While you may have been thinking on what to do stream you want to choose, you may still be confused as to, “What you would be doing after 10tth grade?”Here’s a fresh perspective that can help you firm up your decision.Whenever you reach an important milestone in your life, this question will pop-up from time to time. Your choice of stream post your 10th grade will greatly determine how your career will pan out. Usually, students are uninformed of the fact that 10th is the initial and crucial stage of building a career. They take the decision with puzzled and ambiguous mind and end up selecting a wrong stream. They only realize later in life that they have made a mistake in choosing the right career and are stuck with the only options available for them or they have to redo everything from the very start. So this decision becomes one of the most important decision of your life.

With a plethora of career options available, there are more chances of making the wrong choice. If we go back a decade or two, to a time when your parents were in your place, all they had to choose was between biology and maths. However, this is not the case anymore.

• Self-awareness:-
• The first stage of stream choice is self-awareness. This involves identifying your interest and understanding your aptitudes and skills. You need to analyse themas it is very essential while taking a decision. An example is given below to understand the scenario.
  1. Do I really like maths? (This question is to identify your interest)
  2. Am I good at maths? (This is to judge your skills)
  3. Can I be good at maths if I get all coaching and guidance? (This is to understand the aptitude, i.e. ability to reach the required skill)

  Before choosing the stream, a detailed analysis of your strengths and weaknesses should be done. The combination of interest, skill and aptitude will help you making your career successful.

• Discussion with your parents or teachers:-
• Sometimes students take wrong decisions due to lack of knowledge. So, seeking guidance from reliable people is another way to go. Your parents and teachers are among those experienced people who can judge your inner strengths. So, guidance from them always matters.However, their decision should be solely imposed on you while choosing a stream. So, have a healthy discussion with your parents or teachers and talk to them about what you like doing and what options are available for you.
• Visit a career counsellor:-
• With the advancement in the field of education, there are many new courses coming up. Ranging from medicine to mass communications, engineering to event management, marine biology to information technology, culinary arts to music, you have multiple options to choose from. However, with so many options available you might end up being confused on what to choose.Choosing a field of study that is not really suited to your interests or skills could prove disastrous. And that’s where career counselling comes in. A qualified educational counsellor will be able to understand you and help you find a stream that suits you the best.If you have access to good counselling facilities, make use of them. Both you and your parents must get involved in this process.
• Know the streams:-
• To understand which is the right stream is for you, you should find out every minute detail about the stream which includes subjects, difficulty level, higher education courses and career prospects. Without having known all these aspects, will not be able to find out which stream will suit you the best.Some streams give access to diverse job opportunities. But the key is to find out what the future in that field will be like. Also, list down details of the professional courses that you may have to pursue after completing schooling in case of each stream. This will help you get an idea about career prospects associated with a particular stream.However, you should not only look at the future and make decisions according to the career you want, but you should also consider your past and make the decision based on your strengths and weaknesses.
• Select the right board:-
• After 10th, you have the option of sticking to the same education board or going for a different board. This decision should be taken after understanding the difficulty level of every board. For example, if you have studied in the state board till your 10th, you should be ready to face the difficulty if you want to shift to boards like CBSE or ICSE.
• Decision making and taking action:-
• This is the final stage of choosing a stream. Choosing the right stream will make a significant improvement in your career path. Hence, get inputs from people and various sources, but take your own decision. There is no good and bad stream. A lot of opportunities are there in every field. You just need to put all of your efforts to make a successful career.

If you are still confused, you can discover how to simplify this maze by putting the right doors at the right place. Like every other choice, all you need to do is look at the wider picture and take the decision keeping in mind your future aim and your past performance.