Beating more than 8.82 lakh students to achieve first rank in Tamil Nadu in the Plus-Two public examinations is a feat that would make any student proud.
However, what makes L.B. Nivetha, who scored 1,192 to share the State first rank, really proud is that she is now all set to become the first-ever graduate in her family. Both her parents stopped their education after Plus-Two.
A student of Sri Sowdeswari Vidyalaya Matriculation Higher Secondary School here, she scored centum in business mathematics, commerce and accountancy, 199 in both economics and Tamil besides 194 in English.
Beaming with joy, her father S.B. Lakshminarayanan, a jewellery maker, said his daughter has done the entire family proud. Her mother L. Aruna Devi said they would support her in all her future academic ambitions. Her younger sister L.B. Atchaya said she always knew Nivetha would make it big in the examination. Atchaya is expecting her Class X public examination on May 21 and hopes to become a topper herself.
Ms. Nivetha said she spent only a couple of hours every day studying.
“I am not an early riser and studied only in the evenings. Only during the examinations, I will be getting up in the morning.”
Further, in a remark that might give heart-attacks to most parents, she said she also watched plenty of television and never attended any tuition class. She concentrated during the class and revised the lessons the same day. She also often went out for festivals and family functions. She was also the school topper in Class X, with 490 marks out of 500.