Eligibility cutoffs for IIT-JEE unveiled

The Human Resource Development Ministry has finally decided upon the eligibility cutoffs for different boards across the Indian states. This comes following the consensus reached by the HRD ministry and the IITs where it was agreed that there was to be a single entrance exam for admission into the colleges offering engineering and technological sciences as a subject. It was decided that there will be one Joint entrance exam divided into two levels to decide the fates of engineering aspirants across India.

Since many students in India are enrolled in different State boards, it was initially very difficult to set a basic cut off for the finalized eligibility criterion for admission into the IITs. The State board marking scheme is not as generous as its CBSE or ICSE counterparts therefore, many students who were genuinely interested in the field of engineering and research could not qualify for the exam. To eradicate this, the government has now made it compulsory for students to score within the top 20 percentile bracket of their respective boards to be eligible for IIT.

The percentages for different boards corresponding to the top 20 percentile in 2011 have been given below. Please note that the scores can vary significantly next year.

• Andhra Pradesh 87.20
• Assam 54.20
• Bihar 64.60
• CBSE 77.80
• Chhatisgarh 56.80
• Goa 56.25
• Himachal Pradesh 63.20
• Jharkhand 52.40
• Jammu & Kashmir 67
• Karnataka 67.50
• Kerala 76.50
• Meghalaya 49.40
• Manipur 64.60
• Madhya Pradesh 64
• Maharashtra 61.17
• Mizoram 56.20
• Nagaland 49
• Orissa 56.33
• Punjab 70.80
• Rajasthan 63.80
• Tripura 50.80
• Tamil Nadu 78.17
• Uttarakhand 55.20
• Uttar Pradesh 65
• West Bengal 58
• National Open School 60.60

So, if you belong to the percentage bracket given for your board and have cleared both the levels of the IIT –JEE entrance exam, you can assure yourself of having a very good chance of entering the IITs.

Do note that these figures are applicable for students of the General category only. Students belonging to the reserved category have a lower percentile cut off.

Nevertheless, it is very important to do well in school and strengthen your basic concepts thoroughly to do well not only in the entrance exam but also in later life.

Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar & Odisha are against the implementation of NEET

So far only Maharashtra, Kerala, Goa & Karnataka has agreed to adopt NEET, be it be NEET UG or NEET PG these states are ready for the challenge. However Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar & Odisha are completely against the implementation of NEET in their respective states.

Tamil Nadu on NEET

Chief Minister Jayalalitha is ensuring in every way possible to avoid participation in NEET, recently she has written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh protesting against NEET. Tamil Nadu stance is very clear and they are completely against NEET.

If MCI doesn’t exempt Tamil Nadu from NEET, no wonder the state will approach High Court and get a stay order. Such incidents happened even last year,Madras High Court has given stay order.

Andhra Pradesh on NEET

Last year the state government has asked the MCI, to exempt it’s students from NEET for 2 years. However since MCI is conducting a nation wide CET, even AP needs to be a part of it. Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy has assured the students to prepare for EAMCET in 2013, he has written to Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad citing reasons to exempt from NEET.

Bihar & Odisha on NEET

These state governments openly said that their interests are completely against the NEET. Citing reasons that their state students cannot compete with a pool of national students who have an edge over the CBSE curriculum, since NEET syllabus is purely based on CBSE syllabus. These states stated that they prefer having their own medical entrance exams for graduate & postgraduate medical courses.

The PSA (Problem Solving Assessment) for Class 9 and 11 students

The PSA (Problem Solving Assesment) is not a new test but it will replace the already existing pen-paper test in the FA. The only difference will be that PSA will be conducted by the Board in the respective schools and the evaluation will be done by the Board. The exam will be conducted on the same day and the question paper will be provided by the Board. This 90-minute test will have nothing from the textbooks. It will comprise of questions from mathematics and an English passage from old essays or contemporary fiction.

The new criterion will fit into the third and fourth formative assessments. The fourth assessment includes multiple choice questions, projects and unit tests. All these will be replaced by a PSA that tests a student’s knowledge on co-scholastic situations.

