Bhubaneswar, Dec. 7: For those who starts studying at the eleventh hour or have been scoring good marks throughout the academic year, it’s always better to have help at hand.

Apart from the last-minute tuition classes, students feel exam preparations are incomplete without model test papers, question banks, guides and reference books.

Ipsita, a Class X student, who was busy flipping through a physics sample question paper with her father at a bookstore on Janpath Road, said: “We have written several tests in class already. Now it is time for self-testing by going through the previous years’ question papers. I have bought sample papers for almost all the subjects.”

Board exams for Class X and XII students are held during February or March every year. Although, the demand for these model test papers and reference books peaks a month or two before exams, bookstore owners in the capital said that they have already sold 30 to 70 per cent of the stock available with them.

“These books arrived two months ago and more than half of our stock has been sold out. We have sold about 300 copies to high school certificate (HSC) candidates and nearly 200 copies to Plus Two candidates. We have ordered for more since parents and students come asking for test papers with barely a week to go for exams,” said Manoj Mishra of GR bookstore at the Unit-I market.

Most students buy the model test papers as prescribed by their teachers or suggested by friends and seniors, said Tanmaya Prusty of Pragnya bookstore on Janpath road. “Sometimes they also ask us to suggest them sample papers of the best selling publication,” he said.

Rabindra Nath Sahoo of A.N. Books for All, near the Unit-II market said some parents came shopping for the guides and sample papers even late into night. “The most popular publication for Odia medium high school students is MBD, OSSTA and Saurav’s while the Plus Two candidates mostly prefer Modern ABC and TBW papers. Besides suggestions of teachers, peer influence is a bigger factor why the students ask for books of these publications,” said Sahoo.

For the high school certificate exams (Odia medium schools), papers covering all subjects such as Odia, English, Sanskrit, Hindi, science, maths and social sciences (geography and economics, and history and civics) are available in a single volume priced between Rs 326 and Rs 354.

On the other hand, the ICSE and CBSE students have to buy separate test papers for different subjects. The price of individual subject papers ranges from Rs 150 to Rs 300. Most bookstore owners are offering a discount of 10 to 15 per cent.