The run-up to an exam is perhaps the most stressful time in a student’s academic calendar. A Class 10 student facing an exam in the CBSE 10th Class or SSLC exam may find the idea of dealing with a year’s worth of material while keeping their nerves, time, and energy challenging. But here’s something to hold on to: the key to successful exam preparation is not about studying more hours each day. It is about studying smart.
While it may not be the toppers of the exam who may have studied the hardest, they are the ones who may have revised the hardest. The following techniques will help you walk into your exam with your head held high.
1. Build an Effective Revision Timetable
A good revision plan means solid revision. Without a plan, most students will end up solidifying what they already know while quietly avoiding the areas they need to work on.
Develop a subject-wise revision plan to cover the entire portion before your exams. Focus on the areas you are not sure about. Leave a day aside to cover any last-minute doubts or questions that come up. A well-planned revision schedule helps you avoid last-minute revisions, a phenomenon that many students learn the hard way is a major enemy of the board exams.
Pro Tip: If you are already a part of online tuition programmes like NEW10, you already have a chapter-wise schedule with model exam dates. Use your tuition schedule as a basis for your personal revision plan.
2. Do Active Recall, Not Passive Reading
Re-reading your notes feels like revision. It’s familiar, it’s comfortable, and honestly, it’s not doing very much. Research consistently shows that passive reading is one of the least effective ways to retain information. Your brain holds on to things far better when it’s made to actually work for them.
Try these active recall techniques instead:
- Close your book and write down everything you remember about a chapter from memory
- Use flashcards for definitions, formulas, chemical equations, and historical dates
- Answer NCERT exercise questions without looking at solutions first
- Practise previous year’s board exam question papers under timed conditions
- Teach concepts aloud to yourself or a friend; if you can explain it, you know it
Active recall is especially powerful for mathematics and science, where knowing how to apply a concept matters far more than simply memorising it. Aim to solve at least 10 practice questions per chapter after every revision session; it makes a bigger difference than most students expect.
3. The Power of Repeated Revision
Here’s a science-backed trick: review what you have learned at intervals. Don’t just read a chapter once and then move on to the next chapter. Look at it again the next day, then three days later, then a week later, and then two weeks later. With each passing interval, the memory will become more ingrained.
When the exam arrives, the material will seem familiar to you, not like you are learning it for the first time.
For NEW10’S students: our daily assessments and chapter revision sessions are built around this idea. Each week builds on the last, so students actually retain what they’ve learned rather than losing it before exam time. It’s one of the real advantages of structured offline tuition and online tuition over going it alone.
4. Master NCERT Before Moving to Other Reference Books
It’s tempting to reach for thick reference guides and extra materials when revision season starts, but if your NCERT foundation isn’t solid yet, that’s the wrong move. For the board exam, NCERT is the ideal choice.
Every question in the board exam, whether a one-marker or a five-marker, traces back to an NCERT concept. Before picking up anything else, make sure you have:
- Read every NCERT chapter at least twice
- Solved all in-text and end-of-chapter questions
- Memorised all diagrams, definitions, and formulas from the textbook
- Understood all solved examples, especially in mathematics and science
Once NCERT is fully covered, move to sample papers and additional practice sets. This is exactly the approach followed in every NEW10’S class, whether through online tuition or offline tuition.
5. Practise for the Board Exam with Regular Mock Tests
It’s not enough to simply know your syllabus; you also have to perform on the day of the test, using your time well, remaining calm, and presenting your answers in a manner that fetches you full marks. And this skill is not something you are born with; it’s developed through mock tests.
In the last four to six weeks before your board or SSLC exams, it’s a good idea to take a full-length mock test every week, without any breaks, phone usage, or time-outs exactly like a real test. Finally, after completing the mock test, review all the wrong answers.
A mock test has the advantage of improving what you know, revealing what you do not know but were not aware of, and preparing your brain for the actual test, which lasts for three hours, without getting bored. Students who take mock tests score more than those who only review their notes.
6. Take Care of Sleep, Nutrition, and Mental Health
When you’re running on empty, no trick is going to work for you. And that’s precisely what the exam season highlights—tired, stressed, sleep-deprived students, especially during the run-up to the board exams.
Sleep is something you should protect. Seven to eight hours of sleep is not a luxury; it’s a studying strategy. Eat well, drink plenty of water, and take short breaks every 45–60 minutes while studying. If the stress is getting to you, talk to someone, your parents, teacher, or counsellor. You don’t have to go through this alone.
A well-fed, well-rested brain retains information better and recalls it more easily than a stressed, sleep-deprived one. Your physical health is not separate from studying for the exams; it’s part of it.
7. How Online and Offline Tuitions Supercharge Your Revision
Self-study only gets you so far. When you hit a concept that just won’t click or a question that leaves you stuck, the momentum breaks, and without someone to turn to, that gap quietly sits there until the exam. That’s the moment structured tuition really earns its value.
Whether through online tuition or offline tuition, having a subject expert on hand for doubt resolution, guided revision, and focused practice keeps students moving forward during the weeks that matter most.
At NEW10’S, our live-interactive sessions, daily assessments, model exams, and personalised feedback are all built to make revision structured, systematic, and far less stressful for every CBSE 10th-class and SSLC exam student we work with.
The Smarter the Revision, the Better the Results
Scoring well in your board exams doesn’t require 12-hour study days. It requires the right approach, consistently applied. Build your timetable. Use active recall. Revisit topics at intervals. Nail NCERT. Take mock tests. Look after yourself. Do that, and your results will show it.
And if you want the structure, the expert guidance, and the daily support that make this kind of revision possible, NEW10’S is here. Our online tuition and offline tuition programmes are built for exactly this: helping Class 10 CBSE and SSLC exam students move from doubt and uncertainty to clarity and confidence, one chapter at a time.
Start your FREE one-week trial class at NEW10’S today.
