At six o’clock every evening S Ravi, a class 10 student at Mahim’s St Michael’s Night School, walks into his classroom to revise lessons in personality development with his 35 classmates.

“I am almost done with my revisions. But I’m really worried about history because the portion is huge,” he said. Until January the 17-year-old worked as a compounder at a clinic in Dharavi, but he quit to pursue his dream of becoming a software engineer.

A bunch of friends who have spent the last year hanging out in the canteen now frequently meets with their textbooks. They might meet at a friend’s place, a garden, a college campus or even at Juhu beach for a group study session. With only a few days left for the board exams to begin, students have finished their revision and want to spend time discussing doubts and solving sample papers with their peers.

Oscar winner Susan Sarandon once said, "When you have only a penny in your pocket and no roof over your head, go shine your shoes."

Similarly, when you have two weeks to your exams and are completely confused, go and have some fun. Experts give you ways to chill just when the formulae are getting hazy and the triangles are looking obtuse.

By Nazim Khan

A happy-go-lucky person who likes to have many friends. But for coming months, I will try to concentrate onmy HSC, so hopefully Bye Bye Orkut!; That's a messages that a city teenager has left on what has now become a lifeline for many a youngster. With exams a few days away, social networking sites too suffer from exam fever.

By Venetia D' Souza

Over the last four months, Reena Shah (name changed) has been behaving aggressively. Screaming, throwing things around and beating up her younger sibling — unusual behaviour for the otherwise quiet, well-mannered class 10 student.

By Kiran Wadhwa & Snehal Rebello

Takshata Hiranandani has been sleeping for six hours every night for the past one month. For the last one year, all she has done is shuttle between tuitions. But she is not complaining. “It is only one year of hard work and if you do well in Class 10, you are set for life. Also, first year of college will make up for all the lost fun,” she said.