How to compensate for your low grades?

My last article scared many students to the extent that my mail box was flooded with mails asking me to write the next article asap. I am writing this article as a reply to all those queries. I will try to cover as many things as possible; in case, something is left out then do ask by commenting under this post.

Until my fourth semester result, I was also worried about my percentage. How to improve it? Situation has stooped to such level that my aim was to get just 70% anyhow (in any one semester and not cumulative). But it happened and I scored pretty well in my fourth semester exams. And since then I have always scored more than 70% in college exam. I will share few things which I used to do.

First of all, look at the previous year question papers because most of the time syllabus is same and topics are very limited from which questions can be asked. Go through as many previous year papers as possible and prepare all the questions and topics asked in them as major chunk of your exam will be similar to it (considering that no experiment has been done with your batch).

Secondly, no need to read the entire book again and again. Just go through it once, understand it and mark the important topics and revise them.

Third, keep an eye on the topics which teachers (or professors) teach in class. Those are the most important topics and they will definitely be asked in the exams.

Fourth, try to find out the sources of questions asked in the previous years. Generally, questions are asked from the exercise portion of standard books. In case, this happens with you then go through the important exercise questions and their solution (It would be best if you solve those questions on your own but that would be pretty ideal situation for many students).

Now, let us say that you have tried all the above mentioned activities but still you are not able to achieve good score (value of good score varies from person to person) then you need to work as per your goal. Find out what you want to do in your life or what are your career aspirations?

Let me explain this point by taking few examples. Suppose you want to go for GMAT or GRE after your graduation then you need to work on your profile. You need to have healthy profile which shows dedication towards your long term goals. If you want to go in to Education sector five or seven years down the line, then you need to work a little in this sector and this should be reflected in your profile.

If you want to go for GATE or MTech., then you need to have strong knowledge of your core subjects.

If you want to go for Indian Administrative services then you need to work on general knowledge and reading habit. You have to read and learn more than your capability.  So these are the few examples I have taken to explain how you can improve or compensate for your marks.

P.S.: All the above mentioned activities were done by me and were beneficial to me. It may or may not help you. Moreover, while following the above mentioned tips do not forget to develop a strong base of your core subjects.

Click to read : How much marks matter in your career?