Entrance tests frequently play a decisive role in university admissions outcomes. However, the scores you receive in your 12th grade remain with you for the rest of your life, thus your board examinations are just as significant.
Since the two are almost equally important, students frequently ask themselves, “How can I successfully manage both boards and entrance exam preparation together?”
Frequently, students switch between these two and occasionally lose attention on both. Not to argue that students from other streams have it easy, but this conundrum has a particularly negative impact on exam preparation for engineering and medical schools. There are some universal techniques that can help all test preparation efforts, even though the art of balance does differ depending on your stream and final objective.
Here are some tips to help you organize your board and entrance test preparation and improve the effectiveness of your studies.
Tips to Manage Entrance Exams and Boards Effectively

1. Find the Common Element
You might take advantage of the fact that certain entrance tests have characteristics with your academic courses. Start by listing all of the similarities, or shared subjects or places. You may then set aside at least a few hours each day to study the board curriculum from the start. When recurring themes or subjects come up, spend a few extra hours reading them carefully and completing practice problems for your entrance test. This will support your approach to studying for the test. You will save time and get a deeper understanding of significant common themes by doing this.
2. Customise Your Preparation
It is much simpler to develop methods and identify commonalities with the board syllabi for scientific admission examinations like JEE and NEET, but what about the other tests?
The majority of other admission tests assess you on broader topics like general awareness, arithmetic, and mathematical ability, English language proficiency, logical thinking, etc. rather than your curriculum. Certain tests additionally assess course-specific components, such as media aptitude for media and communication examinations, legal aptitude for CLAT, design aptitude for NIFT, NID, and other design exams, and so forth.
Proficiency in these areas must be acquired over time by continuous and demanding test preparation modules. In addition to board preparation, it is advised that students who are solely focused on these tests study for one to two hours each day.
3. Do a Mock Analysis
Attempting mocks is one technique to maximize the amount of time spent on exam preparation, regardless of the academic subject. Mocks only help you, though, if you carefully examine how you performed. The analysis is essential, and practicing mocks is pointless unless you identify your areas of strength and weakness.
Your study will help you pinpoint areas where you spend the most time, regions in which you excel, and places where comprehending the issue is more crucial than formulating a response. You may make much better use of your time and improve your subjects by keeping an eye out for these trends.
4. Prioritize, not Balance
Don’t assume that you must always strike a balance between entrances and boards, even while you are aware of their importance. Learn to give one priority over the other and create a timetable that allocates time for each.
Your board test should take precedence over other entrance exams if you are aware that admittance to your desired colleges is determined by merit. However, if you want to enroll in an institution that requires admission tests, then put in additional effort and pay close attention to making sure you do well on the board exams as well.
5. Utilize the Time After (and Between) Boards
Everyone knows about this, but they don’t always put it into practice. Students typically lose concentration on sticking to the same entrance exam approach after board examinations and become careless. Long pauses after your boards might reduce your productivity, and it will probably take you longer to regain focus and flow.
While it’s acceptable to take a few days off to unwind, don’t neglect your studies in the interim. Since they will be the most important days or weeks for your entrance preparation, try to push yourself and make the most of the period after your boards.
Conclusion
To maximize their success on these examinations, one must prepare for entrance exams and board exams with diligence and intelligence. Be well informed about the format of the tests you plan to take, including the eligibility requirements, pattern, mark distribution, and a complete comprehension of the subjects covered.
Try to present yourself in the best possible light and keep going to be the greatest version of yourself—you can do it! if you want to know more about how to balance board and entrance exams effectively then feel free to avail of EnrichMyCareer’s FREE career counseling session.
Visit EnrichMyCareer for more information.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. How do I prepare for multiple exams at the same time?
Make sure you fully cover the distinct sections of each exam-related subject by allocating appropriate time slots for them. Employ Study Blocks: Study in blocks rather than cramming all of your topics at once. Give a subject one to two hours of your time, then take a little break. Then go on to something else.
2. How do you manage the board and entrance exams?
First, make a list of all the similarities, such as shared subjects or places. After that, you may spend at least a few hours a day studying the board curriculum from fresh. When recurring themes or subjects come up, spend a few extra hours reading them carefully and completing practice problems for your entrance test.
3. Is cuet difficult than board?
It might be difficult to prepare for both the CUET and the board examinations because they evaluate distinct skill sets and follow different procedures. CUET places more emphasis on problem-solving and application-based multiple-choice questions than board examinations, which stress thorough topic knowledge with written responses.

Nishant is an Internationally Certified Career Coach, a Career Counsellor, an Education Consultant, a Soft Skills Trainer, and an ardent advocate of youth empowerment through personalized guidance, mentoring, and developmental interventions. He is also an International Economic Development and Business Consultant. Over the years, he has helped many students of different age groups and working professionals in discovering their true selves, setting appropriate career goals, and walking the right career paths.
Nishant is a mechanical engineering alumnus from R.V. College of Engineering, Bangalore. He has been widely featured in top media and also delivered talks at Cambridge University-UK and IIT-Guwahati among others. He has also delivered workshops at many reputed schools and colleges on various careers and skills-related topics.