ezekiel
6) Stopping by woods on a snowy
evening – Robert Frost
7) A Doctor’s journal entry for August
6, 1945 – Vikram Seth
8) If thou must love me….. (Sonnets from
the PortugueseXIV)- Elizabeth
Barrett Browning
9) I believe – Brucellish K. Sangma
10) A Psalm of Life – H. W Longfellow
PROSE: At least one of the following:
(i) Short Stories:(All Short Stories to be
studied)
1) India’s Heroes – Anonymous
2) Journey by Night – Norah Burke
3) Hunger – Nasira Sharma
4) My Lost Dollar – Stephen Leacock
5) God lives in the Panch – Munshi
Premchand
6) The Last Leaf – O’ Henry
7) Kabuliwala – Rabindranath Tagore
8) The Bet – Anton Chekov
9) The Tiger in the Tunnel – Ruskin Bond
10) Princess September- W. Somerset
Maugham
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Hi there!
We really can’t say, as it is difficult to predict which questions/chapters/poems may come or not. We’d suggest that you prepare everything and not leave anything out.
Hope this helps. If you have further questions, please don’t hesitate to ask. 🙂
Good luck. Keep visiting! 🙂
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thanks a lot for these good advises.
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Shantina,
Hi there! Thank YOU for stopping by our blog. 🙂 We hope you find these tips helpful during your final exam!
Good luck. Stay strong and stay connected. 🙂
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Please Help me…..i think i m not confident in Chemistry-especially in Electrolysis and metallurgy……
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Do you know if we are allowed to use gel pens for writing the papers or are ball pens a MUST?
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Hi there!
We’d suggest you use ball point pens in black. Please go through our post here:
especially point number 8, to know more.
Hope this helps! If you have further questions, please don’t hesitate to ask. 🙂
Stay connected!
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Thankyouu
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Glad to help! 🙂
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Can you please tell about the important things in Chemistry ICSE BOARD
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Thank you very much sir for this help in English 1
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Samridhi,
Hi there! Spare me the “sir.” 🙂
Glad to know you found these tips helpful! It’s always a pleasure to be of help. 🙂
Thanks for stopping by. Keep visiting!
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