WBBSE Madhyamik First Language Santali common mistakes
WBBSE Madhyamik First Language Santali · Understand the traps and how to avoid them.
In prose answers, the candidate retells the story in general terms ('the story is about a poor boy') instead of quoting or closely pointing to the specific lines and events the question names, so the answer never engages the actual passage.
Prose is read once for plot and then abandoned; students memorise summary notes rather than re-reading the prescribed text, and exam pressure pushes them to write whatever they remember rather than what is asked.
What to do instead
Practise answering from the text: for every prose lesson, prepare 8–10 short extract-based questions and answer each with one direct textual reference plus explanation. Train the habit of underlining the key words in the question (name, event, reason) before writing, and open the answer by restating that key word.
In poetry answers, the candidate identifies the theme correctly but cannot name or illustrate poetic devices, or labels any repeated sound as 'alliteration' and any comparison as 'metaphor' without checking.
Figures of speech are learnt as definitions in isolation, never practised on the prescribed poems, so the candidate has no worked examples to match against the lines in the paper.
What to do instead
Build a device table for each prescribed poem: line, device, exact words creating it, and effect. Practise the discrimination drills - simile uses like/as, metaphor does not; alliteration repeats initial consonants, assonance repeats vowels - and justify each label with the quoted words.
The candidate confuses authors, works and contexts - attributing a lesson to the wrong writer, or mixing up which poet wrote which poem, or inventing biographical detail about the author that the textbook never states.
Author information is memorised as a loose list at the end of the book, without being tied to the individual text, and last-minute cramming blends the names together.
What to do instead
Make a one-page grid: work title, author, form (story/essay/poem), central figure, one-line context as given in the textbook. Test yourself by covering the author column and reciting from the title. Never add outside biography - answer only from what the prescribed book supplies.
In sandhi and samas questions, the candidate splits or joins words by sound alone, producing forms that look plausible but violate the rule - e.g. joining vowels without applying the correct sandhi type, or calling any compound a tatpurusha.
Sandhi and samas are treated as memorisation of example lists rather than as rule systems; the candidate never learns to identify which vowel meets which, or which member is the head of the compound.
What to do instead
Learn the sandhi table by vowel pairs and drill splitting 20 words a day, saying the rule aloud each time. For samas, always ask 'which word is principal?' - if the last member is principal it is usually tatpurusha, if the first it is usually karmadharaya or dvigu, and so on. Verify every answer by re-joining the split.
In karak and case questions, the candidate marks the agent as karma or labels every postposition as the same case, because the sentence is read for meaning only and the case relations are never analysed.
Karak is taught as a list of definitions with one example each, and the candidate has no procedure for locating the verb first and then asking the case questions in order.
What to do instead
Adopt a fixed procedure: find the verb, then ask 'who does?' (karta), 'what is given/affected?' (karma), 'by what instrument?' (karana), 'for whom?' (sampradan), 'from what?' (apadan), 'where?' (adhikarana). Apply it to ten sentences daily and write the case name beside each marked word.
In verb-form and sentence-transformation items, the candidate changes tense or voice but leaves the agreement, person or postposition untouched, so the transformed sentence is grammatically broken even though the direction of change is right.
Transformation is done as a word-swap exercise rather than as a full re-construction; the candidate does not re-read the finished sentence for agreement and case marking.
What to do instead
After every transformation, run a three-point check: subject–verb agreement, correct case postposition, and retention of the original meaning. Practise by transforming the same sentence into all required forms (affirmative/negative, direct/indirect, active/passive) and comparing them side by side.
In vocabulary and idiom questions, the candidate gives the literal meaning of an idiom or picks a synonym by rough similarity, ignoring the fixed idiomatic sense and the register of the word in the sentence.
Idioms are memorised without a sentence context, and synonyms are learnt as single-word glosses rather than as words with their own collocations and usage restrictions.
What to do instead
Keep an idiom notebook with each idiom written inside a full Santali sentence and its meaning in one line. For synonyms, record the word with two collocations and one contrasting near-synonym, and practise choosing between them in a sentence gap-fill rather than in isolation.
In essay and paragraph writing, the candidate produces a shapeless block of general statements with no clear introduction, no developed points and no conclusion, and pads it with repeated sentences to reach length.
Writing is never planned; under time pressure the candidate starts writing the first sentence that comes and runs out of substance, then repeats to fill space.
What to do instead
Spend three minutes before writing on a skeleton: a one-sentence position, three to four point headings, and a closing line. Write one paragraph per point with a concrete example, and practise under a timed 20-minute drill weekly so the planning habit becomes automatic.
In applied writing (letter, report, notice, dialogue), the candidate uses the wrong format - a report without a heading and date line, a notice written as a personal letter, a formal letter with informal salutation - and mixes registers within one piece.
Formats are studied as content topics rather than as fixed layouts, so the candidate remembers what to say but not the structural frame each form requires.
What to do instead
Memorise one model layout per form (sender/date/subject/salutation/body/closing for letters; heading/date/place/byline/body for reports; notice with issuing authority, date and heading; dialogue with speaker labels). Write each form from memory once a week and check the frame before checking the language.
The candidate misallocates time: spends most of the paper on the long prose and poetry answers, then rushes grammar and composition, leaving transformation items half-done and the essay truncated.
No timed practice under exam conditions; the candidate works section by section without knowing how long each section actually takes, and long answers expand to fill available time.
What to do instead
Do at least three full timed mock papers and record the minutes spent per section. Set a target budget (e.g. literature answers, grammar, composition) and practise enforcing it with a watch, leaving ten minutes at the end for checking grammar items and format details.