Hello!

Mathematics has been a real struggle at different points in our life, I'm sure. However, there is nothing incomprehensible to the human brain and if you put in a little more effort, I am sure you will be able to bring the Maths syllabus of your Board in your grasp. To answer your questions, here are my views:

1. You can opt for Basic maths after class 8, but that does not have any impact on the subjects you choose in you class 11 and 12. For instance, if you are a medical aspirant, you can opt for PCB (this can also be an option if after your class 10, you still feel a little uncomfortable in solving sums). But if you are an engineering aspirant, then you should go for PCM without a doubt.

2.  Instead of getting into science stream, if you are interested in other subjects you can opt for Commerce or Arts streams as well. However, if you are keen on taking science, there are schools that let you choose from a variety of subjects apart from PCM/B such as Economics, Computer science, and some schools even let you opt Psychology in place of Maths. But for other schools, PCM is a compulsory option with which you can choose either Bio or Comp Sc.

Hope this helps.