The ninth grade is an important stage of middle school education. Since the examinations in class 9 are held internally by the school, they are not given as much importance as the board examinations held in class 10. However, every subject taught as part of the syllabus in grade 9 prepares students for the upcoming 10th, 11th, and 12th grades. The fundamental concepts and topics are taught throughout class 9 to build a solid foundation in all subjects. This is essential for understanding the complex methods and problems that arise in the educational stages ahead.
When preparing for class 9 exams, students often underestimate the significance of gaining a proper understanding through regular and planned practice. Spending a few nights or weeks before the exam, trying to mug up everything in the syllabus will not help you learn anything in any subject and will give you marginally satisfactory results. Students must understand the importance of making a timetable so that they can master all concepts and topics before based on the exam. This will also enable them to complete the syllabus in enough time for practice.
English is one of the main subjects throughout the school. Although, it can be a difficult subject to score well in for many students who do not have a strong base of the language. This difficulty may be experienced due to poor understanding of chapters and topics, frequent grammar or spelling errors, insufficient vocabulary, or improper preparation for the exam. However, getting a good score in the language is important since it will affect your final results in every internal as well as the board exams. In order to do so, fixing or improving your language skills is needed.
Here are some important things to keep in mind while preparing for your class 9 English exam:
Changes in the syllabus
The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) often makes changes in the syllabus and question paper format accordingly. It is important to know these changes so that students can prepare well for the exams. The English syllabus and question papers are divided into 3 sections with total marks adding to 80.
The following is section-wise weightage:
- Reading skills: 20 marks
- Writing skills with grammar: 20 marks
- Literature Textbooks and Supplementary Reading Skills: 40 marks
Grammar Practice
This is the section that requires regular practice through solving exercises and sample question papers. Mistakes are made more frequently in the grammar questions due to improper understanding of rules in various topics. The topics that are a part of the CBSE curriculum for class 9 English include:
- Tenses
- Modals
- Subject-verb concord
- Reported speech
- Commands and requests
- Statements
- Questions
- Determiner
- Use of Passive Voice
- Clauses: Noun, Adverb clauses of condition and time, Relative Clauses
- Prepositions
Writing Skills
The most important thing to focus on in this section is the format of various writing topics. Marks are majorly deducted when any details in the format are incorrect or missing or in the wrong order. Students need to practice writing the proper format. Practicing writing skills will also help expand their creativity and imagination. This will further enable them to write fluently on any given topic in the exam. The topics included in the class 9 syllabus are:
- Informal Letter on any given situation
- Descriptive Paragraph based on visual or verbal hints
- Story Writing based on a given outline or hints
Literature Questions
This section includes all the topics from BEEHIVE, the main literature book, and MOMENTS, the supplementary reader for class 9 students. It is important to go through every chapter given in the syllabus. Questions are framed mainly based on the NCERT books. Students can lose marks in this section if they are not thorough with the chapters since questions can be asked about little details that students often miss. The prescribed format for this section includes:
- very short-answer questions worth 2 marks each
- short-answer questions worth 3 marks each
- long-answer question from the main textbook worth 5 marks
- long-answer question from the supplementary reader worth 5 marks.
Internal Assessment
Along with the written exams worth 80 marks, students are marked based on an assessment of their listening and speaking skills. Teachers may plan different activities prescribed under the CBSE curriculum or on their own. Students are assessed on their interactive abilities, fluency in the language, pronunciations, vocabulary, word accuracy.
The practice of improving these skills before the final assessment will be provided to students throughout the academic session. Students are suggested to practice their speech and listening accuracy on their own as well.
Focus on NCERT
It is very crucial to keep the focus on NCERT books while preparing for your English exam. As mentioned before, the majority of questions in the literature sections are directly framed from the prescribed books. Often little details from the chapters are used to frame the question and students can lose marks if they do not give the chapters in the book a thorough read and read summaries from reference books instead.
Be regular and attentive in school
Students are strongly advised to be regular and attentive during their English classes. Teachers’ detailed descriptions of the chapters can be very helpful while writing 9th class english textbook answers for long and descriptive questions. Many important and recurring questions in exams are also discussed by the teachers and can help students score better.
Solve sample papers and previous years’ question papers
This will help you understand the exam pattern and prepare accordingly. Solving question papers from previous years will help you identify questions that appear frequently in the exam. Through sample papers, you can also practice time management as well as proper presentation of your answers. Make sure to focus on topics that may seem more difficult while solving.
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Informative & good guidelines for students ..thanks