Try These Of Class 8 Chapter 3

What Are "Try These" in Class 8 Chapter 3?

If you've opened an NCERT Class 8 Maths textbook and flipped to chapter 3, you've probably noticed those small, unassuming exercises scattered between the theory sections. They're labeled "Try These," and they show up right after a new concept is introduced. In chapter 3 — Understanding Quadrilaterals* — these exercises are where the real learning starts to click, or where it doesn't, depending on how you approach them.

"Try These" aren't just filler. Because of that, they're designed to test your understanding of a specific idea immediately after it's been explained. In the context of class 8 chapter 3, that means questions about polygons, the angle sum property of quadrilaterals, different types of quadrilaterals, properties of parallelograms, and the mid-point theorem. Each "Try These" set is short — usually just a handful of questions — but they target exactly the concept that was just introduced.

The problem? Now, most students skip them. They jump straight to the exercise questions at the end of the chapter, assuming those are what matter for exams. Now, that's a mistake. The "Try These" are your first real checkpoint, and getting them right means you actually understood what you just read.

Why These Exercises Matter More Than You Think

Here's the honest truth about how class 8 chapter 3 works in practice. That said, " If you gloss over those questions, you move to the next section with a gap in your understanding. That said, the NCERT textbook introduces a property or a definition, gives a diagram, and then immediately asks you to apply it in "Try These. But the concepts build on each other in a very deliberate order. And by the time you reach the end-of-chapter exercises, those gaps have multiplied.

Understanding quadrilaterals is foundational. It's not just about shapes on a page. That said, the angle sum property, the relationships between different types of quadrilaterals, and the conditions that make a shape a parallelogram — these ideas reappear in class 9 and beyond. If you build a shaky foundation here, the later topics get harder to grasp.

The "Try These" also train you to read diagrams carefully. Day to day, in chapter 3, a lot of the questions depend on you noticing things in a figure — which sides are parallel, which angles are equal, whether a diagonal bisects another. That skill of visual extraction doesn't develop by reading alone. You develop it by doing, and "Try These" are the doing part.

What Topics Do the "Try These" Cover?

The "Try These" in class 8 chapter 3 map directly to the sub-topics in the NCERT textbook. Here's a rough breakdown of what you'll encounter:

Polygons and Their Properties

The early "Try These" questions deal with polygons — how many diagonals they have, what the angle sum is, and how to classify them. So these questions are straightforward but require precision. A common trap is miscounting diagonals or confusing convex and concave polygons.

Angle Sum Property of Quadrilaterals

Once the textbook establishes that the sum of angles in a quadrilateral is 360 degrees, the "Try These" ask you to find missing angles. These are usually direct applications, but some questions throw in a diagram where you need to use the property along with other angle facts, like linear pairs or vertically opposite angles.

Types of Quadrilaterals

This is where things get more nuanced. The "Try These" after the section on trapeziums, parallelograms, rhombuses, rectangles, and squares ask you to identify shapes based on given properties. You might be given a set of conditions and asked which quadrilateral fits. This is where surface-level understanding falls apart — you need to know the exact* definitions and how they overlap.

Properties of Parallelograms

The textbook covers several key properties: opposite sides are equal, opposite angles are equal, diagonals bisect each other, and consecutive angles are supplementary. The "Try These" after this section test each of these properties, often in combination. You might be given a parallelogram with one angle and asked to find the rest, or given diagonal lengths and asked to reason about side lengths.

Conditions for a Quadrilateral to Be a Parallelogram

This section flips the logic. In real terms, instead of being told a shape is a parallelogram and asked to use its properties, you're given a quadrilateral with certain properties and asked to prove or determine whether it's a parallelogram. The "Try These" here are crucial because they force you to think in reverse.

Mid-Point Theorem

The final set of "Try These" in chapter 3 deals with the mid-point theorem and its converse. These questions involve triangles and quadrilaterals where you join mid-points of sides and need to figure out what shape is formed, or prove that a line segment is parallel to another. This is often the trickiest part of the chapter, and skipping the "Try These" here is especially risky.

