How to prepare for practical exams

With the board exams fast approaching you must have begun the revision. But, are you well prepared for your practical exams as well?
The practicals (exams) are often overlooked and ignored. Many of us do not pay full attention when teachers are explaining procedures with the help of practical experiments/methods. But, it is very important to be thorough with practical knowledge as well to better understand the concepts and memorize the theory for the long term.
You can score high marks, even full marks, in your practical exams if you concentrate well and complete your work with perfection. And scoring well in Practicals is sure to boost those marks! So, here are some useful tips to follow that will help you score higher in the practical exams, especially for those of you in CBSE Class 10t and CBSE Class 12.

Pay attention in classes
Do you think the practical class at school is an unnecessary waste of time? If yes, then you need to understand that if you don’t pay enough attention to a theory class, you can make it up by reading the text and notes later. But, if you don’t understand what your teacher is explaining, how he/she is conducting the experiment, then you won’t be able to perform well at the final practical exam too. You can’t even practise the experiments at home because you will need many apparatuses and substances which may not be available. So make sure to take full advantage of the classes to understand the concepts and the experimental procedures.

Make notes
Most lab manuals have listed precautions and sources of errors with every experiment. Make sure to write them down neatly in a notebook. Read these notes before appearing for the practical exam to avoid any disaster.

Be thorough with diagrams and circuits
Before you start setting the apparatus, you should visualize and draw rough diagrams for the experiments to prepare. In Physics, make sure that you learn the circuit diagrams very carefully. If the examiner resets all your apparatus settings, just to check how well you know the experiment, and asks you to reconstruct or redo the whole setting, you must know how to set it up again.

Practice well
You may not get a chance to practice the tasks at home because of the lack of equipment. Therefore, try to practice as much as you can in school labs. This will help you identify and rectify the mistakes you are making.

Be confident during the practical examination
Whatever topic you get, just be calm & confident and perform your 100 percent. Make sure to document the entire procedure you follow so that you are able to answer oral questions asked by the examiner in the Viva. Most of the time, the examiner asks questions that relate to the topic associated with the experiment given to you. So make sure that you have read up thoroughly on that.

Some last-minute tips:

• Don’t get nervous. Believe in yourself and know that you will do well.
• Make a mental outline of what you are going to do and in what order.
• If you make some mistakes, don’t panic. Think of any alternative to reverse the error. If there is none, you can request a second chance. If both are not possible, then submit the task as best as you can present it.
• Never compare your work with your fellow classmates. It will only add to your panic.

Backed with practice and a regular learning schedule, these tips will surely help you to perform outstandingly in your practical exams.

Happy Studying!
Team Meritnation