With exam anxiety reaching fever pitch, DNA takes a closer look at how three students from different boards are preparing for D-Day.
Student: Ashutosh Gajiwala, 15
School: Campion School, Colaba
Board: ICSE
Exam starts: March 2
Ashutosh, whose acting career took off after the stupendous success of Slumdog Millionaire, doesn’t wish to restrict himself to acting. The teen is committed to his studies and hopes that with a little help from his mother, Astrid, the exams will go off well. With little time left to revise, especially after his Los Angeles visit, Ashutosh is studying ‘round the clock.’ “I followed a time-table for all subjects, but now I am studying only for English and maximising the time,” says Gajiwala.
For every subject, he has one textbook and five other reference books, which he needs to finish before Monday. “Every author has different points to offer and I can’t afford to miss any of them,” he says. He even carried his Julius Caesar notes to an event on Saturday night, and read them on the way to the venue. Gajiwala is expecting a lot of new developments on the acting front. So his plan is to study even when he is on the move. “I will either get into publicity or production management, or some other creative field, such as Automobile engineering,” he says.
Performance anxiety: “With the little preparation I have done, I can score around 80 per cent. But my target is 90.
Student: Shivani Kadu
School: Dr S Radhakrishnan Vidyalay, Malad
Board: CBSE
Exams start: March 2 (but her first paper is on March 7)
Shivani studies for 12 hours a day, but she refuses to compromise on sleep or leisure. “I manage my time well. I have made several charts of important points from textbooks, and I go through it every day. I take frequent breaks to ensure I don’t strain myself,” she says. Kadu has maintained a chart for grammar, history dates, formulae, and science experiments. “I am not learning any new topics as it could be confusing at the last minute. I am focussing on my weak points, such as labelling for science diagrams and marking of maps in Geography,” says Kadu.
With seven days to go for her exams, she has calculated the extra time she will get for each subject in the breaks between papers. She wishes to pursue a career in commerce, as she has an aptitude for mathematics. Her aim is to get admission in a reputed commerce college such as NM or Poddar.
Performance anxiety: “The pressure [on me] is self-imposed. I know I have the potential to score well and I have to live up to my own expectations.”
Student: Ravi Bajpai, 15
School: Rustomjee High School, Dahisar
Board: SSC State Board
Exam starts: March 6
The 15-year-old is in the last week of revision for his SSC exams. He has been studying for seven to eight hours every day. “I don’t believe in studying for more than two hours at a stretch. I take frequent breaks to recharge myself,” Bajpai says.
With just five days to go, Ravi is concentrating on studying his textbooks thoroughly. “I have already solved all the question papers, so I am concentrating on the questions given behind the textbooks,” he explains. Bajpai’s strategy is to concentrate more on the subjects in which he thinks he is weak — namely Marathi. “I am brushing up on all the objective answers for Marathi. Apart from that, I am reading up on Marathi essays,” he says. After his SSC, Ravi wants to study in Ruparel College and pursue his engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT).
Performance anxiety: “The pressure to perform [well in the forthcoming exams] is there, but I am not obsessed by it. My school teachers have helped me a lot by correcting my solved question papers. Their feedback has given me immense confidence.”
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