English I: Last-minute Tips

On a reader’s request, here are some last minute (updated) tips to prepare for the grammar (and comprehension) portion of 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: https://icsehelpline101.wordpress.com/2013/03/22/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: https://icsehelpline101.wordpress.com/2013/04/30/previous-years-icse-board-question-papers/) 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.
• 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
• 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.
• Also, if you wish, you may make a rough table for précis writing on the following page and a fair one on the page you intend to write your final answer. 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 “20 rows x 5 columns” table so that your words are  evenly spaced out.
• 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

 

Hope this helps! If you have suggestions, do let us know in the comments below. 🙂

English I: Last-minute Tips by Helpline for ICSE Students (Class 10) is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Pre-examination Checklist!

In about two weeks’ time, your exams are going to begin! Everyone has worked hard this past year and hopefully, things have been smooth so far. To keep the flow going, here is a checklist for you to go through on and the day before every exam so that we can ensure that nothing goes wrong on the big day(s):

 

• Admit Card
• School id-card (if required)
• At least three working pens you are comfortable writing in and with which you have preferably written before (and not just refills: don’t waste precious time inserting refills in your pen) with the same ink (i.e. color, company/brand, etc. so that everything you write seems uniform and there are no color differences, etc.)
• At least two sharpened pencils
• A sharpener OR
• A mechanical pencil with sufficient leads of the required size (0.7mm or 0.5mm, etc. according to your pencil) already inserted in it and also kept separately as “extras” (use leads that do not break easily)
• A clean eraser
• An extra wristwatch, in case yours stops suddenly while you’re writing the paper and there is no wall clock in the room
• A ruler with clear markings, preferably a 12 inch ruler so that you can draw a line the length of the entire page with one stroke
• A compass/geometry box for your math exam
• A piece of string and color pencils (we didn’t use them, so your wish) for Geography as pointed out by Nagaraj 🙂

 

If you still haven’t bought any of these items, or if you need to buy extras, hurry up and don’t forget to do so the next time you leave your house!

If we have forgotten to mention something, do remind us in the comment section below so that fellow tenth graders may avail of your suggestions, as well! 🙂

 

CISCE Publications

Hello people!

You may have heard your friends or teachers talking about going through the Pupils’ Analysis or Specimen Question Papers issued by the CISCE. Well, in our opinion, it’s imperative that you go through both of these.

The Analysis of Pupil Performance published by the Council every year for ICSE as well as ISC gives the suggested/sample/model answers that examiners are looking for in a student’s answer sheet, regarding the past year’s exam paper. Here, teachers who have corrected last year’s answer sheets of students provide their inputs to help fellow teachers and students improve their performance. It shows how one should write his/her answers during the exam, the format, the relevant points to include, the diagrams which one should include, etc. Please do go through the analysis! It will give you a clear insight regarding where students make mistakes and how you can avoid them.

Further, the Specimen Question Papers are also helpful as they give an idea regarding the question paper pattern/format, style of questions asked, etc.

You will find both of these at the following link:

http://cisce.org/publications.aspx

I was unaware of the Pupils’ Analysis during my tenth grade (ICSE), but it helped me much during my twelfth grade (ISC) and I highly recommend you check it out at least once. As I had scanned through the Specimen Papers before my exams when I was in tenth grade, I had felt that a couple questions were asked from the Specimen Paper during my Board exam, but I hadn’t tallied both papers (the actual and the specimen) to check for sure. So, don’t take these lightly! You’ll learn much by going through these two publications by the Council.

 

Also, spread the word about them to fellow classmates and friends who may not be aware of them! 🙂

Last One Month Preparation (TIPS)

Hi everybody!

Recently, a reader, Utkarsh, left a comment saying that he has completed his syllabus but still feels that he is “underprepared.” Keeping in mind the fact that there is still one month left before the exams begin, he was at a loss regarding what to do till then.

 

Here are some of the tips that we offered him, which we feel may be of help to all of you, as well:

• Now that you have completed the entire syllabus, start going through past years’ question papers. We would recommend that you solve only papers of subjects such as Mathematics and for the rest, especially theory papers, merely going through the questions and then answering them in your mind will be enough.
• If you feel that you require writing practice and if you need to improve your time management while writing exams, then we would recommend that you set a time limit and write past years’ question papers as if you were writing your actual final exam.

 

Here are some of the important topics we suggested that he (and you!) keep revising:

* grammar (especially in Hindi or other vernacular languages, if you have opted for the same)

* Math formulae

(if you haven’t made a list of your own, you may refer to them as given here: https://icsehelpline101.wordpress.com/2013/05/13/mathematics-important-formulae-and-points-to-note/)

* important equations in Chemistry
* important formulae in Physics
* names of authors/poets in English
* important diagrams in Biology
(you may refer to them here: https://icsehelpline101.wordpress.com/2014/04/28/biology-important-diagrams-from-all-chapters/)
* important dates in History and Civics
(you can find a list for the same here: https://icsehelpline101.wordpress.com/2014/03/05/history-important-dates-notes/)
* maps of India
(as given here: https://icsehelpline101.wordpress.com/2013/06/16/geography-solved-maps-of-india-diagrams/comment-page-1/#comment-2030)
* important questions in topography
(you will find various posts on the same if you search for “topography” in the Search bar on the right and bottom right of the blog page)
* important “Name the Following” questions in Geography
(for example, places where certain mineral ores are found: https://icsehelpline101.wordpress.com/2014/03/08/geography-minerals-of-india-notes/)

By going through the above intricacies in every subject, you will be able to brush up your preparation and make sure you haven’t left out anything. This is of course, keeping in mind that you have already prepared the overall concepts of each chapter.

Also, besides going through question papers, you can check out the Pupils’ Analysis PDFs given on the CISCE website, which offer suggested answers for the previous year’s exam papers.

 

Keep revising and don’t lose the momentum! Good luck to everyone who is going to give their exam this year. 🙂

Last One Month Preparation (TIPS) by Helpline for ICSE Students (Class 10) is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

History: Last-minute Tips

Here are a few last-minute tips for writing your History exam:

 

• Write your answers in points and underline important keywords. Write to-the-point and don’t elaborate unnecessarily.
• Use the fifteen minutes at the beginning of your exam very carefully. Take the time to decide which questions you wish to attempt and prioritize them. Keep in mind which one you will keep as an “extra,” in case you realize that you may not be able to do justice to a question which you had earlier decided to attempt. However, to ensure that doesn’t happen, use those fifteen minutes well!
• Make sure you only mention the date if and when you are absolutely sure of it being correct. If not, it’s better to not write the date. (For example, it’s better to only write “The First War of Independence” instead of “The First War of Independence, 1875” or “The Revolt of 1875″… You get my point.)
• Go through the important dates. If you haven’t made a list of the important dates yourself, you can always go through our own list here.
• Also go through the names of the various leaders and their contributions. Revise who the Moderates and Radicals were, who brought about what major change, etc.
• Make sure you are also able to associate the names of the various leaders with their photographs. During our tenth grade, our History teacher told us that it is possible that they may ask us to identify the national leader from the photograph. So, don’t forget to go through the photographs of important national leaders such as the Moderates and Radicals, etc.

 

Though there’s still time left, hope you do well in your exam! Keep visiting for more such tips! 🙂

 

This work by Helpline for ICSE Students (Class 10) is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.