There is a famous saying- The past is where you learn the lesson and the future is where you apply the lesson. Taking this famous quote forward let us discuss why solving previous years papers is necessary for NDA exam preparation or for any other exam for that matter.
Solving previous years papers will not only test the skill of a person but they will also prepare the candidate for the challenges that they are going to face in future exams. This will also give them a taste of the ‘Final dish’ that they are going to get served in the main exam. So without further ado let us delve deeper and understand the benefits of solving previous years papers.
1. Familiarize with the exam
Solving previous years papers is an important step to get yourself fully acquainted with the exam pattern, important topics that should never be missed and getting an overview of the NDA exam. This is also a very crucial step as it helps you understand your enemy better. Before going for the NDA exam, it is therefore always advised to solve previous years papers and make separate notes wherein important topics that are asked again and again are noted down. Sometimes same questions are asked over and over again after making small changes. Students should therefore never forget to take extra care while preparing for these important topics and questions.
2. A reliable source
You must have heard-” Practice makes a man perfect”. Practice should be done in a proper way and the most reliable source to practice is by solving previous years NDA exam papers. This will give you an idea about the speed required to attempt all questions. While solving papers, students should make a note of the topics which take them longer time to solve. This way they can identify their weak regions and put more effort towards those topics.
Solving papers will also help you in revising the important topics. It is advised that once you are done preparing a certain topic, you can try solving previous years questions asked on that topic.
3. Understanding the latest trend
Previous years NDA papers are most authentic source to understand the latest pattern of questions asked in exam. If a candidates sincerely attempts these papers, he gets an idea of the pattern and trend of the NDA examination. After going through these papers, the candidates will realize the level of difficulty as it varies from year to year. He will also get the overall idea about the difficulty level and can identify how papers are set in various years and can thus evaluate his own performance and can later work on his shortcomings. Many times some of the questions are moulded and rephrased and are repeatedly asked every year. The students can predict the trending topics and can give more attention to all such areas.
4. Self Evaluation.
Self-evaluation is a very crucial part of your preparation. By solving previous years NDA papers, you should be able to gauge your understanding of the concepts that you have been studying for the examination. Self-evaluation is art of examining yourself to find out how much progress you have made. It lets candidates monitor their own abilities and evaluate their strengths and weaknesses. It puts you largely in charge of your own development.
Never forget to ask yourself if what you are doing today is getting closer to where you want to be tomorrow. One way of doing this self evaluation is by solving previous years papers. That will inoculate in you a lot of confidence and boost your morale.
5. Boost Speed and accuracy
Out of many merits of solving previous years papers, we consider this as the best one. Once you are done with your preparations, it is always advised to attempt mock tests and check your progress. Mock tests are very helpful in boosting your speed but one thing that mock tests lack is accuracy as mock tests can only give you a hint of exam scenario. Practicing previous years’ papers will not only enhance your speed of solving each question but will also give you accurate results as these are actual exam papers by solving which you can check your topic-wise actual preparedness. It will also help you in arriving at the accurate solutions which is very crucial.
6. Revision tool.
Last but not the least, this exercise is the best revision tool as this will help you retrospect your preparation. Students are advised to solve topic wise previous year papers to check topics wise preparedness. Once you are done with complete syllabus, do attempt mock tests and note down important topics that you need to put extra efforts on. Also, include solving one paper every day in your study schedule and solve at least 10 years’ papers as the syllabus of these papers are most authentic and relevant to your current syllabus.
This brings us to the end of this article. Do remember that to succeed in NDA exam both are needed – a sound strategy and its through implementation. Whatever your strategy is, do not forget to include solving years papers which will aid you in understanding the overall structure of the exam.
To win the battle, you ought to have the correct idea of the battlefield.
