Why the Previous Years Question Papers are so Important?
What importance do the previous year question papers hold when it comes down to exam preparation?
Many students frequently ask this question when faced with these previous years’ papers at the time of examination. Scholars need to know the importance of these papers aside their NCERT books and how to use these resources to give themselves an edge over others. The difficulty of the board exams keeps varying year to year but what remain somewhat similar is the pattern and the type of questions asked. A higher rank in these exams can be achieved by knowing your way around the curriculum and being a regular student. Like any point of time in life what one needs to succeed is making a strategic plan and implementing it properly.
Most of the students when told to solve the previous years’ papers either leave it to when they’ll “finish” the course (which of course never happens) or till a later comfortable time which obviously never comes. The teachers keep telling them the importance but they ignore.
Why are the Previous Years Question Papers Important?
When dealing with something like a CBSE syllabus that consists of various segments and topics students get lost in the labyrinth of content and never zoom out to see the full picture. A major prerequisite of giving the board exam is practicing the previous year’s questions so that these students have an edge over others. Finally it can be said that the previous year’s question papers cannot be neglected due to their numerous benefits.
Practice makes perfect
As the saying goes, practice is one of the best ways (one of the only ways) to master a subject. Proper practice lends students the confidence required to crack the examination. When students solve these papers they get an understanding of the sort of speed they are required to reach in order to finish the paper in time and consequently attempt the whole paper. The more papers one solves the greater is their chance to succeed and score great marks in the exams. When solving multiple of these papers you will notice that many questions are similar or have a similar structure. This knowledge will give you speed as well as accuracy when answering related questions.
Another benefit that can be reaped from practicing these papers is that they help in revision of material already learnt. Once the students are done with the syllabus they have to cover they should evaluate their progress based on their performance and if mistakes are found they should be rectified. A lot of questions that are asked have been repeated from the years before and thus are sometimes simply solvable just by changing the values. When writing the exam scholars should try to be cool and try to read the question carefully to let the magic work.
Self evaluation is extremely necessary for scholars so that they are able to pinpoint the problems in their process and get an estimate of their standing in the subject.
Exam Pattern – Knowing the other side
The questions being asked by the boards are reflected completely in their previous papers. The changing trends of paper setting can be taken care of, by practicing the previous year’s paper. Not only topics inside subjects gain and lose preference in the syllabus but subjects themselves can have a varying level of difficulty based on different years.
The students will be able to get synchronized into the exam format which will help them in several ways. Getting the maximum score is an art which is practiced through these papers. Why to call it an art? Because the student has to surf through a mix of simple and complex questions and answer a balanced variety of questions in terms of score. There is also a chance that the questions asked may be repeated from the years before or the value may be changed slightly. Even if the questions are not repeated, practicing these papers will give you an edge over others.
The level of difficulty of the paper will also not be a surprise for you as practicing the previous years’ paper would have already given you an understanding. Students when dealing with the previous year’s papers get better with practice and then the factor of self assessment comes in. The exercise of self assessment helps student by making them realize their mistakes and then figuring out how to rectify it. The self evaluation process also gives positive reaffirmation that the topics you know, you have perfected.
Another important point to remember while doing all this is to remember that the papers need to be of last 10 years. Pick a year from which the syllabus has remained the same and practice that. Individuals have lost a large amount of time practicing questions that were not even there in their course. Be careful of such time wastage.
Download the two most desired previous years papers with their solution that we have compiled for you. The questions are answered for your ease and thus the paper will also give you a window into how to answer a question.
Previous 5 Year Question Papers of CBSE Class 10 Science
About Author
With a degree in Bachelors of Journalism, Bhoumik Joshi arrived into content writing via the print journalism world. In his press days, he was working extensively on investigative field assignments. Fascinated by the textual labyrinth one has to traverse through in the process of writing SEO optimized content, he started delving deeper into Digital Marketing. A music aficionado, he spends most of his free time surfing the World Wide Web for inspiration. With an experience of two years in content writing coupled with his witty penmanship every time he types, he aims to create a niche experience for his readers.
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