For more on this topic, read our article on what are the properties of carbon or check out why is melting of ice a physical change.

How to Approach "Try These" Effectively

The biggest mistake students make with "Try These" is treating them as optional. Even so, they're not optional in the sense that they won't appear on tests — they're optional in the sense that skipping them means you're not giving yourself a fair shot at understanding the material. Here's how to actually work through them.

Read the Theory, Then Immediately Attempt the Questions

Don't read the entire chapter and then try the "Try These." That's too much time between reading and applying. But after each sub-section, pause and attempt the "Try These" right there. The concepts are fresh, and you'll catch misunderstandings immediately instead of letting them compound.

Draw Diagrams for Every Question

Even if a diagram is already provided, redraw it. When you're working with quadrilaterals, the act of drawing forces you to notice things — equal sides, parallel lines, bisected diagonals — that you might gloss over if you just stare at a printed figure. Label everything you know on the diagram before you start solving.

Check Your Answers Against the NCERT Solutions

After attempting each "Try These" set, compare your answers with the NCERT solutions. Don't just check if the final answer matches — trace through your method. If you got the right answer using a wrong approach, that's a false positive, and it'll bite you later. If you got the wrong answer, understand exactly where the logic broke down.

Don't Move On Until You've Sorted Out Your Errors

This is the part most students skip. If you get a question wrong in "Try These," don't just note the correct answer and move on. Go back

to the specific theorem or property you missed. Re-read that paragraph in the textbook. Redraw the diagram with the correct reasoning. Explain the solution out loud to yourself or a study partner. The goal isn't to finish the exercise — it's to close the gap in your understanding. If you leave a "Try These" question unresolved, you're carrying that confusion into the main exercises and, eventually, the exam.

Create a "Stuck Log" for Recurring Patterns

Keep a small notebook or digital note specifically for "Try These" questions that tripped you up. Also, over time, you'll see patterns. Categorize them: Angle sum property confusion*, Diagonal bisection logic*, Mid-point theorem application*, Converse theorem mix-ups*. Maybe you consistently forget that the mid-point theorem requires the segment to join midpoints of two sides, not just one. Maybe you confuse the conditions for a rhombus versus a rectangle. This log becomes your most efficient revision tool before exams — you're not re-reading the whole chapter, you're targeting your specific blind spots.

Treat "Try These" as Low-Stakes Exam Practice

The language and structure of "Try These" questions often mirror the "Higher Order Thinking Skills" (HOTS) or competency-based questions that now appear in board exams. They're rarely direct formula applications; they ask you to reason*, justify*, or prove*. By treating each "Try These" set as a mini-test — timing yourself, writing full steps, using proper geometric notation — you build the exam temperament that rote solving of back exercises never develops.

Why This Chapter Specifically Demands This Approach

Chapter 3 isn't like the algebra chapters where you can memorize a procedure and apply it mechanically. Quadrilaterals are relational. Every property connects to three others: sides relate to angles, angles relate to diagonals, diagonals relate to symmetry. The "Try These" are the only place in the textbook where these connections are tested in isolation before they're tangled together in the main exercises. Skipping them is like learning vocabulary but never practicing sentence formation — you'll know the words, but you won't be able to construct a proof when it counts.

Conclusion

The "Try These" boxes in Chapter 3 are not supplementary material. Worth adding: draw the figure. That's why they are the scaffolding that holds the chapter's logic together. Here's the thing — open your textbook to the first "Try These" in Section 3. 2. They force you to distinguish between a property and its converse, between a necessary condition and a sufficient one, between a special case and a general rule. That's why pick up a pen. Students who engage with them deeply don't just score better on quadrilateral questions — they develop the geometric reasoning that makes subsequent chapters on area, circles, and coordinate geometry significantly easier to grasp. That's where the real learning starts.