Five easy ways to prepare for your exams

Now that Delhi University’s semester examinations are on, many of you must be burning the midnight oil, swotting away... Here are five quickfire ways to ensure you do not get bogged down by the work overload and actually revise your lessons really well

1 What’s the right
time for you to start ticking? All of us have our ‘timings’, when we’re at our most active and alert modes. Find out the time in which you tick and schedule most of your study routine around these hours. You’ll be surprised to know how much you can absorb, assimilate and take in. Most of what you have learnt in this time can be revised later at leisure, when you are calm and relaxed

2 Take one subject or paper at a time. Do not focus on the exam as a whole and start preparing for everything at the same time. If it’s English paper-I, clear your desk of all other books and notes, put them away and focus on just that one paper. When that paper is over, focus on the next one

3 Where are those notes? Make short notes while going through a huge chapter. Read it once more, and then go through the short notes. Once that is done, make shorter notes from the short notes. Carry these with you for last-minute preparations

4 What’s on your mind? Most of us complain of short attention spans and distractions while studying. Ensure you keep a check on yourself. Set a 15-minute alarm. Has your attention wandered? Your cellphone can beep in 15 minutes to let you know if you’re focused on your studies or not

5 Deadlines work. Set deadlines. Four chapters have to be finished over the weekend, revised, and short notes taken. Try to beat that deadline and cram in another chapter

Premarital sex common among youth

A survey on youth in India has now come up with the startling revelation that a sizeable number of young men and women in Bihar are engaging in sex before marriage. The worry is that most persons indulging in pre-marital sex are uninformed of the risks.

Condom use is almost non-existent and engaging in such activity with multiple partners is also not uncommon, a population study centre said in its report.

The report issued by the International Institute for Population Sciences and Population Council warns that policies and programmes can no longer assume that pre-marital sex does not exist in our culture, rather they must ensure that sexual relations, should they occur, are informed, safe and wanted. Several steps are urgently needed to ensure that.

The findings, which accessed 8,136 respondents suggest that 20 percent of young men and 12 percent of young women were approached by or they themselves approached a person of the opposite sex to form a romantic liaison.

Moreover, 17 percentof young men and 5 percent of women acknowledged romantic partnership before marriage. This was despite norms prohibiting pre-marital mingling with the opposite sex. Interestingly, while parents mostly did not report knowledge of such liaisons, almost four out of five (78 percent) young men and women reported that their peers were aware of the relationships. However 23 percent young men and 37 percent women reported that their parents were aware of the relationships.

The data suggests that sexual indulgence included physical intimacy, including kissing, touching and engaging in sex.. However, consistently fewer respondents reported more intimate behaviours, including sex.