Board Exam Preparation along with NEET Preparation : The Way to Do It

Greetings Readers
First of all wishing all the readers a Happy Republic Day. Whatever we do in our lives, our nation should get some benefit too from our efforts, and the medical profession is something that has a great contribution to the development of our country.
Getting back to the topic, Board Exams are coming near as the time is moving, although due to State Elections, CBSE has postponed the Boards which will now begin from March 9,2017 somewhat later as compared to last year's 1 March,2016. Although this means they will end later too with Biology on 5th April,2017 and Physical Education on 12th April(changed as of 27/10/2017)
This schedule changes a few things for your study schedule. If NEET 2017 is held on 30th April or 7th May, your available free time post all Board exams decreases. Last year I was free from PCB and English on 21st March, with only Physical Education left that too on 28th March, so I shifted to NEET preparation back in March itself. Many friends with Bio-Tech, Hindi had boards finished on 21st March itself. They too got free and resumed NEET preparation right away. So, the thing you need to know is that you have to utilize the time very cautiously as negligence can lead to loss in either Boards or NEET, although in Boards it's not that problematic even if damage occurs(although everyone wants to score good, I know) than in NEET, which can make you drop one whole year.
I am not trying to scare or depress you, but while preparing the Boards keep in mind your NEET preparation too, and don't just go blindly at getting 90+% in Boards. That ain't getting you admission in a medical college.
Now I will discuss about exactly how to prepare for Boards in a way that will help in NEET too, as NEET is also based on NCERT pattern, especially the Biology part.
DISCLAIMER: I will give most of the suggestions based on CBSE Board pattern and papers, although some of the general tips may help students from other Boards too.

• First thing, that Boards is a Subjective paper unlike NEET which is an objective paper. Here, it matters HOW you solved the questions,unlike NEET. You have to write a presentable answer sheet, so that the examiner doesn't get too uncomfortable checking it, resulting in loss of marks even with correct answers. You have to get your writing and the speed of writing in line with the time allotted. I know radical changes can't happen, but practice will surely help you improve it which will give an extra edge to you in the Boards, so that at least you can finish and write out whatever you know, leave aside the questions you got wrong or couldn't solve.
• Next, coming from objective NEET preparation, students can't remember lengthy definitions, and also the derivations in Physics, which are asked quite a lot in Boards. For definitions, I recommend you to stick to NCERT for all the three subjects, although in the case of Physics, 'S.L Arora Class 12 Physics' has got some quite simplified definitions, so you can prefer them over NCERT ones. Also, for derivations of Physics and the diagrams related to them, S.L. Arora is the book to go for, which gives Physics derivations in the clearest way, also concise enough for remembering and with connecting statements. Do write the derivations and try to learn them, to be able to write them without seeing anything.
• Subjective questions are quite different as they need to be solved in a particular manner and steps, so you definitely need to practice them using pen and paper. For question practice , you need to complete only one thing : Past year papers; nothing else is needed. I did the Arihant papers which had solved past 8 years papers, and trust me 80% of questions in Boards are either same or just with different numerical values as compared to past year papers. So, completely solve them with pen and paper, although you can avoid simple definitions or repeated questions, to save time. If you do this diligently, nothing's stopping you from acing the Board exams.
• If you are not thorough with some concepts, you can definitely refer your coaching notes to improve them. I too revised entirely the coaching notes of Class 12, which helped me get a strong conceptual base for Boards and simultaneously helped for NEET, acting as a good revision too. Do read the NCERT book completely once too for Chemistry and Biology, as the questions directly come from between the lines of NCERT book.
• Also, amidst this Board preparation if you get time, since the Board dates have been postponed, this time can be dedicated to NEET exam stuff, like revising coaching notes, completing left over topics of Class 11, solving questions from books. Utilise this time efficiently as post-boards you are hardly left with one month for the whole syllabus, therefore it's better to get a head start before hand.
• Keep giving objective tests once a week(before Boards), provided your coaching takes them, which will prevent from "breaking of link" from NEET pattern.
• Don't panic too much about how will the Boards go and what will be your result, just give the Boards peacefully and get back to NEET preparation.
• No one's gonna ask your Board marks in Medical College, as they don't matter there. Also, the CBSE is very lenient in marking most of the times, so even if any blunder happens, don't let the stress affect your NEET preparation. I myself messed up Physics badly and had literally left blank questions worth of 11-12 marks. Still got 60/70 in theory! In English too I felt very nervous about my answers,feeling that I would get 80-85 only, although later landed with a 95/100. I don't know it happened, may be my answers were genuinely very good and the examiner was delighted with them.God knows how it happened. That's typical CBSE! Numerous funny incidents of CBSE being lenient exist so chill out.

