The Higher Secondary School Certification examination is better known as the HSC Board Exam or the 10+ 2 intermediate-level examination. It is generally conducted by the Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education for students belonging to the Arts, Commerce and Science streams of education. The tentative dates of these examinations are usually announced to begin from the third week of February and go on till the second week of March. Over this 20-odd day period, students are tested upon a varied number of subjects that make up their HSC books, the results of which decide their career orientation in future.

HSC Board students are no strangers to the word 'examination' and all the varied connotations that come along with it. As the academic year for Std. 12th commences, and the war bells begin to ring loudly in the minds of students and teachers alike. Schools and coaching classes distribute meticulously planned timetables, students find the best HSC books, and prepare detailed study schedules and tests that increase portion-wise are announced. Simply put, the atmosphere around a Junior college begins to get rife with academic seriousness. On average, this is how an Std. 12th student comes to prepare himself/herself and becomes poised to appear for the HSC Board Exam.

Here is a list of the 3 most common mistakes that Std. 12th students make and how to avoid them:

1. Assuming the HSC Board Exam is 'Easy Peasy Lemon

Confidence is a great ornament, but this very ornament can take the form of a heavy anchor if it becomes excessive. At the beginning of the year, students tend to classify subjects into two categories. The first category is 'Super Tough Squad'; this includes subjects such as Maths and Economics that tend to be rich in terms of concepts. The second category is 'Easy Breezy Club' which mainly includes Languages. A better part of the year is spent focusing on the former and a few days before the exam are spent racing through the latter subjects.

2. Taking the HSC Question Paper for Granted

Generally, during the first few minutes of an HSC board exam, your brain happens to be super pumped, with high adrenaline levels coursing through your body. All you want to do at that moment is get your hands on the HSC question paper and just begin the examination. This results in a few unforgivable pitfalls. Firstly, there are high chances that you might read a question halfway and begin to answer it right then and there. Secondly, you copy incorrect information because you are in a great hurry to move on to the next question. Thirdly you decide to attempt the difficult questions first and leave the easier ones for later.

3. Silly Mistakes that Teach the best Lessons

It would be safe to say that the HSC Board exams can be categorised under the list of situations where our body might be launched into the 'fight or flight mode'. While most of the time your Std. 12th brains will be launched into fight mode, the flight mode may overpower you. This flight mode will drive you to make mistakes, which you never thought were possible. This is how stress affects you during exams. Many students end up rushing through their papers to leave. Many mistakes ensue in this process such as poor spelling and grammar, untidy handwriting, unlabeled diagrams, skipping questions etc. The biggest silly mistake although is submitting the answer sheet without filling in all the appropriate details.

In spite of all the importance and publicity surrounding this HSC board exam, it is nothing but an exam at the end of the day. A majority of students tend to make the mistake of treating it as anything but one. This is the first commonly made mistake, but it never really stops there. After taking great pains and spending great hours on end studying, practising, revising and attempting HSC practice question papers, you'd assume that a student is well prepared. While this may be the case, at the time of the real exam, a few silly mistakes such as the above may end up costing you greatly. Now that you know that these highly likely errors exist and are bound to happen to anyone who is going to appear for the HSC Board exam, you can begin your process of avoiding them.

Here are a few tips to avoid falling into the pit of despair by committing the above silly mistakes:

  • Plan a proper, realistic timetable
  • Give equal importance to all the subjects and study all HSC books equally
  • Find out the best HSC reference material to help you prepare for the HSC Board Exam
  • Attempt every Mock Test or Prelim like the real HSC Board Exam
  • Focus on working smart and not hard by making a mental checklist of things before you start your paper
  • Last, but not least. Stay absolutely calm and level-headed for the exam

Once you have got your strategy figured out, all you need is the best kind of reference material to help you succeed in the HSC Board Exam. Target Publications' offers a series of HSC books for Science Stream as well as the Commerce Stream. These HSC books are comprehensively compiled and come along with guidelines to help you understand the concepts and score excellently in your HSC Board Exams. So don't delay success anymore and check them out for a great HSC Board exam experience.