PU toppers kept it simple

Deepa M, who topped the II PUC examination in the science stream, was restrained in her celebration.

Elated as she was, she remained calm and composed as journalists crowded her house on West Park Road, Malles- waram on Wednesday. Deepa’s younger brother Ganesh M, still in Class 9, blushed each time reporters asked him about his brilliant sister.

Deepa said she hadn’t done well in the internal assessment. The leak of question papers had also upset her, but she was determined to beat the odds. She says she never expected to top the exam as she focused on the Common Entrance Test (CET) and the All India Engineering Entrance Examination (AIEEE).

“I didn’t really focus on PU exam. Rather, doing well in CET and AIEEE was my priority,” Deepa said. She adopted a simple approach: four to five hours of daily study. She wouldn’t cram more on the eve of exams. She says she didn’t follow any set pattern for study either. “I studied what came to me at the moment,” she said.

Her father Manjunath Pandit Hegde is a Branch Manager with Canara Bank in Shimoga, mother Shaila Bhat, a Junior Telecom Officer with BSNL in Bangalore. The family originally hails from Kumta, Uttara Kannada district, but Deepa was born and brought up in Bangalore.

Deepa says she would opt for electronics and communication engineering.  She expects to be among the 10 top-ranked students in the CET. She, however, also expects a good rank in AIEEE, and would go for NIT, if she gets a good rank.

Bangalore also has State topper in Commerce. Raveena Jain from Mahaveer Jain College secured 591 out of 600 (98.5 percent) in the commerce stream (Accounts, Business Studies, Mathematics, Statistics). Speaking to Deccan Herald, Raveena said she studied for six hours every day.

“I made it a point not to stress myself and hence during the final exams I slept for eight hours a day without fail. I owe the success to my college where lecturers insisted on three preparatory exams and numerous unit tests.” Solving previous years’ question papers also helped her, she adds.

While opting for Commerce is not a popular choice, Raveena says she always dreamt of being a chartered accountant. “I love accounts.

That is what drew me to this choice. I will now enrol myself to Jain Evening College. I have already joined training classes for CA,” says the student. “I am going to clear the CA exam, I have not given myself an option,” she says.

Raveena’s father Bharath Kumar M Jain has a silk saree business while her mother Meena Jain is a homemaker.