Registration for this Assessment will be done separately by the Board and detailed circular will be issued before the start of the second term i.e. September 2012

Class 9 and 11 students from Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) schools will have more tests to take and they will not have an option of opting out of this one. Following complaints about students not having problem solving or communication skills, the CBSE has decided to hold exams to test these very skills.

Starting this academic year, the CBSE will hold a compulsory Problem Solving Assessment (CBSE-PSA) to encourage students to start thinking, instead of just borrowing ideas. It will assess students in quantitative and qualitative reasoning and language conventions. 

CBSE chairman Vineet Joshi in his letter to principals of affiliated schools in support of the initiative said, “It is widely acknowledged that research and analytical skills, ability to apply basic concepts of different subjects, solve application-based problems in mathematics and science, comprehend and analyse written text and effective communication are the skills which ensure success in higher studies and professional areas.” He expects these dimensions of 21st century life skills to assist learners in skills such as problem solving and decision making.

Though the assessment will not be based on a particular syllabus, there are broad guidelines on how the questions will be framed. Questions in the quantitative reasoning section will test students in areas related to mathematics, science and technology; while in qualitative reasoning students will be tested in humanities, arts and social sciences.

The multiple choice questions-based test is expected to assess the student’s ability to process, interpret and use information rather than assess the student’s prior subject-matter knowledge. Educational consultant K R Maalathi said, “Our children are smart, but a lot depend on the guidance of parents or teachers. Such an initiative will train them to harness their knowledge and approach any problem confidently.”

The 60-minute test for 90 marks is expected to be conducted between January and February 2013. The marks scored will be counted towards the fourth formative assessment, which is 10% of the total assessments of Class 9. The same assessment marks will also be used for the FA-4 in Class 10, though students will have the option of improving on it in Class 10. The scores will be reflected in the language paper, mathematics, science and social science.

GUJCET, GCET & EAMCET scrapped to give room for NEET UG

The Gujarat Common Entrance Test, Goa Common Entrance Test & EAMCET will be scrapped from next year to give room for NEET UG, NEET UG is a national level medical entrance exam proposed by MCI. Instead of sitting for multiple entrance exams, candidates interested in pursuing MBBS / BDS course in the country can sit for one single medical entrance test.

However as indicated last year AIIMS & JIPMER will not scrap their entrance exam, interested students should appear for AIIMS Medical Entrance Test & JIPMER Medical Entrance Test.

Application form availability for NEET UG 2013:

The application forms for NEET UG 2013 will be available ONLINE from Dec 01, 2012 to Dec 31, 2012.

Cost of application form of NEET UG 2013:

Rs 1000 for General Category students, Rs 550 for OBC / SC / ST / PH students

NEET UG 2013 sample question paper:

The sample question paper will be uploaded on the CBSE official website & NEET UG website in due course of time

NEET UG 2013 question paper pattern:

NEET UG will have 180 questions; 45 questions each in Physics, Chemistry, Botany and Zoology. There will be NO negative marking, the negative marks will only be used in case of a tie (to resolve tie breaker between two similar ranks or marks holder).

JEE (Advanced) - 2013

Joint Admission Board (JAB) of IIT Joint Entrance Examination (Advanced)-2013 met on August 27, 2012 at IIT Delhi to discuss the forthcoming admission. The admission to the undergraduate programmes at the IITs and ISMU, Dhanbad for the year 2013 will be based on a two-tier test. The first test called the JEE (Main), will be held during the month of April, 2013 (both offline and online). This test will be conducted by CBSE. The second test, called the JEE (Advanced), will be held on June 2, 2013 (only offline). Only 1,50,000 of the top rankers in JEE(Main), which includes students from all categories( GE,OBC(NCL), SC and ST ) will be eligible to appear in JEE(Advanced).

 The JEE (Advanced)-2013 will have two objective type papers. Each paper will consist of Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics. Duration of each paper will be 3-hours. Question papers will be in both English and Hindi. Admissions to IITs will be based only on category wise All India Rank (AIR) in JEE(Advanced) subject to the condition that such candidates are in the top 20 percentile of successful candidates of their Boards in applicable categories.

