Srinivas Murthy is on the edge. His father peers with concern from behind his newspaper at the restless 17 years old and his mother keeps urging him to eat his breakfast.

It has been a roller coaster ride for Srinivas beginning two months preceding his board - class XII - exams keeping him on razor's edge preparing, clearing doubts, revising and re-revising syllabus and reaching the examination hall with mounting suspense of what fears might leap up from the question paper.

At the end of each paper, he made a self-assessment of his anticipated scores. The board exams are mercifully over but the anxiety over results grips. And though sure to pass with good percentage, his travail is far from over.


More daunting than the board exams is the entrance examination which will determine his destiny.He is not an outstanding performer but quite good like most students that our schools produce. He is eligible to exercise almost every option, engineering, medical, dental, NID, NIFT, defence services, railway apprentices etc. And he is looking at a whole plethora of entrance tests conducted by the UPSC, Railways, IITs, state government etc.

He fears he may lose opportunities as the tests for different gateways clash or the venues are so far apart that he just cannot get there to take the test.Srinivas is one among thousands of students who are facing this dilemma. Can something be done to mitigate the vortex that students like Srinivas find themselves in. It is possible if everything is planned well in advance.

Students must clearly determine the direction they want to take at least one year in advance of their Board XII exams. They should evaluate own interest, aptitude, strengths and weaknesses realistically and clearly outline their aim while pursuing a particular stream/course. Foggy, tentative aims will push them into the vortex of indecision and divide their concentration.

They must fill the entrance forms of those institutions where dates of entrance tests do not clash and sufficient time cushion is available if an unseemly situation like the leakage of question paper results in rescheduling of the tests.

It is absolutely desirable for the aspirants to get themselves medically examined beforehand. To ensure that one reaches the test venue in good time and easily, booking with railways or buses need to be made well in advance.

Students should concentrate on one stream/discipline/line to achieve the best results rather than groping everywhere and not achieving the desirable results. The focus must remain on NCERT books as on these almost all exams and question papers are based.

On its part, the government will do well to accelerate the proposal to conduct one single test across the country for each professional discipline instead of continuing with the confused melange of examination by the CBSE, state governments and other institutions which make the aspiring students fly like shuttle cocks from one place to another.