6. TIME MANAGEMENT
As mentioned earlier, speed and good/legible writing must be maintained throughout the paper.
Remember that you just have 180 minutes in hand.
Allocate the time to be devoted to a particular question depending on its weightage, length/word limit and importance.
Example: Say for a 90-mark (just to make the calculation easy) paper where all questions have marks proportionate to the length of the answer required, one should ideally not devote over 2 minutes per mark. i.e.- 10 minutes for a 5 marker and so on.
The length and time required to ponder on a question can vary from subject to subject and from question to question, thus, time to be devoted must be allocated beforehand while attempting mocks, and be strictly followed too.Once you get used to it, you will habitually/automatically keep an eye on the watch (not very frequently though, as that is not recommended) and check if you are adhering to the time limits.
Revision of the Paper
a) It is extremely advisable to Keep 10-15 minutes for Revising the Paper, exclusive of the time required to attempt the unanswered questions (which were left initially to be written in the end). Revision of the paper is a MUST and one must develop this habit while giving mocks and pre-board examinations too (if left).
b) Check if you have attempted all the questions and labelled the answers with the corresponding question numbers correctly, and then, go through the paper once to check your answers.
c) Further, these 10-15 minutes can simultaneously also be utilised to underline the important points in the (subjective) answers if you were not able to do the same while attempting the paper.
7. FIX AN INK BEFOREHAND
Another tip, which helped me a lot was to fix a particular ink (preferably a gel pen) around 2 months before the exam, and always use the same ink for regular use and especially for attempting mocks.
This will help you develop speed with that ink overtime, and gradually, you will easily be able to improve your handwriting, if required. I reiterate that beautiful handwriting is not a mandate; it should just be legible and comprehensible.
Same ink is recommended since different inks have different properties, from physical ones like the length, radius and weight, to others like smoothness of the ink. Any pen with an apt weight which you will be able to hold and use, an apt size and an aptly smooth ink can be taken.
I would personally (this one is just an opinion) not recommend a ball point pen due to its lack of aesthetic sense and apt smoothness in its ink, but if you are extremely comfortable and quick in writing with a ballpoint pen, simultaneously able to maintain a legible writing, it’s perfectly fine, you may go ahead with the same pen.
Just in case anyone of you is curious to know, I used the Pilot Hi-Tech Point (0.5 Tip) Pen (the one with a white body). A friend of mine, who was also benefited with this technique, used Natraj I-Tip
These suggestions, when kept in mind, and practised through this crucial period of (not even) 2 months, shall definitely help you improve your score.
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