NTSE now for Class 10 Changes in NTSE

From this year the NCERT will conduct the National Talent Search Examination for students studying in Class 10th only.

1. No. of Scholarships: On the basis of the examination conducted, 1000 scholarships will be awarded for group of students appearing for Class 10th, in all over India.

2. Reservation: 15 % scholarships will be reserved for students belonging to the SC category, 7.5% scholarships for students belonging to the ST category. 

3. Scholarship: Awardees of NTS Examination will receive a sum of Rs. 500/- per month as per NCERT rules.

4. Selection: There will be two-stage selection process for award of scholarship.

(a) Stage – I, selection will be done by States / UTs through a written examination. Students who qualify Stage I will be eligible

(b) Stage II examination conducted by NCERT.

5. Important Dates : Dates of submission of Applications Forms and Conduct of examination are given below :

Stage : Stage I (State) 

Area : Last Date for Submission of Application Form 

Examinations date in Mizoram, Meghalaya, Nagaland and 

Andaman and Nicobar Islands : 17th November 2012

Examination date in All other states and Union Territories : 18th November 2012 (Sunday)

Examination date in All States and Union Territories

12th May 2013 (Sunday)

6. Eligibility: Students of Class 10th studying in recognized schools are eligible to appear for the respective Class 10th Stage I examination conducted by the State/UTs in which the schools are located. There will be no domicile restriction.

7. Examination : The pattern of written examination for Class 10th will be as follows :-

• Stage I examination at the State/UT level will comprise two parts, namely (a) Mental Ability Test (MAT) and (b) Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) covering social sciences, sciences and mathematics.

• Stage II examination at the National Level will comprises

(a) Mental Ability Test (MAT) 90 Marks.

(b) Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) covering social sciences (35 Marks), sciences (35 marks) and Mathematics (20 marks).

When does one start preparation?

The earlier one starts the preparation the better are his chances. The ideal time to start is within one month of completing one’s board examination. However, even one year of concentrated effort can help student achieve success – however, student’s commitment needs to be high in this case.

If you are attending school as well as preparing for Competitive Exam, and if you have 2 years with you, then you must devote 2 to 3 hours every working day for studies and 10 to 12 hours on school holidays and weekends. Whereas if you start preparing in Class XII you should spend 3 to 5 hours everyday preparing for Competitive Exams.

Is coaching necessary ?

For success in Competitive Exams, 80% of the contribution is from the student’s effort, 10% is from the strategy of how to derive maximum out of the knowledge the student has and 10% is from guidance. Here the important thing to note is that however strategy & guidance contribute only 20% but are very important because it is this 20% which decides & defines how the balance 80% of time & energy is going to be spend. In case proper guidance is available to a student at home or at school, there will be no need for coaching; however, in absence of that coaching is advisable.

  

My future will be ruined if I fail/don’t get good marks

Examinations are an important way in which professional colleges select students. Success in them does open doors to particular jobs and careers. Lack of success will mean certain jobs and careers are not immediately open to you, at least at the level of entry you originally intended. Some may be closed altogether. However, happiness, wealth, peace of mind, rich experience of life, meaningful status in the eyes of others, a worthwhile career, a useful job and an inner sense of purpose and self belief as a human being, do not depend upon examination results.

Amazing Power of Super Conscious Mind

The beauty of your superconscious mind lies in the application toward your goals.

You have it. I have it. Everyone you know has it. What is it? It’s this infinite, universal, subconscious and powerful gift we’re blessed with.

Most experts call it the “super-subconscious mind,” (higher level of thinking) although whatever you choose to call it, it is as available to you at this very instant as it has been to anyone, anywhere!

The origin of all creativity comes from the superconscious mind. The superconscious mind was used by all of the great inventors, writers, artists, business people, scientists and composers on a regular basis.

Michaelangelo was known to have said that he would see his completed sculpture in the block of marble before he began chiseling away at it. He simply needed to chip around his vision.

