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Dive into the comprehension section of your English paper first, suggest English teachers as students count down to the CBSE examinations slated to begin in the first week of March.

“In the remaining days, students should focus on practising writing answers within the word limit. This will help them prepare to write a definitive answer,” said Anika Handa, head of English department at Amity International School, Pushp Vihar.

English paper for class 12 comprises three sections – comprehension, writing skills and literature.

“Comprehension can be attempted first, as students spend their time reading it in the first 15 minutes and it has fresh imprint on a student’s mind. However, if a child feels that her core strength lies in attempting literature, she should attempt literature first well,” Anika said. “Students should mark the questions they know they can attempt well, and prepare in the reading time.”

“Students should complete a section in one go. By doing this, the student sets an immaculate tone of her paper, guiding her examiner when they check it. If students attempt different questions from different sections, the examiner may overlook a question they have attempted,” Romila Kumar, english teacher at Vasant Valley School said.

As for literature, the CBSE always asks two questions central to a character and a theme.

“This leaves students with option of identifying characters and themes in chapters in the next two weeks. In case, students have not identified the hack, they still have time to find characters and themes of literature in the curriculum and prepare accordingly,” she said.