What are the tips to prepare well and score maximum marks in Botany Practical Exams?

Introduction

Learning of any Science subject always involve practicals with them. Practicals will help the students to understand the subject and also the basic concepts of the subject very well. Students like practicals very much and which will help them to develop application attitude of their learning. This attitude and the skills they develop through these practicals will help them in their job search in specified areas of these subjects. Students will have a lot of scope for scoring maximum marks from these practical exams provided they prepare very well in advance for the exam. In this resource I am providing some good tips and tricks to do very well in Botany Practical exams.

What care the students have to take for preparing Botany Practical Exams?

To score well in these practical exams the students have to concentrate well on certain areas of the practical exams. The following ideas and tips will help the students to prepare well for the practical exams either at Intermediate or Degree level.

1. Record or Project work

One of the important part of Botany Practical exam is submitting a Record or Project work at the time of examination. If the students take a little care in practical classes during the course of their study they can complete this work without any problem and can secure full marks allotted for this work in the exam. The Specimens, permanent slides, models, charts and experiments shown in practical classes will form the record work. During the practical classes students have to take a lot of care while these things they were shown and explained by the Lecturers and have to note their observations clearly in their observation note books. The assigned work in the practicals have to be recorded into the record book with the help of the observation note book serially. Students have to draw the diagrams of the specimens, slides shown under the microscopes, charts and models shown, arrangement of the experiments conducted in the the practical classes neatly into the record book taking care about the technical and scientific aspects of the diagrams. Students should not accumulate this work pending and must complete in the record at once these experiments are over. Students must always use a HB dark pencil for drawing the diagrams in the record. At first the diagrams should be drawn lightly and afterwards they have to be darkened to make the diagrams look very attractive. The headings of the diagram should be written at the top or bottom of the diagram with block letters. Parts of the diagrams also should be labeled with the help of a scale on one side of the diagram. On the left hand side sheet of the diagram observations made by the students during practical classes should be written neatly with the help of observation note book. Any work done in Botany record book should be done only with pencil and never pen should be used for this work. If students follow these simple tips in maintaining their record work up to date through out the course can easily fetch the allotted 15 out of 15 marks for this work.

2. Herbarium preparation

Another important work assigned for Botany practical exams to the students is Herbarium preparation. If students take little care in Herbarium preparation work can easily get 5 out of 5 marks allotted for this work. Herbarium is the dried collection of plant twigs which are then glued on to special white sheets meant for them. First the twig should be collected with all its different parts are in intact condition and then they were stored between old papers or between blotting papers or in old books by keeping some weight over them for several weeks. The moisture content of these twigs will be removed during this storage. The dried herbal twig is then pasted on to the special herbal sheet meant for them with the help of glue. Then the botanical name and classificatory taxons given at the corner of the herbarium sheet have to be filled correctly with the help of the Lecturer. The student has to prepare the assigned number of herbal sheets to get full marks allotted for this work.

3. Section cutting of the plant parts

Another area where the student has to develop his or her skills and perfection to get more marks is section cutting of the given plant part. Student get this skill only when they sincerely and honestly work in their practical class times. A sharp new blade should be used for taking thin sections of the plant parts. For taking a section of a leaf it should be inserted in the incision made in small piece of potato tuber provided in the exam hall. The sections taken out should always be kept in a watch glass containing water but not outside otherwise the sections will dry out before they are mounted on to the slide. Thin section should be selected from the taken out sections from the watch glass and then it should be mounted on to a clean glass slide. Too much stain should not be used for staining the section which will not give a good view of the section under the microscope. Care should be taken while covering the section with a cover slip and one must see that there may not be any air bubbles trapped under the cover slip otherwise it give a distorted view of the section under microscope. With the help of blotting paper any excess stain or glycerine remained around the cover slip should be removed with the help of a blotting paper. Along with the section displacement, other sub-questions given in this area include mention the reasons for your identification of the section or the striking features of the section. So student must well aware about all these facts to score full marks from this question.