The beauty of your superconscious mind lies in the application toward your goals. When you are striving and working toward a goal of your own choosing, your superconscious mind will provide you the continuous flow of ideas and positive energy to help you move closer to your goal. KEY POINT: Your superconscious mind functions best when you have a confident and calm mindset. Your subconscious mind automatically and continually solves every problem on the way to your goal as long as your goal is clear, concise and you believe in it fully.

REMEMBER THIS: When you get a hunch or an inspiration about the direction of your goal you must act on it immediately. This is when your superconscious mind is speaking to you, based on the time-dated material you entered at an earlier time. You see, when you adopt an attitude of calmness and confidence about your goals everything that happens to you can only bring you closer to your goal, your dream!

The truth is, “You become what you think about.” Emerson wrote, “A person becomes what he thinks about most of the time.” KEY POINT: Successful people think and talk about what they want. Unsuccessful people talk about what they don’t want. The superconscious mind is so powerful that it is working all the time and you will get what you think about most of the time!!

“Whether you think you can do something or think you can’t, you’re right!” 

What are the critical success factor for cracking entrance examinations?

The entrance examinations are not just about grueling work and burning midnight oil. One needs to prepare in a structured manner. Consistency in preparation is the key to success. It is better to study an average of 2 hours daily rather than put in bursts of work followed by weeks of layoff. The trick is to be able to balance this along with the other activities like school studies etc.

The exam is not about working hard but working smart. Most entrance examinations are objective in nature. This means that the bottom line is getting the correct answer, not how you get the answer. You could work systematically and arrive at the correct answer in a minute. However, you should also work smartly by elimination and substitution of answer choices and arrive at answer within a matter of a few seconds.

There is always something common about the people who finally make it to the hallowed corridors of the IIT/AIIMS. Not the least, is the belief in oneself. Half the battle is won if one believes in one’s success. This strong self-belief followed by sustained motivation over a period of 8-10 months and coupled with a structured preparatory schedule is the key to success.

•      Well laid plan

•      Absolute clarity of fundamentals

•      Make subject-wise action plan

•      Focus on quality then on quantity

•      Cultivate self discipline and consistency

•      Level up your speed and strike rate

•      Work hard and make frequent revisions

•      Evaluate yourself through a series of test

•      Be optimistic and get free from any tension and above all

•      The attitude to succeed at any cost.

How to be a winner and a champion?

Everyone loves to be a champion. But not everyone knows how to be one. In every endeavor we all say we’ll be THE NUMBER 1. But when asked how, we start looking here & there.

Most achievers will answer, “Luck has very little to do with it.” Being Number 1 takes much more than luck. It takes inspiration, persistence, and faith. Luck is a “nice-to-have.”

According to Tom Hopkins the 4 P’s to be a champion are :

1.   PRE-PLAN: Set goals. Devise strategies. Set your course of action, with specific tasks and corresponding deadlines. The only way you can reach what for you is the Number 1 position is to have a clear picture of that top slot and whatever path leads to it.

     Your plans must be realistic, though - achievable. Put your goals in writing to add commitment. Some planning takes a little time. It’s all right. A good plan is the first step up the ladder to Number 1.

2.  PRACTICE: Now, with a good scheme in hand, your next step is to work on it. How? Practice, practice, practice. No one becomes a champion swimmer overnight. Not even ten overnights! It takes months of serious training, dedicated practice.

     And what did Tom Hopkins say? “Practice doesn’t make perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect.” In other words, there’s no sense practicing something that doesn’t work or that doesn’t lead you to success.

3.  PERFECT: This is something that goes beyond practice. This P is shooting for perfection. Some call it fine-tuning. After you’ve practiced long and hard to learn, understand, and rationalize the techniques and skills… after you’ve done it a hundred, a thousand times… after you’ve acquired “muscle memory” and you can actually do it with your eyes closed… it’s then time to cross the line to perfection. Do not stop practicing until the motion becomes flawless. Until you can do it flawlessly, every time.

     Imagine the magicians who get away with card tricks using slight-of-hand. They start learning a trick in slow motion, and practice until they can perform it faster and smoother. And when they can do it flawlessly with their eyes closed, every time, they move on to perfecting the move until they become confident enough to...

