It is common to take a drop or a partial drop after your first attempt. Most of you might be unsatisfied with your performance and wish to improve in subsequent attempts. Some of you choose to drop a year completely, while others choose a partial drop, considering it safer. However, a partial drop quickly becomes troublesome. You must concentrate on your college studies as well as your upcoming entrance exams. This creates a lot of confusion and causes you to get stressed, which impairs your test preparation. If you are a student concerned about preparing while still managing your college, this blog will assist you.
In this blog, we will discuss:
- What should be your priority?
- Attendance compulsion in colleges
- Classes vs mock tests
What Should be Your Priority?
It is essential to prioritise your efforts. You should be clear in your mind whether you want to continue your preparation or settle with this college. If you want to continue your hard work for your dream college, then entrance exams should be your priority.
- You must give around 60 to 70 percent of your time to your entrance exam preparation, while the rest goes to your college.
- Try to get at least average marks in college tests and exams, as you won’t be continuing that program after getting into your dream college.
- Make a timetable mentioning your daily routine and stick to that schedule. Your timetable should comprise entrance exam preparation as the majority.
- Devote some time to recreational activities and health. You can’t perform at your best if your body is not in a healthy state.
- Give time to completing the syllabus, revision, mock tests, analysing mock tests, and solving questions well before the exams.
- Remember that the college you are enrolled in is your backup option, so you don’t need to put a lot of effort into it. Just ensure you are not failing any exam or don’t have lots of backlogs in order to avoid any trouble.
Attendance Compulsion in Colleges:
Colleges often have a minimum percentage of attendance requirement (usually 75% attendance criteria), and if it is not reached, students are not permitted to appear for examinations.
- You should double-check such criteria before enrolling in such a college during your drop year.
- Colleges are generally tight about their attendance rules, so you may either drop out of that institution or design your own timetable where you can devote more time to preparation while still in college.
- The second choice is really challenging since students do not have enough energy after a full day of college. And often, they are unaware they have been distracted from their preparations.
- You can get help from your friends or seniors in college regarding notes and assignments.
- Studying just one week before college exams would be sufficient for passing them; hence, you can use the rest of the time for entrance exam preparation.
- Don’t forget PYQs before the exams, since most professors set exams based on PYQs.
Classes vs Mock Tests:
You must know your weak spots and strong spots in your preparation. It is important to analyse your progress regularly. Mock tests are the best way to ensure that.
- If your marks in mock tests are consistent and improving, then your preparation is going well and you have high chances of clearing your exams. You need to be consistent in your preparations and just revision and mock tests will lead you to success.
- But if your marks are consistently low, then there is a lack of concepts, problem-solving practice, and exam temperament. You must discuss with your mentors the possible causes of this. And once you know that, you can work on it by prioritizing it in your schedule.
- If your syllabus is not complete or your concepts are not quite strong, you should devote time to attending coaching classes. Though you can continue with mock tests, your priority should be strengthening concepts and solving questions to gain confidence.
- Another example is if your marks vary and are inconsistent with each mock test, you must improve your question-solving abilities. Your concepts may be concrete, but you struggle to understand questions and don’t know where to begin. Attending lectures will not help you much, but solving various kinds of problems and giving mock exams would improve your marks.
After you know what and how you need to prepare, you can incorporate all these steps into your schedule. It is essential to know what you want to achieve; you must prioritise your actions in that order. Whatever you want to achieve depends on you and how you work to achieve it.
Conclusion:
Without a doubt, the drop year is a terrible time in the lives of students. There is a lot of pressure and academic stress, and taking a partial drop makes it much more difficult. It is important to sit down and consider how you are most comfortable preparing. You may also discuss your concerns with your parents and friends and seek guidance from mentors on creating personalised timetables. You must not forget that all of your hard work and sleepless nights will be worth it when you get into your desired college.
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