CBSE Class 12 Board Exam 2025: ‘Avoid leaving English prep for the last minute’

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) class XII exams for 2025 will take place from February 15 to April 4, 2025, in a pen-and-paper format. The exams will commence with Entrepreneurship and conclude with Psychology. The CBSE has also announced the syllabus for 2025, detailing essential chapters and topics. Familiarity with the exam pattern is vital, as it covers the marking scheme, question types, and duration.

To excel, students should practice with CBSE Class 12 sample papers, previous years’ question papers, and practice sets. This approach helps students understand the exam’s difficulty level and improves preparation for better performance, shares Ms Surabhi Gupta, HoD, English, Apeejay School, Noida.

“It has been observed that certain common mistakes that students make during exams can negatively impact their performance. Students tend to write excessively for short-answer questions, which leaves them with insufficient time to complete the paper. There’s often a lack of proportionality in the length of their answers, which makes the paper appear unstructured,” the educator who teaches classes XI and XII stated and added that many students fail to follow the correct formats, leading to a loss of marks. 

“Sometimes students struggle to express their thoughts clearly, which weakens the overall impact of their answers. Skimming through the chapters instead of reading thoroughly leaves students unprepared for questions from lesser-known parts of the text,” Ms Gupta said.

Strategies for the exam day

·         The first 15 minutes of the exam should not be viewed as idle reading time.

·         These questions often have close options, making them tricky. Students should carefully read each question, take time to analyse, and then choose the correct option. 

·         A common mistake is presuming the rest of the question after reading only part of it.

·         Manage competency-based questions thoughtfully. A structured approach to solving them is essential. 

·         The English paper is three hours and fifteen minutes long, with the first section focused on reading. Students must pace themselves to complete all sections within the given time.