Perseverance pays off

Examination results are always an intimidating affair, even for those who expect to do well. But hard work rarely goes unrewarded and the toppers of Class X (ICSE) exams across the City will vouch for that. They speak to Metrolife about the preparations that went into making this feat possible.

Dipayan Sinha98.2 per centBishop Cotton Boys’ School
Dipayan was overjoyed about his score. “I expected to do well and I’m content with my grades. On a regular day, I prepared for four hours and during exam time, I used to revise my lessons for 10 hours,” he revealed. Playing music the keyboard and the Nintendo kept Dipayan relaxed during his preparations. “I used to make it a point to take breaks so that everything was balanced,” he added. 

Dipayan’s father Debdeep Sinha and mother Ranjita gave all credit to Dipayan for his achievements. “Dipayan never had to be pushed to perform well. The only challenge was to hold on to the position that he had and work towards that,” said Debdeep. 

Apoorva Narayanaswamy98.6 per centSt Paul’s English School
Apoorva, who is also one of the national toppers, was thrilled to have done so well and felt that her hard work paid off. Her father S Narayanaswamy said that she woke up early in the morning to study. “She is a very hard-working student and put in a lot of effort and we let her decide how she wants to study. She also played tennis to beat the stress. I tried to support her in every way possible and feel extremely proud of her,” said her father. Shreya Magadum97.8 per centSt John’s High School
Shreya was ecstatic about her results and so are her parents and teachers. Her mother Sunitha tried to make sure that her daughter got good sleep and ate well despite being a working woman herself. “I made sure that I spend a lot of time with her over the weekend and took holidays during all her major exams,” said Sunitha. Shreya said that she was happy to score such high marks and is interested in pursuing medicine or engineering. “I have not decided what I want to do yet. My teachers and principal are very proud of me and it feels great,” she said. 
Renu Prasad96 per cent Florence Public School
Though Renu’s father Manohar Naidu is excited that his son scored well, he felt that he had the potential to score higher. “He started studying only when the exams were around the corner. If he had put in that effort from day one, he would have done better,” said Manohar. Renu, however, was happy that his hard work paid off. “We had a lot of preparatory exams in the school and that helped to a great extent,” he noted.

Vignesh N95.4 per centClarence High School

Vignesh was jubilant about his good score.  He said that he studied only from his textbooks. “I didn’t mug up anything as I don’t believe in it. I just read and learnt everything that was important. The only materials that I referred to for preparing were the textbooks and the notes that I had,” said Vignesh. Vignesh’s favourite subjects are mathematics and physics. 

Ask him how he relaxed when the stress took over and he said that all he did was to lie down for a while. His parents Nandakumar V and Gayathri are proud. “We didn’t have to do anything to make him perform well. He’s been a studious child since the beginning,” said the proud father.

Sahiti Chebolu95.8 per centBethany High School
Sahiti said that she trusted her school textbooks to prepare for the exam. “I never had a time-table as such but I did set goals for myself, which I tried to achieve,” she said. To de-stress, Sahiti would read books and balance studies with other activities. “My favourite subject was science and the most challenging one was Kannada,” she said. Sahiti’s mother Sumabala JV and father Ramana Rao Chebolu said that all they kept reminding her to do was to stay calm. “She’s a stable child and we’ve always told her not to take too much pressure,” said the parents. Sumabala added that since Sahiti is also good at extra-curricular activities, that would have also helped her to perform well.
Chantal D’Gama Rose97.4 per centSophia High School
Chantal said that she was organised from the beginning and that is what helped her score well. “I used to go home and revise the topics taught in class daily. I also kept a time-table and would stick to it,” she said. Chantal added that to handle the stress, she would play basketball, listen to music and play the piano. “My favourite subject is mathematics and I scored a 100 in it. The most challenging subject was Hindi,” she said. Her father Claude D’Gama Rose and mother Vivien said that Chantal was always focussed and concentrated on everything that she did. “She was always on her own and behaved like a young adult. We didn’t have to tell her to do anything. The only thing we did was to keep her grounded despite her success,” said Claude.

Shreyas Sudhaman98.6 per centSri Kumaran Public School
Shreyas’ father Sujit never imagined that his son would be one of the national toppers. “It was a pleasant surprise. Shreyas is a self-motivated student and we tried not to spoil his plans. The fact that he is one of the national toppers makes me very proud,” he said.     Shreyas added that he tried to be consistent throughout the year. “I played football and the mridangam to de-stress. For academics, I devised a time-table and stuck to it,” he said.

Sumukh H96 per centBishop Cotton Boys’ School
Sumukh used to dedicate about three to four hours everyday for exam preparations. “I used to refer to past years’ question papers and some reference books too. I’ve also practised other schools’ questions papers and that helped,” said Sumukh.

His favourite subject was computer application and he scored a 100 in the same. “I would often get tense and my mother would come and talk to me. She would encourage me and tell me to do whatever I could do,” said the young achiever. 

Sumukh’s mother Babitha H Swamy and father Hanumantha Swamy are proud of him. “The only way we could support him was externally and we tried our best to do that. But all the credit for performing well goes to Sumukh,” said the proud mother.