How Vir went from 50% to 85% in Biology

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Priya, an ICSE mother, approached us through a common friend a couple of years ago. Her child Vir was studying in St. Marys school, Pune and was struggling in Biology with the 10th standard board exam coming up in about 10 months. Priya was anxious.

Vir was a good student. He had an above average level of understanding, was very sincere, and worked hard. He was doing very well in all his subjects, getting more than 80% marks. Except biology. He just didn't remember things in biology, and was barely scoring 50-55%. Priya, a commerce graduate, couldn't understand why this was happening.

For several reasons, 10th standard is an interesting period in a child's education in India. To begin with, it is their first board exam, and board exams tend to make students anxious. Second, a student does not have a lot of choice of subjects at this stage. All students have to do social sciences and mathematics. If they opt for science, they cannot drop biology and just do physics and chemistry. Career streams and choice of subjects become more clear in class 11. As a result many students develop a dislike for one or more subjects through 9th and 10th standards. Vir did not like biology.

When a student does not like a subject, he or she avoids it and spends less time studying it. As a result, performance drops and they hate it even more. This leads to a vicious circle that is very difficult to break out of. My daughter had got into such a trap with chemistry, and use of flashcards had helped her get out of it. So we asked Priya and Vir to experiment with flashcards. Vir signed up for our FlashCardz platform which offers comprehensive digital flashcards for class 10 students.

Priya's strong sense of curiosity led her to explore FlashCardz with Vir. They would sit together and systematically go through the cards to prepare for Vir's class tests. Almost immediately Vir's marks started going up. As his marks went up, so did his confidence and remarkably, his liking for the subject. By the time the prelims came around, Vir was scoring close to 85% in biology!

When Priya called us to report how well the system was working for her son, she could not hide her excitement. Studying biology on FlashCardz had become a routine that both mother and son looked forward to. Priya herself became quite knowledgeable in biology! As for Vir, he was considering studying biology in 11th standard. He had gone from hating the subject, to seriously considering higher studies in it. It was a proud moment for us. Here's a video of Priya and Vir talking about their experience.

Flashcards work because they are based on sound principles of learning. They help a student get through the material faster, and retain it longer. We have taken those principles and added other methods like cross-words, and quizzes to the system. We are soon adding other engaging self-testing methods in the form of puzzles to make FlashCardz the perfect self-study companion for a child.
Learner, educator, technologist and blogger. My current passion is FlashCardz, a company I founded to help kids study smart and maximise performance.

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