TIPS TO PREPARE WELL FOR BOARD EXAMS

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It is that time of the year when class 10 and 12 students are preparing to appear for their board exams. The immense pressure of performance can be overwhelming and can lead to a lot of anxiety and stress.

While the respective boards have released the time table for the board exams, students have geared up with the study for the full course and planning for effective revision for the exams.

Attempting all the questions correctly in the given stipulated time ensuring to score well in the exams is enough to send a chill down the student’s spine.

However, the following tips and guidelines can help students reduce the exam stress and anxiety ensuring they perform decently well.

Focus on the preparation time well

“Concentrate all your thoughts upon the work at hand.”

While every student has different learning capabilities, the student needs to understand his/her learning style and environment and focus on the preparation time. It is always recommended to start the preparation well beforehand to help get ample time for revision and practice.

Concentrate on the syllabus and the latest exam pattern

“Realize deeply that the present moment is all you have.”

It is very important to understand the question paper pattern based on the currently reduced syllabus and devise a strategy accordingly. This is where the facilitators along with the student can help strategize based on the individual student’s strength and challenging areas. Knowing the marking schemes released by the board will help students understand how their answers would be evaluated in board exams.

Adhere to a well-devised realistic time table

“It takes both a plan and a schedule to get things done.”

The importance of creating a proper time table along with strict adherence can’t be reiterated enough. Make a timetable that divides time into slots to focus on different subjects. Setting deadlines and goals will ensure the student stays on track. Time the preparation on any topic or subject well to have enough time on hands to study other topics/subjects too. Setting up a routine will dissuade a student from procrastination and will surely pay off in the long run.

Sufficient time for self-study

“Teachers open the doors but you must enter by yourself.”

Besides school and coaching class, a student should devote sufficient time to self-study that will help analyze the common mistakes and practice well the topics learned in school and coaching class.

Make a strategy to learn long answers

“Strategy is about making clear-cut choices.”

Learning long answers can be quite challenging for the student as engulfing massive text is never easy. To overcome this concern, students must prepare a strategy for writing long answers, like breaking them into paragraphs and writing them on paper.

Focus on languages

“Steer yourself in the right direction.”

While students focus more on core subjects, it is equally important not to ignore language subjects like English, Hindi etc. as these subjects may boost a student’s overall percentile in the exam. 

Practice a lot of question papers

“Practice makes perfect.”

It is a good practice to solve more and more previous years’ question papers that helps students track their preparation level. Solving past papers and timed practice tests will help students develop their problem-solving skills and accuracy. 

Stay calm and take regular small breaks

“Stop worrying about what can go wrong, and get excited about what can go right.”

The students must stay calm and composed at all times especially during the preparation and exams. Students should avoid studying for long hours continuously and take regular short intervals to rejuvenate mind and retrieve energy for the next study session. This will help maintain focus and alertness.

Eat, drink healthy and sleep well

‘A healthy mind lives in a healthy body.’

This famous adage should be every student’s go-to mantra. Staying hydrated and eating healthy has a lot of health benefits. Drinking lots of water, eating fruits and veggies and a good intake of protein-rich foods sharpens the mind while good sleep can boost the immune system also helping improve concentration and productivity. Exam times call for a special focus on these golden habits.

Stay away from distractions

“Be about actions and no distractions”.  

All forms of distractions mostly including gadgets and social media should be kept at bay during the preparation and at least a few months before the exams. 

Clarity of thought, expression and handwriting

“Clarity affords focus.”

Writing the board exams following the techniques and at the same time focusing on good handwriting and clarity of thought will reduce the stress levels of the invigilator while deciphering the answers. Needless to mention, neat and legible handwriting also creates a good impression.

Fear, anxiety and stress always hamper preparations and thereby performance. Staying calm, positive and putting in best efforts will help students sail through the exams easily. Remember that “an exam is not only a test of your academic knowledge but also a test of your calmness, stability and courage.”

Happy Studying!!

IMPORTANCE OF INTERNSHIPS FOR STUDENTS

The overall goal of education is to adequately prepare students to achieve success in their future careers. While academic rigour and acquisition of important life skills can be considered crucial aspects of the student’s career journey, more and more importance is being placed on the value of experiential and applied learning.

