Preparation tips for Mathematics for CBSE 10th Board Exam

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) is the most relevant board for engineering and medical aspirants today as both NEET (AIPMT) and the JEE Main exams are directly based on the CBSE board syllabus. For Class 10 students who love Mathematics (and for those who don’t), here are some study tips that can help them fetch good marks in the CBSE Class X board exam:

Exam Preparation Tips

• Math is not something that you can learn by heart. You have to practice it daily to master it. Hence, solve at least some Maths questions everyday – without fail. Even if you are going to a wedding or are not well and have taken a day off studies – make sure to solve at least 5-10 questions of Mathematics every day. The good thing is that once you fall in love with the subject, Maths questions seem like challenging puzzles and are quite stimulating.

• Follow your study plan carefully. To be able to cover the entire Maths syllabus, you cannot afford to pick-and-choose any topic that catches your fancy. Do whatever topics are scheduled for the day first.

• Cover the entire syllabus of NCERT books thoroughly first. All the solved and unsolved questions in NCERT books are the most important questions for Class 10 Maths exam paper. Examiners either pick questions for board exam paper directly from NCERT and CBSE textbooks or base their questions on it. It is very rare that you will get a question apart from what you can find in these books.

• As you approach board exams, increase your frequency of mock tests, sample papers, guess papers and previous year question papers . Make sure to solve at least one full-length question paper a day within the given time of 3 hours. It will help you increase your speed, make you familiar with the types of questions asked in the exam and offer you good insights about important topics for the exam and your own preparation level.

• When you solve a test paper, don’t skip the details of answers. Write headings in your answers, make charts and graphs wherever needed, write statements in full details and derive proofs to theorems in the proper manner.

How to Solve Maths Board Exam Paper?

Step 1: In the first attempt, solve all the simple and easy questions first. Make sure that you number questions properly. It is even better if you leave space for each question you skip.

Step 2: While solving a question, if you get stuck in between, leave it and move ahead. Return to it later.

Step 3: In the second attempt, try to solve all the questions in which you were doubtful before. A brainstorming through your basics should do the trick.

Step 4: Even if you do not know answer to the question, do not leave it un-attempted. Luckily for you, CBSE board exams do not carry negative marks. So, copy down whatever information is given in the question and whatever you can make of it. If you feel that certain answer might fit there, jot it down too. It just might you at least some marks for the question.

Step 5: Good speed and ability to mental calculations are important skills for Maths exam. However, if you feel that you will not be able to complete the paper, do questions that you know well and carry more marks first.

In case you feel that a long question worth 4 marks is going to take you 10 minutes to solve, while 1-mark questions can score you 8 marks in that same amount of time – go for the latter.

Important Maths Topics for CBSE Class 10 Board Exam

Maths syllabus for Class 10 Board Exam 2015 is as follows:

• One of the easiest and most scoring chapters is Real Numbers. Here you must remember:

• Euclid’s Division Lemma,

• Proof of Irrationality, and

• Terminating and Non-terminating Decimals.

• Another most scoring topic is Algebra. Here most students lose marks because of silly calculations mistakes that can be easily avoided.

• Many students think that Mensuration is difficult. But if you know your formulae well and practice all the NCERT questions (until you get them correct), you should score well in it too.

• Probability is a simple topic too. More you practice, more you will be comfortable with the limited number of techniques used to solve such questions.

• Polynomials is not only an important topic for Class X SA II exam but for Higher Mathematics as well. Here, you should pay special attention to:

• Zeros of Polynomials,

• Division of Polynomials, and

• Relationship between Zeros and Coefficients.

• Statistics is again a scoring and method-oriented topic. Do not get confused between how to calculate mean and median here. This is also a topic where students make avoidable mistakes. So, practice its questions well too.