4.  PERFORM: This is the test. The moment that will tell you that you have succeeded. Everything you planned, practiced, and perfected, will find fulfillment during the performance. Show your mastery - your skill. Let other people marvel at your speciality. Make them appreciate your effort and excellence in the task you have chosen. 

I don’t know where my time goes?

I have problems like sudden desire to sharpen every pencil in the house, an  unheard of urge to clean your room, an offer to do your sister’s homework. Anything in other words, to avoid your own work. If you find yourself doing anything but your work, either take a break then and there or pull yourself together and get down to work. Self –discipline, too, is a learned habit that gets easier with practice. Remember, what you are seeking to achieve is not just time – but quality time.

The next step to overhaul your current routine is to identify that routine, in detail. My suggestion is to chart in 15 minute increments, how you spend every minute of every day right now. While a day or a two might be sufficient for some of you, I recommended you chart your activities for an entire week, including the weekend. This is especially important if like many people, you have huge pockets of time that seemingly disappear, but, in reality, are devoted to things like “resting” after you wake up, putting on make up or shaving, reading the paper, waiting for transportation or driving to and from school or work, etc. Could you use an extra hour or two a day either for studying or for fun ? Make better use of such “dead”  time and you may well find all the time you need.

The Success Time Table

Here we have given rough outline of a timetable to ensure that maximum utilization of time happens. You can modify this timetable to suit your requirement and convenience.

Quick revision in the class/Coaching Institute

• revise previous day’s class work when you reach and sit in class or before the teacher starts the class
•  revise today’s class work when teacher finishes class and leaves

Quick revision at home

• In the morning after waking up, exercising, or breakfast
• before going to school
• In the night before going to sleep
• Again next morning
• Sunday- revise this week’s class work
• monthly (first or last Sunday of month) monthly class work

Study and learn at home

•      do numerical questions on your own
•      Write and revise slowly to memorize difficult thingsAt home
•      regularly do relaxation/breathing
•      sleep during day also
•      focus on more and more practice through problem solving
•      take as many mock tests as you can.At school
•      form a group of students having same goals and objectives as you have. Try to interact with students who are more intelligent than you.
•      cooperate with other students (you are not competing only against them)During exam-days and during exams
•      do not eat just before exam
•      use relaxation techniques
•      read questions slowly, think, plan, and then write answers
•      sleep well - do not study too hard - do not get tired

General

•      read fast
•      take notes using “mind-map” technique
•      take breaks every 45 minutes while studying

How do you feel on the day of the exam? Why do you think you feel this way?

When you are faced with a difficult situation, it is only natural that you feel stressed. In fact, some amount of stress might even be beneficial - it spurs you to perform better. For example, runners, athletes, and yes, soldiers too use stress to perform beyond their natural physical and mental limits.

However, problems arise when stress becomes unmanageable. Unfortunately, that usually happens on the day of the exam! Your mind might cease to think clearly and goes blank. Ultimately, you end up making careless mistakes, or forgetting information.

Here are a few things you can do to keep stress in control on the day of the exam.

•     Do not think about the exam results, on the exam itself. Try to think pleasant thoughts about things you like such as your pet, chocolates, sweets, sports, or pleasant environments.

•     As far as possible, try not to discuss the exam with others. This helps to keep exam anxiety  under control.
•     Ensure your breathe properly and take long deep breaths. This helps your oxygen intake and relieves stress. During such exercises, clear all thoughts out of your mind and concentrate on your breathing.
•     If you like to pray, you might like to close your eyes and say a short prayer. This might given you extra self-confidence and peace of mind.

How to Benefit from Your Classmates’ Hard Work

I have seen classmates competing against one another. Obviously, if you view your classmates as your competitors, you will not help them and they will not help you. For example, you will not tell them about this book. The net result is that you do not benefit from the intelligence, innovativeness, smartness of your classmates.

