Starting this year CBSE is planning to conduct two level of exams for Mathematics i.e. Mathematics-Standard and Mathematics-Basic. Students have to select any one of them while they are filling up the form. For details of the comparison of these two please read Who should select Mathematics-Basic class-X exam

As per the CBSE notification syllabus will be same for both level of exams for Mathematics for class X students. So, if you think that if you select Mathematics-Basic exam, you have to cover less syllabus for preparation of the exam than you are wrong. The only difference between these two exams is the difficulty level of the exam. In Mathematics-Standard paper 46% weightage is given to “Applying” and “Analyzing the concepts” while in Mathematics-Basic exam it is only 25%. It means in Mathematics-Basic exam, most of the questions will be based on the concepts of the topics in syllabus. These questions will test how much you remember the concepts and how much you understood these concepts. See below the question paper design for both the exam formats.

 

Below is the course structure for both the exam. Course structure and course books are same for both the exams.

Chapter wise priority

  1. Out of the total seven topics Algebra, Geometry and Trigonometry are the three topics which covers 59% of paper. So these are the most important topics.
  2. Mensuration and Statistics & Probability are also covers 26% paper, so should be given medium priority.
  3. Number System and Coordinate Geometry covers only 15% paper, so these topics should be given lower priority.

If we look at the sample paper released by CBSE for both Mathematics-Standard and Mathematics-Basic exam, there is a huge difference in complexity. While Mathematics-Standard is complex, Mathematics-Basic is much simpler. As per our analysis of sample paper Mathematics-Standard questions are more practical based while for Mathematics-Basic question are direct and simple application. Based on our analysis, we have come up with the below pointer which will help you to prepare for Mathematics-Basic exam and score good marks.

  1. Focus should be on remembering all the formulas covered in the topic. Also look at the direct examples and questions based on these formulas. 40% paper will be based on these only.
  2. Especially all 1 marks and 2 marks questions will be based on direct application of concepts of topics.
  3. First focus on Algebra, Geometry and Trigonometry as this covers 59% of paper.
  4. Once you are sure that you are 70%-80% confident, move to Mensuration and Statistics & Probability. One you are done with these two topics, it will give you total coverage of 85% of Mathematics-Basic paper.
  5. Once you are sure that you have covered the 85% of paper then go to Number System and Coordinate Geometry. These two topics will have 15% coverage in Mathematics-Basic paper.
  6. As Mathematics needs daily practice and as much as you practice you will be able to remove the mistakes you are doing. Practice at least 1 hour daily on these topics.

If students follow these steps while preparing for the exams they will score good percentage in the board exam. Click here to see this year sample paper for Mathematics-Basic exam As Mathematics-Basic exam is introduced this year only, no previous year papers are available. We recommend you to go through the Mathematics-Standard exam papers of previous years and try to solve some basic math questions from these papers. Click here to see previous year papers for Mathematics-Standard exam.