With the ever-growing changes in our economy, it has become imperative for the students to be a part of that growth cycle and constantly upskill their talents and experience to stay ahead in the competitive job market. This is where internships, summer programs and job shadowing opportunities play a crucial role. We have seen colleges and universities prioritizing this type of learning and even schools are now encouraging students to partake in an internship experience or garner an equal number of credits through various Summer Programs.

What is an Internship?

According to dictionary.com, an internship is defined as “any official or formal program to provide practical experience for beginners in an occupation or profession.”

The most important element of internships is that they integrate classroom knowledge and theory with practical application and skills developed in professional or community settings. They bring a wealth of benefits to school as well as college students, both while pursuing higher studies or while seeking a career path post-graduation. An internship gives a student not only the opportunity for career exploration and development but also for learning new skills.

As part of holistic education, the ‘New’ National Education Policy 2020 also proposed providing school students with opportunities for internships with local industry, businesses and arts for their skill development. The policy also includes research internships at higher educational institutions to further improve student’s employability.

Why should the High School Students intern?

While internships are not a requisite for admission to all higher educational institutions, the truth is that completing one will undoubtedly give high school students an extra edge when building up their portfolio, resumé, or college application, both for Indian as well as foreign universities. Needless to say, interning allows students to get up close and personal with something they may have an inclination towards or could be an integral part of their career exploration process. Students can apply their classroom learning to gain an invaluable hands-on experience encouraging experiential learning.

Soft Skills such as creativity, persuasion, collaboration, adaptability, emotional intelligence are listed as the top 5 Soft Skills by LinkedIn in its 2020 Skills Report. These soft skills will help them learn to cope up with the challenges in their adult life encouraging them to learn, live and work better. Internships are perfect channels to help inculcate in students, the soft skills needed in the workplace and leadership positions. 

Internships are also the best way to learn from others. Learning the ins and outs of different career profiles through job shadowing can help students soak up all the information and understand the technical nuances, benefitting them in the long-run. These opportunities will equip them with better decision-making abilities as students through applied learning will be able to figure out well about their likings and disliking. At the same time, they will further understand and can work towards strengthening their skills.

Networking plays a pivotal role in career development. To start with, brainstorming through internship ideas with family members, relatives, and close friends can help students avail the right opportunities. It is important for students to discern and shortlist apt internship opportunities. The benefits of mentorship in internships cannot be emphasized enough.

Needless to mention, the coveted work experience students gain through internships is the best real work experience that students can have, giving them an advantage to an early head start in charting out the right career path for themselves.

Virtual Internship Programs

While the Global Pandemic imposed a lot of restrictions on mobility, it also encouraged everyone to step out of the comfort zone and create an environment that would not, in any way hinder the learning process for students.

Virtual Internships done online or remotely has allowed students to gain invaluable experience from the comforts of their homes and according to the schedule that suits them. Working remotely has encouraged students to improve their internet literacy while gaining academic credit.

High school students should understand the importance of developing professional aptitude and create an in-depth profile through internships and summer programs that will go a long way in creating bright prospects.

There are countless ways for students to create a mark for themselves in their career journey, and one way to do so is to start early: gain skills, experience, and a professional network through internships while still in high school.

INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY-‘CHOOSE TO CHALLENGE’

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International women’s day is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women. While we seek out and celebrate women’s achievements, we also “Choose to Challenge” to create radical change and transformation.

Indian and world history is galore with instances of courage shown by women in choosing to challenge and bringing positive changes to the societal norms. As we celebrate the day to act upon accelerating women’s equality, let’s read and get inspired by the stories of African American female mathematicians and engineers-Katherine Goble Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, and Dr. Christine Darden who through sheer tenacity, force of will, and intellect, made their mark in American history.

These African American mathematicians were an integral part of NASA’s space race and the women team of  human ‘computers’ who calculated by hand the complex equations that allowed space heroes like Neil Armstrong, Alan Shepard, and John Glenn to travel safely to space.

Katherine Johnson-a mathematician who calculated flight trajectories for various missions, Dorothy Vaughan-NASA supervisor, Mary Jackson-NASA’s first female aeronautical engineer and Dr. Christine Darden– leader of the Sonic Boom Group of NASA’s High-Speed Research Program ‘chose to challenge’ not only gender but racial discrimination too and proved their mettle despite toiling under less than favourable conditions during those times.

