WBCHSE HS First Language Santali common mistakes
WBCHSE HS First Language Santali · Understand the traps and how to avoid them.
When answering prose comprehension questions, the candidate retells the whole story of the prescribed Gadyo text instead of answering the specific question asked (e.g., asking about a character's motive but getting a plot summary).
Candidates memorise guidebook summaries and reproduce them because they fear missing marks, without practising the skill of isolating the exact question type (theme, character, cause-effect, inference) and matching answer length to marks allotted.
What to do instead
Practise a question-type drill: take each prose lesson and write one-sentence answers to 20 questions tagged by type (reason, character trait, significance of event). Train the habit of underlining the interrogative word (kana, cet', jarur) and the key noun in the question before writing, then answer only that. Compare against the mark allocation: 1 mark = one point, 3 marks = three distinct points.
In poetry answers, the candidate identifies a figure of speech by name but cannot justify it from the text, or labels any repetition as anupras (alliteration) and any comparison as upama without checking the structure.
Poetic devices are taught as a list to memorise rather than as patterns to detect in Santali lines; candidates have not practised scanning a line for repeated initial sounds versus repeated words versus simile markers.
What to do instead
Build a device-detection routine: for each prescribed Kobita, copy 5 lines and annotate them for (a) repeated initial consonants, (b) simile markers, (c) personification verbs, (d) refrain lines. For every device named in an answer, always write the quoted line plus a one-clause reason ('because the same initial sound recurs in four consecutive words').
For drama questions, the candidate narrates the plot from beginning to end and never analyses conflict or dialogue, so questions on 'why did the character say this' or 'what is the central conflict' get generic answers.
Natok is studied as a story to be summarised rather than as a text built on spoken exchange; candidates do not track who says what to whom and what changes between the opening and closing scenes.
What to do instead
Make a one-page conflict map for each prescribed play: protagonist's want, opposing force, turning point scene, resolution. Then for three key dialogue exchanges, write what the speaker wants, what the listener does, and what the exchange reveals about character. Practise answering character questions with evidence from a specific line, not from plot summary.
On the Rapid Reader, the candidate answers from vague memory and confuses minor characters' names, relationships, and which incident happened to whom.
The supplementary text is read once quickly and not revisited; there is no structured record of characters, so details blur under exam pressure.
What to do instead
Maintain a running character-and-incident register while reading: name, role, one defining action, one relationship, one chapter reference. Revise only this register in the last week and self-test by covering the incident column. For character sketches, prepare a fixed four-part template (introduction, two traits with evidence, significance to theme).
In Byakoron, the candidate applies sandhi and samas rules mechanically to words without first deciding which category the word actually belongs to, producing plausible-looking but wrong splits.
Rules are memorised in isolation and never practised as a decision procedure; candidates jump to the most familiar rule instead of testing the word against category criteria.
What to do instead
Drill a two-step decision routine: first classify (vowel junction vs consonant junction for sandhi; which member is dominant for samas), then apply. Keep a personal error log of 30 mis-split words with the correct split and the rule that decided it, and re-test that log weekly rather than re-reading the whole grammar chapter.
In karok (case) and sabda-bhed exercises, the candidate identifies the case ending by position in the sentence rather than by the function of the noun phrase, so subject and object markers get swapped in passive or inverted sentences.
Practice is done only on canonical subject-verb-object sentences; when the exam reorders the sentence or uses an abstract noun, positional guessing fails.
What to do instead
Rewrite ten sentences per session into reordered and passive forms and re-label the karok each time, asking 'what role does this noun play in the action?' rather than 'where is it?'. Also practise transformation exercises (direct to indirect, active to passive) and check the case marking after each transformation.
In composition, the candidate writes a long essay that drifts off the given topic, or a formal letter missing the standard components (sender's address, date, salutation, subject, closing) and using colloquial register throughout.
Essays are written without a plan and letters are memorised as one sample rather than as a format with slots; candidates also do not distinguish informal from formal register in Santali.
What to do instead
Spend the first three minutes on a skeleton: topic sentence, three supporting points, conclusion - and reject any paragraph that does not serve the topic. For letters, memorise the slot sequence as a checklist and write two letters a week (one formal, one informal) timed at 12 minutes, then self-mark against the checklist before looking at any model.
In notice, report, and paragraph writing, the candidate produces an essay-style block: a notice without a heading, date, and issuing authority, or a report without a title, byline, and past-tense factual sequence.
These short formats are treated as small essays because their distinct conventions are never separated in practice; candidates have not internalised that each format has mandatory structural elements.
What to do instead
Learn each format as a five-element template (notice: name of institution, heading, date, body of two sentences, signature and designation; report: headline, byline, lead paragraph answering what/when/where/who, body, conclusion). Write five of each under time and mark only the presence of the elements first, language second.
On unseen comprehension and vocabulary, the candidate answers synonym and antonym questions from general guesswork and interprets idioms literally, and copies whole sentences from the passage as answers to short questions.
Vocabulary is revised as isolated word lists without context, and idiom meaning is not distinguished from the literal sense of the component words; copying feels safe because it guarantees no grammar error.
What to do instead
Practise with unseen passages under time: answer in your own words first, then check against the passage. Build a context notebook where every new word is recorded with the sentence it appeared in plus one synonym and one antonym, and keep a separate idiom list where each idiom is paired with a Santali sentence showing its figurative use.
For project work and internal assessment, the candidate submits a report that is only a topic summary - no stated aim, method, observation record, or reflection - and cannot explain the project in the viva.
The project is treated as a copying task completed at the end of the year, so the candidate never owns the process and has nothing to say when questioned.
What to do instead
Structure the report from the start with fixed sections: title, aim, method, data or observation, analysis, conclusion, and a short reflection on difficulties. Keep dated field notes or data sheets as evidence. Prepare a two-minute viva script covering why the topic was chosen, what was done, what was found, and one limitation, and rehearse it aloud.