4. Technical or botanical description of the twig or plant given

This is one more question in Botany practicals which provide a quite a good number of marks in practical exams. The students should follow a strict pattern of botanical description of plants as provided by the Lecturer during their practical class work in the laboratory. Students have to learn what terms they have to use in their botanical description of the plant as well as the meanings of the technical terms used in the description. The marks attained by a student for this question mainly depends on how well the student write the description of the given plant on the paper. So student have to take care about the spellings of the technical terms used for this description. Wrong spellings in the description will lead to loosing of some marks for this question. Along with this description work, some additional sub-questions may also be asked under this question like draw the cross section of the ovary taken from the flower, arrangement of stamens in the flower, structural formula of the flower, by what important features you can assign this plant to a particular family or order etc. So students also have to be well prepared about these aspects to score full marks from this question.

5. Physiology Experiment

One more question which fetch good marks in practical exams is a question in Physiology section of Botany subject. Generally to do these experiments on Photosynthesis, Transpiration, Respiration, Osmosis etc. will consume a lot of time. For this reason, the examiners will set the arrangement of apparatus for conducting these experiments. Students must know how the experiment will be conducted in a perfect way with all its details. Students have to identify the experiment from the arrangement shown and have to describe the experiment on the answer sheet with providing all the necessary details about it. Sometimes a few sub-questions also may also be asked in this question like what precautions you take while conducting this experiment, why a particular step is done in conducting that experiment, the chemical reaction involved in that process, what control set up you may make for that particular experiment etc. So students must well aware about all these facts to score full marks from this question.

6. Specimen and Slides identification

During the course of their study in practical classes many specimens and slides will be shown in the practical classes. Students must develop the skill of identification of these slides and specimens. Students have to note down the points after their keen observation of these things in their observation note books. The important points stressed by the Lecturer during their exhibition should be taken down by the students for their revision in preparing for this practical exam. For correct identification of the slides or specimens will help to fetch some good marks and for recognizing the identifying features of the shown slide or specimen will help to get some more marks. So students must take care about these aspects to score a very good number of marks from this question.

7. Economic importance of plant produce

Usually one question will be set on the economic importance of a plant product like cereals, pulses, fibers, fruits etc. Students have to provide information like the botanical name of the plant, type of fruit exhibited, family of the plant, the use of the product etc. So the students must be thorough with all these information for writing correctly to any of the questions asked on these aspects in the exam.

8. Viva Voce

Usually after the end of the practical exam, Viva Voce will be conducted for each student. Student will be asked about a few questions on the practical work they have done during the course time of their curriculum by the examiner. Student has to tell the answers very clearly for the questions put to them by the examiner without any fear or confusion. Student must answer to the point of the question to get full marks from this Viva Voce.

Some important points to be remembered during the time of practical exam

1. The instrument needed for the practical exam like pencil,eraser, sharp blade, forceps, drawing brush etc. must be taken to the practical exam by the student without fail. Don't borrow these things from others during exam time which cause loss of your valuable time as well as your concentration in writing the exam.

2. Cover the practical Record book as well as Observation notebook with brown sheet neatly. Write your name and the hall ticket number neatly on them well before you submit to the examiners. Submit the Herbarium sheets prepared by you keeping them in a file.

3. At the time of exam, follow the given instructions carefully while you are dealing with each question of the practical exam.

4. Allot proper time for answering each of the questions in practical exams otherwise you may not answer some of the questions before the time schedule of the exam.

5. Take one question at a time, complete it perfectly, then only go and attempt the next question.

6. Wherever diagrams were asked to draw on the answer sheet, draw them neatly taking the technical aspects of the diagram. Don't forget to label the parts as they carry specific marks for them.

7. While writing steps carried out for an experiment, write the steps in a sequential order otherwise it give a wrong impression about the procedure of the experiment. Don't forget to write the aim of the experiment, precaution to be taken while conducting the experiment and the end result got after the experiment.

8. Use proper technical terms used for the botanical description of the plant with correct spellings.

9. Never allow panic to enter into your mind at any point of the exam which may affect your concentration that may lead to some confusion while answering the questions.

10. Take proper care while mounting the section of plant material on the slide and see that there should be no air bubbles trapped under the cover slip.

Conclusion

Practical exams will definitely help a student to understand the basic concepts of the topic and this will enable him to score very good marks in theory exams. Marks got in the practical exams will enhance the percentage of marks got by the student in that particular subject. But students have to take a little more care in their preparation for these practical exams that will definitely fetch very good marks for them.