This is it for today's post. Will write my next post on strategy for preparation for individual subjects of Physics, Chemistry, Biology and even English and Physical Education.

Also, thanks for all the support you people are giving on the Blog and Quora. I am quite overwhelmed with the positive feedback and this motivates me to continue my efforts to keep helping you for NEET and AIIMS preparation.

Till then

Bye!

My Quora Answers

Greetings Readers
Quora has been a great platform to communicate with NEET/AIIMS aspirants like you. I have received several questions and have answered a lot of them too, and am trying to answer new questions everyday continuously too. I also have received personal messages and have replied to almost all of them, with the advice I can offer. Blog posts have been also an integral part of this campaign. Helping aspirants like you in the free time I get feels great. For those of you who are not on Quora, I am providing links to some of my answers there, so that you don't miss out on anything.
Will keep updating the post with new answers,too.

Is it possible to score 300+ in Biology in NEET-2017 if I solely learn NCERT by heart?

How do I prepare GK for the AIIMS?

What is your 'height' of AIPMT/AIIMS preparation?

Is NCERT for Morphology of flowering plants sufficient for NEET?

How do I study well in morphology for AIIMS?

What is the correct way to read NCERT for AIIMS assertion reasons?

What is your success story for NEET aspirants?

Are the excercises given after the chapters in NCERT important for AIIMS and other competitive exams?

What is the key to learn anything present in NCERT for NEET?

How should i prepare my self notes for AIPMT / AIIMS?

Is it useful to do HC Verma's exercise questions for AIIMS aspirants?

What would you, as an AIIMS qualifier, like to share with an AIIMS aspirant (which you feel you should have known when you were an aspirant yourself)?

What are the biggest mistakes you have done during NEET/AIPMT/AIIMS preparation?

Approximately 5 months from now, NEET & AIIMS 2017 would be there. What should I take care of now and keep doing?

I'd dropped this year to prepare for NEET 2017. Unfortunately, I'm now extremely depressed and unable to do anything. How should I help myself?

How was your NEET result?

What should be the best preparation technique for final revision of PMTs like AIPMT, AIIMS be like?

Should I care about AIATS scores?

How can I increase my score in Biology for NEET 2017?

When should one finish his first round of study, and start revision for the NEET/AIIMS?

Will anything happen if I use old NCERT books (2007-12) for the NEET and AIIMS, 2019? Should I discard them or is the content the same at present?

What should a person do when he feels stressed out and puzzled, 1 month before a vital examination?

How were you feeling one day before your AIIMS and NEET exam?

What is different about the AIIMS syllabus compared to NEET? What should one do in the last 2 weeks?

Wish that these would answer some of your doubts and confusions going on in your mind. Be free to ask your doubts regarding your preparation,both on the blog and Quora. I will try my best to answer them.

Revision Strategy : Class 12 Physics

Greetings Readers

First of all a very Happy New Year to all the readers, wish you are doing good and your efforts give you the result you had been aiming in the past few years of preparation.
2016 is over now and you all must be busy finishing your course and revising what you have done throughout the year. Those who are in Class 12 have the additional load of Board exams, with their school pre-board exams having been started too.

Continuing in the series of posts on Revision Strategy, today we would be discussing about the class 12 part of Physics.

Having already described to you the way you need to see and study Physics as a subject in the previous post Revision Strategy : Class 11 Physics This time I would be writing directly about individual topics.

First topic that most of us study is Electrostatics. Electrostatics, initially seeming easy, works it's way to toughness and complexity as the chapter continues. Electric field, forces involved, combined electric field and force due to several components, Electric Potential, Electric Potential Energy, the infamous Gauss Law, Electric Dipole,Equipotential Surfaces and many more.

