CBSE Class 12 Economics boards exam: How to prepare best for the paper

Remember the weightage of each chapter

Before we start, let’s agree – very few people hate Economics, and even fewer people love Economics. That means, most of you just look at it as another paper – not very difficult, not very easy. If you are ready with your economics notes, you have revised them, and you are just wondering what more you can do to score high in this exam, the following lines are for you.

Remember the weightage of each chapter

As you can see, “Current Challenges Facing the Indian Economy” carries more weightage than any other chapter. The next two big chapters are “Development Experience (1947-1990)” and “Determination of Income and Employment”. At some point in this article, we will list out important topics from these chapters, so important that you can be assured of seeing a question on that topic in your actual Board exam.

The three most important tips for your Economics exam:

1. Graphs are crucial. Practice them as much as you can. Do not lose marks for silly mistakes such as not labelling the X and Y-axis. The same goes for curves. Practice them properly and ensure they have the correct labels and representation.

2. You will be tired by the time you reach the last few questions. And that is where you lose marks because you forget points or how to present your answer properly. Go reverse: start with long answers, and then move to shorter answers. Spend your muscle strength – both hands and brain – on longer answers. MCQs can come from any chapter and require no calculation/effort to describe. Keep them for the end.

3. Comparative analysis is the easiest four marks you can get in the exam. Just read the table and then convert the data into text. Describe what you see in the table. Do not over-analyze; do not try to dissect too much. As long as you can convert the data into the description, you will easily get those 4 marks.

Additional tips for the exam:

1. MCQs can be from any chapter. But you cannot remember everything from every chapter, right? Solution? Solve the MCQs from the last 7 years question papers. If you can answer all of them, you will be able to answer most, if not all MCQs in your board exams.

2. Whenever you describe differences, put them in a table and mention the basis/source of difference. This means your differences between two entities (whatever you need to show differences between) will be in a three-column table: basis in column 1, first entity in column 2 and second entity in column

3. Important topics for numerical (also called practical questions)

1. Determination of national income

2. Unemployment

3. Investment Multiplier

4. Income Method or Expenditure Method

5. Calculation of aggregate demand or aggregate supply

6. Calculation of excess demand or excess supply

7. Difference between autonomous and accommodating items in Balance of Payments

8. Reconciliation methods

9. Government Budget

What else should you do?

Train yourself to survive those 3 hours by writing mock papers.

Practice the reverse strategy – starting with LAs and attempting MCQs in the end.

As always, spend your 15 minutes reading the paper calmly, reading things correctly and paying attention to instructions.

Remember – you have worked hard all year. These 3 hours will definitely help you move to the next stage of your life. Instead of worrying about what can go wrong, just focus on giving it your best and moving on to the next exam.

(Author Ajit Singh is Vice President Academics, Orchids The International School. Views are personal.)