Hello, Namaste, Ni Hao, Bonjour, Konnichiwa. So I am back with a new topic, and this time the topic is board exams.
I have been reading the advices of many seniors that marks don't matter, no one will ask you the marks of the board exams after sometime, your marks don't tell your ability but as I wish these advice were true, the fact is that they are not. They give the example of Bill Gates and all, but let's talk about India.
I will first of all tell what role do your board exams have in your life. First of all you want to go to DU, you need a 98% to go to your favourite college, in fact there are many colleges where the cutoffs come according to board marks. Also I don't know of this year, but in the previous years board marks had 40% weightage in determining the ranking and on the basis of ranking you get the college. Whenever you are asked to fill out a form in college, your board marks will always be asked. You want to go for post graduation in an esteemed college, you need to clear the minimum percentage that has been set by the college.
Now coming to the Indian Society. When your board results come, the first thing that happens is even your distant relatives whom you haven't met in years calling you up to know your marks. And God forbid if you have a cousin who has also given his or her board exams. Your marks would be compared to your cousin's and then you would be scrutinized. Let me give you my example. Me and my cousin gave the exam at the same time and unfortunately he was way better than me in one of the subjects and so his percentage was better than me. After that what followed was endless strings of comparison. You guys won't trust me on this, but even my pen pals parents asked my board marks.
The problem with the Indian society is that they see marks as the sole basis of intelligence. A 90% or more determines that the person is smart and intelligent, whereas in reality, most of the times this ain't true. I have seen people who got 95% in English having worse English than me. I have seen many 80% people having better knowledge than 90% people.
Now let me talk about the students who give the advices. Most of them are them are themselves 90% and above scorers, who upload their scoresheets on FB and make it their Instagram story in the previous year and the next year say that marks are just a number. I don't have a problem that they upload their marks on FB. But I have problem with the advice they give to the students. This is the sheer hypocrisy which I hate.
The problem with the Indian education system is that it bases everything with your score and doesn't really test your aptitude for a particular course. If you have the ability to mug up everything and then vomit it out in the same way in the paper, you are good to go. Otherwise no.
Before signing out I would like to share something which would help you all with board exams.
1. Presentation of paper is crucial. Even if you write crap, a good presentation can fetch you marks.
2. Doing sample papers is a must, especially in English and Maths as they can really give you an idea of your speed.
3. Attempt everything. Even though you don't know the answer, writing something may gain you one or half a mark.
4. Don't underestimate the power of Maths.
At last what I want to say is hardwork and put your best foot forward. If you get less marks, don't worry and rather think about struggling and achieving your goal.