So, I suggest that you should talk to a few students whom you like most and who share the same goal and objectives as you do. You can decide to go for walk together during lunch time. You can all discuss issues such as which is the best book, which is the best coaching, who is a good teacher. You can also discuss some specific subject related questions. You can all experiment and share the results and the knowledge. If you can all cooperate, the chances of success in competitions will increase for all of you. Thus all of you will be benefited.

Pros & Cons of Group Study

Learning in a group is much faster and effective. Try to form a group of your classmates who have the same goals as you have and are serious about achieving it. Share your knowledge and tricks with them and benefit yourselves from the learning of your classmates. 

Some of the study techniques you can adopt in group learning are

·   Using revision cards with a partner

·  Draw a diagram, make up a spider or patterned note card(s) or construct some linear key word notes.

· Revise the card(s) for 15 or 20 minutes (at most). Re-check that you understand and can recall all of the card(s) contents.

·   Teach your partner about the topic, allowing – and encouraging – questions about the topic. When a point is unclear, stop and explain it. Work through the topic until you have both completed it to your satisfaction or have agreed to meet again to continue.

Sharing topics with a partner
You can use one of your friends to revise with, by dividing up topics, revising them individually, and then meeting to discuss them. What happened in the discussion was that fresh questions and issues arose which led to both further revision and further enquiry. It worked for both of them.

Using your partner to fire questions

Work for a set period in your work room, eg 1/2 to 1 hour. Then ask your cooperative partner to fire questions at you about the topic. It will obviously help if the partner had some knowledge about the topic or a clear indication of what to ask. However, what you are seeking from this exercise is to keep flexible and alert to surprise questions and fresh angles are a bonus from this method.

Group learning can accelerate your learning because

·  Groups not only make many more suggestions than individuals, but also are quicker to reject incorrect suggestions.

· They reject the incorrect ideas, which escape the notice of individuals, working alone.

· Since by nature people are quicker to see flaws in others, group study proves more useful than individual study.

·  Gives you a fresh point of view.

·  Remember explaining a point to someone else makes it clearer to you and at times also gives you a fresh point of view.

The disadvantages of group discussion and working in a group: 

• Discussions very easily degenerate into trivial talk and gossip. This is more likely to happen when the participants are close friends.

Caution:

• For students involved in group learning there is a word of caution also. In a group, sometimes one of the students solves a problem and the others think that they also know it without solving it. Such practice can be harmful for a serious aspirant.

• Group study does not rule out the need of individual study.

• In fact, group study is most successful when individuals come fully prepared for group discussions.

By choosing 1 or 2 persons:

1.  From a group.

2. Selected members should be as serious as you are about success in IIT/PMT

3. Subject in charge: Distribute work chapter-wise (or topic-wise) to remember in the group whilst allotting work for yourself.

4.   After you have done your individual revision, fix a day and time to revise certain chapters of the subject you are to revise in your group.

5.   An appointed person explains the topic.

6.  Any other person in the group repeats what was explained. You will discover points one tends to forget. You will benefit by the way others answer a question.

7.   Repeat all the points together as a group.

8.  Jot down the summaries of the answer separately on a small sheet of paper.

9.  Back home write out full answers according to a summary guideline made in the group discussions.
10. The member who explains a particular topic :

      •   prepares the summaries... and

      •   Xeroxes these summaries making copies for others.

You Master a New Skill in Steps & Jumps

As you learn some new skill like riding a bicycle or a car or writing good essays, you master it in steps and jumps. There is no improvement for sometime (a few days in case of learning to ride a bicycle). Then suddenly, there is a large jump in learning. It shows that certain amount of work or effort on your part must be done before a jump in learning can happen. Again for sometime, there is no learning, no improvement. Then after sometime, again, there is a sudden jump in learning.

This shows that you do not accomplish similar amounts of learning everyday even though you spend the same amount of time everyday. So even if your learning progress is slow, keep studying day after day without getting discouraged. Finally, you will see a jump in your learning.

NTSE now for Class 10

Changes in NTSE

From this year the NCERT will conduct the National Talent Search Examination for students studying in Class 10th only.