Katherine Johnson

Katherine Johnson graduated from high school at 14 and the historically black West Virginia State University at 18. In 1938, as a graduate student, she became one of three students and the only woman to desegregate the University. In 1953, Johnson was hired by National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) which became National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) five years later, by the Space Act of 1958.

Johnson’s first big NASA assignment was in 1961 when she computed the trajectories for Alan Shepard’s historic flight. She also contributed to America’s first orbital spaceflight piloted by John Glenn. Glenn wasn’t keen on putting his life in the hands of the computers that would be used to handle the mission on Earth. He asked the head engineers to “get the girl to check the numbers… If she says the numbers are good… I’m ready to go.” Katherine’s intellect was conspicuous in her work.

Katherine Johnson ‘chose to challenge’ overcoming all the hurdles during her initial days in NASA.  She worked for over 30 years before retiring in 1986. Katherine Johnson received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2015. In 2016, NASA dedicated the Langley Research Center’s Katherine Johnson Computational Building in her honour. When she turned a whopping 100 years old, NASA honoured her by reintroducing a facility in her home state of West Virginia as the Katherine Johnson Independent Verification and Validation Facility.

Dorothy Vaughan

After earning a degree in mathematics and working as a teacher, Dorothy was one of NACA’s early computer hires during World War II. In December 1943 she started working for NACA’s West Area Computing unit, a group of African American female mathematicians who were considered “human computers,” performing complex computations and analyzing data for aerospace engineers. She became a leader and advocate for the “West Computers.” In 1948, she became the then NACA’s first black supervisor and later, an expert FORTRAN programmer. Despite her successes and capability, she was constantly passed over for promotions. She constantly struggled with the same things her colleagues as female computers did while at NASA. She however ‘chose to challenge’ as she knew she was changing the world. She retired from NASA in 1971 and was posthumously awarded the Congressional Gold Medal by the United States in 2019.

Mary Jackson

Jackson went through several career changes before making history at NASA. After graduating with dual degrees in Maths and Physical science Jackson joined the Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory (currently the NASA Langley Research Center) in 1951 and worked in the racially segregated West Area Computing Unit. 

After several years working as a human computer, Jackson took an assignment in assisting Kazimierz Czarnecki, a senior aeronautical research engineer who encouraged her to become an engineer herself. To do that, however, she needed to take after-work graduate courses held at segregated Hampton High School. Jackson ‘chose to challenge’ and petitioned the City of Hampton to be able to learn next to her white peers. She won, completed the courses, and was promoted to engineer in 1958, making her NASA’s first African American female aeronautical engineer. Over the next two decades, she worked at several NASA departments, and authored or co-authored 12 technical papers before retiring in 1985. Jackson was posthumously awarded the Congressional Gold Medal by the United States in 2019.

Dr. Christine Darden

Junior to her exceptional predecessors of female pool of human computers at the Langley Research Center, she went on to lead the Sonic Boom Group of NASA’s High-Speed Research Program. Her ground-breaking work laid the foundation for research on experimental planes (known as X-planes) that NASA launched in 2016.

After graduating with master’s degree in applied mathematics in 1967, she was hired as a data analyst in the high-speed aeronautics division at NASA. She was a part of female mathematicians who helped the male engineers create documents about wing and airflow shapes for the military and airplane companies. She found out that males and females with the same background were assigned different roles and females were not encouraged enough to become engineers. She ‘chose to challenge’ when she questioned the director about the same. Eventually, she got promoted to engineering.

She retired from NASA in 2007 after a 40-year career and was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal by the United States in 2019 alongside the other three African American mathematicians for their scientific contributions.

Indeed, these women paved the way for women of colour to make history in the fields of science, math, and technology and are an inspiration to one and all. Their stories first were brought to light by Margot Lee Shetterly in her book Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race. The book was later adapted into the movie with the same name Hidden Figures in 2016.

Remember, we all have the power to create a change like these inspirational women did decades ago. Change isn’t just about big headline moments, legal victories, and international agreements: the way we talk, think, and act every day can create a ripple effect that benefits everyone. Let’s all ‘Choose to Challenge’ and work upon creating a change.