The exam season is fast approaching. Rather it is here; starting with the second term or Christmas exam, to the model exams ultimately leading to the final examination in March. What should the students do? Almost everyone is worried about the dichotomy in approaches between the board exams and the entrance exams for higher studies. Nowhere is it more conspicuous than in the professional education of engineering.

Owing to the sheer number of applicants, it is pertinent to discuss this problem with respect to engineering aspirants. The nature of study, the focus, the kind of study and time allocation are all criteria coming as doubts in the student’s minds that leaves her with great stress. Over the years many a student has given minimal attention to the board exams and more attention to entrance preparations. In many cases students think board exams to be irrelevant in their careers.

Here is where a rethink needs to be done. Apart from graduate education, the board marks are also considered for many post graduate admissions. It might be difficult to gain admissions to such universities or institutions if a consistent academic track record cannot be shown. A blip in the board exam scores will remain a scar in your otherwise brilliant academic record life long.

In addition to this, average, just above average and below average students aspiring for engineering education need to pull up their socks now because if they do not get good marks in the qualifying examination their chances of getting admission to Kerala Engineering colleges will get affected according to the new rules of the entrance examinations. Keep an eye on the developments in this front.

These days, reputed companies also insist on a consistent academic record. On that front also it becomes difficult to explain the blip in the qualifying examination scores during the interview process.

If one looks carefully at the two kinds of examinations that they are, drastic difference in questions is not there. This, of course, is for the student who is not exam oriented but knowledge oriented. If you are one among that category of people who studies only for exams, both are entirely different schemes of study.

Why this has happened is because over the years questions have been repeated in both the exams. So the be all and end all of preparation is to answer both these kinds of question papers time and again. This requires different skills of answering and not learning.

For the person who is knowledge oriented, board papers are theory based (mostly) and that theory is to be applied in the entrance questions. Then both the preparations happen simultaneously. Anyway, to get into a rank list one needs to obtain only 10 marks and almost all who are in the list will get admission in some engineering college(provided she wants to join). To get into the best colleges you need to know both theory and application and hence the dilemma is non-existent. I urge you all to be those people who make these preparations complementary rather than diverging.