Board exams like SSC and HSC are a big deal in Bangladesh. It’s a time filled with hope but also a lot of stress. You’ve studied hard for years! But just studying won’t cut it. To do well, you also need to avoid some common mistakes that many students make.
Think of your exams like a long race – you need energy, a good plan, and to know how to dodge problems along the way. Let’s look at mistakes to avoid before, during, and after your exams.
Getting ready for the first exam
Cramming
The days right before your first exam are really important. When you feel pressured, you might want to suddenly learn a new chapter you skipped, especially a hard one. But trying to learn new things at the very last minute is usually a bad idea. You probably won’t understand it well, and it eats up time you could use to review what you already know well. This can just make you more stressed. It’s much better to focus on revising and practicing the topics you’ve already covered.
Pulling an all-nighter
Another major mistake is not getting enough sleep. While it may seem like a good idea to study all night in order to perfect your preparation, doing so actually degrades your performance. Sleep is necessary for your brain to effectively store everything you have learned, help focus, think effectively, and recall things.
Make every effort to sleep for at least six to seven hours, particularly the night before an exam. If you’re too tired, you’ll feel sleepy and confused in the exam hall, and you might forget things you actually know!
Plan your study schedule ahead of time so you don’t need to cram without sleep. A rested brain works much, much better.
Scouring for must-haves at the last moment
Don’t forget the small but important things! Being organised really helps. Rushing around looking for your admit card, pens, or getting your uniform ready at the last second causes stress you don’t need. Get everything ready the night before.
Pack your bag with your admit card, registration card, extra pens, pencils, geometry box, calculator (if you need one), and a water bottle. It’s important to be hydrated during exams too.
Leaving at the last moment
Also, plan ahead for how and when you’ll get to the exam hall, and leave as early as possible. Traffic can be unpredictable, especially in cities. Being late or feeling rushed can stress you out before you even start writing. Being organided and on time helps you feel in place and steadier.
One more tip to keep in mind, try not to chat too much with friends right before the exam, especially about who studied what. Hearing others can make you nervous or too confident, and it takes your focus away from yourself. Just focus on your own plan and trust your preparation.
Inside the exam hall
Panicking
Once the exam starts, how you handle the pressure matters a lot. What if the questions seem very hard, or you get stuck right at the beginning? The biggest mistake is to panic.
Panicking makes it hard to think straight. You might misread questions or make silly errors. Instead, try hard to stay calm. Take a few deep breaths. Remember all the studying you’ve done.
Faiyaz Kabir, a recent HSC examinee from Dhaka Residential Model College, suggests, “To avoid panic, remember you’ve prepared a lot and focus on what you can control. Examiners won’t ask impossible questions. The worst you might face is a question from a topic you didn’t study well or maybe a slightly tricky question that you can solve if you stay calm.”
Sometimes, a tricky question just needs you to be calm to figure it out, it’s okay to skip it and come back later. Starting with questions you feel sure about can boost your confidence and calm your nerves.
Throwing time-management out the window
Not having a plan for using your time during the exam is another common error. If you just start answering without thinking about the clock, you might spend too long on some parts and not have enough time for others. Especially on more writing-heavy exams like Bangla, English or others.
Use the first few minutes (if you get reading time) to look through the paper. Decide roughly how much time you can spend on each section or question based on the marks. Try to follow your time plan.
Getting over-confident
Don’t get careless even if the questions seem easy. Sometimes easy-looking questions have small tricks. If you rush, you might miss something or make simple mistakes. Treat every question seriously, read it carefully, and set aside few minutes for a quick revision of all your answers. You might spot small mistakes which can be easily corrected and make your answer script more polished.
Between and after exams
Comparing answers
Board exams go on for several days or weeks. How you manage your feelings and energy between papers is very important. A big mistake many students make is discussing the answers in detail with friends right after an exam finishes. You can’t change what you wrote, and comparing answers often just leads to worry and makes you feel bad, especially if you think you got something wrong. This negative feeling can affect how you prepare for your next exam.
Once an exam is over, try your best to put it behind you. Take a short break, have some food, and then shift your focus completely to studying for the next subject.
What if one exam doesn’t go as well as you hoped? It’s normal to feel disappointed, but don’t let one bad paper ruin all your other exams.
Dwelling on failures
Spending too much time feeling sad, angry, or regretful wastes your mental energy and makes it harder to do well later. Acknowledge how you feel, maybe think quickly if there’s a lesson learned (like needing to manage time better next time), and then make a real effort to move on. Your final grade depends on all subjects combined. Every new exam is a fresh start and a new opportunity.
Stay strong: The final push
Board exams are tough, no doubt about it. They test your knowledge and your stamina. It’s important to stay strong and keep going. As Faiyaz shared, “Try to be resilient and remember how far you have come, you can definitely get through these last few days.”
“Thinking about the freedom and fun you’ll have after the exams are over can give you a boost, just don’t let daydreaming take over your study time!”
Remember the bigger picture. These exams are important milestones, but they don’t decide your whole future. Trust the preparation you’ve done, try to stay calm when things get stressful, use your time well, and don’t worry too much about things you can’t control.
By trying hard to avoid these common mistakes, you can handle the pressure of SSC and HSC exams much better. This will help you perform to your potential and show all that you’ve learned. Good luck to all the students taking the exams! Stay focused, stay calm, and give it your very best shot!