3 weeks prep strategy for NTSE Stage II exam

The National Talent Search Examination (NTSE) is the country’s oldest, largest and the most prestigious competitive examination for school students. NTSE comprises two stages: Stage I is conducted by respective state boards (in the case of Delhi, it is conducted by the Science Department of the Directorate of Education) in November every year, for students of Class 10. Every state has a quota and hence a fixed number of students are selected from the Stage I exam for Stage II. NTSE Stage II exam is conducted by NCERT in the month of May (in the following year i.e. when a student has been promoted to Class 11). However there is no state-wise upper ceiling of selecting NTSE scholars through Stage II. Students are essentially assessed on subjects like Mental Ability, Science, Social Studies and a language paper (students are required to choose between English or Hindi). 

This year, the NTSE Stage II exam is scheduled for May 14, 2017. With less than three weeks to go for this big exam, students have entered the final lap of their preparation. Here are a few tips which will help the students to sail through this critical phase.

Subject-wise preparatory tips 

The NCERT books form the basis of the Stage II exam, especially Social Studies. Go through all the finer details of the NCERT textbooks. 

MAT: It is the most important subject and carries the maximum weightage. Most questions in MAT are analytical and application-based. You need to spend enough time in practice. Certain topics like Clocks & Calendar, require a lot of revision. 

Social Science: The Geography portion of Class 9 holds more relevance and hence should be given more attention. There could be questions based on maps. In History, general chapters like Nationalism in India and the Rise of Nationalism in Europe play an important role from the chapter/topic weightage perspective. Be alert and careful while attempting questions based on Assertion – Reason.

Maths and Science: Instead of focusing on chapter-wise practice, focus on a mixed bag approach. This will help in attempting questions from various chapters during the test. It will improve your analytical ability.

Subscribe to good All India Level Mock Tests and write as many such tests as possible. It must be a timed test (i.e. 200 questions in 180 minutes). This will enhance both speed and accuracy; build test temperament.

Seek expert help after every test to analyse your performance, identify unforced errors/mistakes and formulate remedial action.

Students preparing for engineering/medical in Class 11 often forget and/or lose touch with subjects like MAT and Social Studies. Apart from that, medical aspirants lose touch with Maths and engineering aspirants lose touch with Biology. Revise from high-quality and short notes that must have been created over the past year. 

Dos & Don’ts

Do not waste time on a single question, as all questions are going to be of equal weightage. 
Attempt/mark only those questions that you are completely sure of the answers for and leave those which you are not sure of as there will be negative marking. 
Shuffle the time in between various subjects within the SAT section, so that you get more time for questions which involves calculations.