The Time to Start

As teachers who prepare students for various post-std 12 entrance exams, we're often asked different variations of the same questions:

'What is the right time to start preparing for entrance exams?'
'How much time is required to prepare for an entrance exam?'

There is no simple answer to this question.

I've tried to list some factors which you might consider before making a choice.

1. Which entrance exam are we talking about?
Some exams (like the Engineering or Medical kind) are very technical in nature. On the other hand, entrance exams for fields like Law, Hotel Management or Business Management, are general in nature. General aptitude tests examine your basic aptitude for language (primarily English), numbers and logic.

2. What is your aptitude level?
Some students have a natural aptitude for language and/or numbers. The education imparted at School level is often adequate for them. As their fundamentals are in place, they find it very easy to crack aptitude tests without any extra preparation. On the other hand, some students either fail to get adequate fundamental knowledge at school level. The reason for this could be a fault in either the school system or the student's ability/interest in learning. Such students may require additional coaching if they are serious about cracking entrance exams.

3. How much time do you take to grasp concepts?
Some students require a longer period of time to learn, understand and internalize basic concepts. Some students feel a time crunch when it comes to striking a balance between preparation for entrance tests and school board exams. Such students can start their preparations well over an year in advance. Those students who can manage their time for entrance test preparation and board exam preparations can afford to start preparing for entrance tests at the same time that their Std. 12 begins. Those who do not feel comfortable in devoting time for entrance test preparation along with board exam preparations; but are confident that they can grasp concepts in a short time; can opt to start intensive preparations for entrance tests in the 4-6 weeks that may normally be available between the end of boards and the entrance exam date.

All in all, it's a matter of personal ability. Students (and their parents) must analyze their strengths and weaknesses and then make the choice of selecting the appropriate preparation time period.

As usual, one must NOT blindly follow FRIENDS or TRENDS.

All the best!

The importance of Std. XII

For students who are currently in their Std. 12 of school, it is probably the most important year of their life. This is the time when they are on the verge of completing their basic education and are preparing to step towards a more focused education towards achieving their career goals.

While many students plan to choose their college based on their 12th standard board exam results, others opt to appear for various entrance exams (like IIT JEE, AIPMT, CLAT, IHM-JEE, SET...) and compete at a national level.

This post is intended for the students opting for the later route.

Over the years, I've observed that many students started preparing for various entrance exams and tend to neglect the preparation for their school board exams. The rationale behind their decision is, they are anyway preparing for professional courses. The eligibility criteria for such courses (as far as the 12th standard marks go) is a mere pass class or 60% (for example). So why waste time on preparing for school exams.

However, this is not the right attitude.

What students fail to realize is the entrance tests are not a done deal. While there are a few hundred seats in each course, there are literally thousands (if not lakhs) of aspirants competing for them. If the student is not able to clear the entrance test, they will have to fall back upon their 12th standard marks to be eligible for other colleges.

The wise thing would be to be serious in preparing for both. A good grade in 12th std. exams along with a good performance in the entrance tests is not all that difficult. In fact experience tells me that students who are good at one, invariably manage to be good at the other too.

Additionally, while 12th std. marks may not have much weightage in some of the under-graduate selection procedures, they are often considered vital during post-graduate and job-selection processes.

Moral of the story: learn to manage time; do well in all aspects of education!