You all are aware that there are many defence exams that are held twice every year like NDA, AFCAT, CDS, INET etc. Lakhs of students appear in these exams after studying for hours, practising questions from different books and revising full syllabus but then also most of them fail to clear these exams. Why??? Because of the lack of proper knowledge of how to attempt the examinations.

Everybody tells us how to prepare for exams, what to study, from where to study, how many hours to spend on which topic but they forget to tell us the most important thing that is, how to attempt the question paper. So, today I will give you some most important tips to remember which will help you to attempt your exams in the most efficient way.

But before telling you those tips I want to discuss where students lose most of their marks. The first and the foremost thing where students lose their marks is the negative marking and the second thing is that they attempt very less number of questions.

And both of these reasons are directly linked with how you attempt your question paper. So, here are some tips which will definitely help you in boosting your score in the defence exams.

• Exam pattern

It is a must for you to know the complete exam pattern before writing any exam. It must be clear to you that how many questions will be there from each section, what will be the total weightage of marks from a particular section and what will be the mode of paper (i.e., whether it will be held in offline mode or online mode).

And you can get the best idea of the exam pattern of any exam by attempting the mocks. You should attempt at least 10 mocks before writing the actual exam.

• Cut-offs and No. of questions

Always remember one thing that you need not attempt all the questions in any exam. That’s why you should be well aware with the previous year’s cut-offs and the highest score so that you will have a rough idea of the no. of questions you have to attempt from each paper. Always try to attempt more than the required number of questions to reach the cut-off marks. It will surely reduce your chances of failure.

• Know your strengths and weaknesses

It is one of the most important things to consider before you start studying for your exam. You should be well aware of your strengths and weaknesses, that is you should know your strong subjects and weak subjects. Make a complete list of topics, subject wise and segregate them on the basis of the ones you know everything about and the ones you know nothing. Then, the subjects with more no. of strong topics will be your strong subjects and similarly, you will get to know your weak subjects. Now, make a strategic approach for the paper and try to attempt a maximum number of questions in your strong subjects, and in the case of the weaker ones, only attempt the number of questions required to clear the minimum cut-off. In this way, the chances of losing your marks in negative marking will be comparatively lesser.

• Time management

Last but very crucial point is the issue of time management in the examination hall. Sometimes what we do is to spend most of our time in solving 2-3 questions and hence, we do not get appropriate time to even check all the questions. So, to save ourselves from this mistake what we should do is to go through the complete set within first 5 minutes and then attempting all the easy questions at one go. Then work upon the mediocre level of questions and after that go to the hard ones. And also attempt the question only when you are sure of the answer because guessing at that point can become the reason of your failure.

Remember if a question seems easy to you at first but after spending 10 seconds doesn’t lead you anywhere near to the solution, leave that question right at that moment and move on to the next one. Such type of time consuming questions can remain in the exam just to waste your time. So, you should act smartly at that time because your ultimate goal should be attempting more number of questions with less number of negative markings.

I hope by following these important tips will help you to study and prepare for your respective exams in a more constructive way. I have shared my secret of attempting the question paper with you and if you will follow these steps you will definitely get through your exams with flying colours.

I wish you all the best.

Jai Hind!!!