The first thing to do is get your basics right. Have very clear idea about which term means what and get the formulas and their applications very right. Next do a variety of questions, to see and learn where which formulas is needed and if there is an easier way of doing a question. This will help you get the right approach 'click' in your mind as soon as you see the question. Get some special concepts like concept of flux and change of potential along electric field cleared out which would help in some tricky questions. Apply law of conservation of energy in some questions of potential energy and velocity to simplify the solution.

Also, Gravitation has a lot things analogous to Electrostatics, and many institutes teach them together, so you should also try to learn them together, so as to reduce efforts and save times

Next comes Current Electricity. We learn first about current and voltage and their dependence on various factors like drift speed and consequent formulas. Get them clear as some tricky questions can be framed. Also, you have to learn to calculate resistance of any arrangement of resistors, so get the formulas and tricks clear in your understanding to avoid silly mistakes. Be vary careful with Kirchoff's Law, as one mistake and the whole effort goes in vain. Although lengthy questions of Kirchoff's Law don't come, but the concept of Kirchoff's Law helps a lot in questions of Capacitance and Inductance. The different devices like Voltmeter, Ammeter, Galvanometer and their conversions are quite important too. Meter Bridge and other concepts involved along with it can get some good questions too.
Capacitance, a topic included with Electric Potential is quite analogous to current electricity, only that the equation of charging and discharging are different. Questions on charging/discharging ,combination of capacitors and change of medium are quite important and probable to come, so get them right.

Another important topic is Magnetism and Magnetic Effects of Current. Magnetism itself is easy, just get the terminologies like Intensity,Field, Dipole clear in your mind to have a clear understanding of the topic. Some tricky questions of SHM, especially of Time Period can be framed too, so try to relate the concepts correctly. Formulas of Magnetic Field in various conditions are to learnt( do see the derivations to have a clearer understanding too), with the concept of direction and positive/negative being and area of silly mistakes so be very particular about it too. Concept of Magnetic Dipole and Ampere's Law can make good questions too, so do focus on them. Force due to Magnetic Field has a large amount of questions that can be framed, which test your concept of NLM and SHM at the same time too, so be aware of them. Magnetic materials and properties of magnetic materials too have some classic questions that can't be missed so do complete them too.
Electromagnetic induction is a chapter based on concepts from Magnetism, although once you get the idea of induction and inductors right, you can ace the chapter by simple formulas, a good understanding and ample of questions practice.
The next big topic is Optics which includes Ray Optics and Wave Optics.
For Ray Optics, I can say it's a lengthy chapter involving a lot of concepts and formulas. This chapter can be aced only by practicing a lot of questions on various concepts and continuous revision. You need to get the concepts of Mirrors, Lens, Refraction, Prism, Slab set in your mind very clearly, so that you easily know that to do in a particular type of question.
Wave Optics is a bit different and related to Waves, a concept of Class 11. You just need to understand Young's Double Slit Experiment and Diffraction and do all the questions related to them, nothing more is required for NEET. Although for AIIMS A&R questions, you need to clear theoretical concepts,although that can be done after NEET too, if time is short currently.
Modern Physics is quite related to Atomic Structure of Chemistry, although X- Rays and Nuclear Physics are new. Get the concept of X-Rays and Photoelectric effect clear and just do the past year questions available as there isn't much scope to make very conceptually tough questions here, only that the calculations may get lengthier.
Semiconductors is also something that gets easy when you understand it, although it takes more time and attempts to do so. 3-4 very easy questions can be asked, so this the topic that you can't afford to ignore. The main concepts from which questions can be framed are the relation number of holes and electrons of an impure conductor, concept of transistor and its working and the logic gates. Theoretical part isn't that important for NEET but may come in A&R questions of AIIMS.
Communication Systems is a topic that comes only in Boards and AIIMS exam (NEET doesn't include it and I don't know about JIPMER). Its actually very small and more of theoretical, with the various modes of communication, their limitations etc. AIIMS can ask some conceptual questions although this can be covered by DC Pandey (JEE edition) which has given all the relevant things you need to study.
Till next time
Bye!