No. of Scholarships: On the basis of the examination conducted, 1000   scholarships will be awarded for group of students appearing for Class 10th, in all over India.

Reservation: 15 % scholarships will be reserved for students belonging to the SC category, 7.5% scholarships for students belonging to the ST category.

Scholarship: Awardees of NTS Examination will receive a sum of Rs. 500/- per month as per NCERT rules.

Selection: There will be two-stage selection process for award of scholarship. (a) Stage – I, selection will be done by States / UTs through a written examination. Students who qualify Stage I will be eligible (b) Stage II examination conducted by NCERT.

Important Dates : Dates of submission of Applications Forms and Conduct of examination are given below :

Stage	Area	Dates
Stage I (State)	Last Date for Submission of Application Form	31st August, 2012
	Examinations date in Mizoram, Meghalaya, Nagaland and Andaman and Nicobar Islands	17th November 2012
	Examination date in All other states and Union Territories	18th November 2012 (Sunday)
Stage II (National)	Examination date in All States and Union Territories	12th May 2013 (Sunday)

Eligibility  : Students of Class 10th studying in recognized schools are eligible to appear for the respective Class 10th Stage I examination conducted by the State/UTs in which the schools are located. There will be no domicile restriction.

Examination : The pattern of written examination for Class 10th will be as follows :-

• Stage I examination at the State/UT level will comprise two parts, namely (a) Mental Ability Test (MAT) and (b) Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) covering social sciences, sciences and mathematics.

• Stage II examination at the National Level will comprises

1. Mental Ability Test (MAT) 90 Marks.
2. Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) covering social sciences (35 Marks), sciences (35 marks) and Mathematics (20 marks).
3. Detailed scheme of marks will be as follows :

• sciences :- History 10 marks, Geography 10 marks, Political science 10 marks, Economics 05 marks, 

• Science – Physics 12 marks, Chemistry 11 marks, Biology 12 marks.
  

How much to sleep

Sleep is essential. During sleep, your body recuperates (repairs itself). You also dream while sleeping. Many scientists say that it is during dreams that the whole day’s memory is recognized in the brain.

The time a person requires to sleep varies. Some people require more than 8 to 10 hours of sleep while others may need just 5 or 6 hours. Sleeping between 4 to 10 hours is normal. Most people sleep between 6 to 8 hours a day.

While too little sleep may make you feel restless, too much sleep can make you feel lazy. If you sleep well, you will feel energized on waking up and ready for a new day. 

You can do the following to get good sleep:

•     Keep your room quiet and dark. If you do not have a separate room, you may not be able to do this. At least, you can request the other members of your family to try to be quiet.

•     Eat less of sugar, salt, fats (oils and ghee), difficult-to-digest foods, especially at night.

•     Take time to slow down. If you are doing something very active and suddenly you go to bed, you may not get sleep. So spend the last hour or so doing relatively unstressful activities.

•     Try to go to bed at the same time every night.

How do you know that the amount of sleep that you got is sufficient?

If after eight hour of sleep, you still feel drowsy, this means that you need more sleep. Once you have understood the exact amount of sleep that you need, ensure that you get it – at any cost. The cost of lack of  sleep, outweighs any possible benefits (such as more time to study etc). If your answer to any one of the following is a yes, you may be suffering from lack of complete sleep.

1.   Feel drowsy during the day.

2.   When you are bored, you got to sleep

3.   Feel tired most of the time

4.   Cannot concentrate most of the time

5.   Feel anxious most of the time

6.   Don’t feel alert

7.   Low energy levels during the day.

Remember we had discussed before that sleep is a necessary ingredient for almost all mental faculties including:

1.   Memory

2.   Creativity

3.   Problem solving skills

4.   Retention

Sleeping for a little while (half an hour to over one hour) during day time is of great value. An afternoon nap means two fresh mornings in 24 hours. After you have studied for 5-6 hours, the brain is swimming with facts, a nap of 30-45 minutes is required to recharge the brain. For example, you can sleep when you come back from school. This will make you fresh again. So, you can study more efficiently in evening and night.

Try it for sometime and if you like it, continue.