Board exam marks of class 12 are valued by students and
parents alike, because they shape careers. The month of February marks the
beginning of frantic schedule for class 12 students. In Maharashtra and
Uttar Pradesh, board exams are starting from February 18, 2016; in
Odisha and Rajasthan from March 3, and around the same time in
other states. Many of the class 12 students aspire for a seat in the IITs.
PaGaLGuY brings to you tips from toppers and professionals at coaching classes
who have guided batch after batch successfully.

The syllabus of Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) and class
12 board overlaps to a great extent. Many students tend to confuse between the
two and may lose out on either or both. One month before his class
12 board exams, Mayank Khewaria, a first year student of Civil Engineering
at IIT Gandhinagar, concentrated on covering language subject, English.
Khewaria said, “The approach for board exams is different from that of IIT-JEE.
By ‘different approach’ he meant sticking to textbook because all questions
asked are from the syllabus itself. This does not hold true for the JEE.”

A third-year student of IIT Bombay, Sushrut Thakar, a native
of Pune with an All India Rank (AIR) 932 in JEE Advanced (2013), said,
“While reading textbooks, I summarized important points and wrote them in the
margin. It helped in a quick revision before exams.”

Yashraj Bhonsle, AIR 263 in JEE Advanced (2013) had a very
different take on tackling class 12 exams. Bhonsle, a third-year
Mechanical Engineering student at IIT Bombay, said that he covered the class 12
syllabus by July (beginning of the academic year) and solved only practice
tests till his exams the next year. Instead of studying from guides/digests, he
used textbooks. Yashraj did not take coaching for IIT or his class 12. He
focused more on the former than the later. Yashraj scored 91 per cent in his
class 12 board exams.

Most of the IIT aspirants attend coaching classes with an
aim to crack JEE Advanced. For these students, Praveen Tyagi of IITians Pace,
Mumbai adviced that they solve model papers of previous ten-years within the
allotted time. This is important as most questions asked in board exams are
from the previous years. Tyagi continued, “Theoretical subjects should be
revised more because recalling concepts is a key to score good marks.”

For students who don’t take coaching for IIT entrance, A.K
Srivastav, Director, Brilliant Institute, New Delhi had a word of advice.
Srivstav who is also an IIT-Kanpur alumnus, said, “The best strategy to tackle
the class 12 board exams is to revise the syllabus already covered regularly.
Accuracy is the key.”

Tips to be kept in mind while appearing for class
12 board exams:

1. Use textbooks
and not guides.

2. When reading
textbooks, write summary of important points in the margin.

3. Revise theories
and concepts regularly.

4. Practice
previous years question papers within the stipulated time.

With the board exams, state entrance tests and the IIT-JEE
in quick succession, these tips should prepare students for the long-haul!