The climb to the top would have been impossible without the help of family, friends and teachers for many. Many have never burnt the midnight oil nor have their stress levels reached a feverish pitch. Some had even watched movies and pursued their hobbies even a month before the exams. Downtown brings to you stories about how some privileged few in Mylapore made it to the top.
Regular solving of question papers and a systematic study has made Shanaz Mohammadi Shariff of Rosary MHSS score as high as 1168 (topper in Computer Science stream) in the exam. Having scored above 196 in the core subjects Shanaz has all hopes of pursuing a career in Chemical engineering. “The subject has a lot of scope and if I do not get this I am sure of getting computer science,” said Shanaz. “Every I got the results of an examination held in my school I used to calculate my cut off for engineering. I strived to improve each time and moved ahead steadily. With the help of supportive teachers and encouraging parents (father Md. Najeebullah Shariff and mother Nasreen Najeeb) I have made to the top,” added Shanaz succinctly.
Shanaz’s view is seconded by Sasirekha (1175) a commerce student. She has obtained three centums (Commerce, Accounts and Maths) and 197 in Economics. Her study schedules were planned by her teacher Ms. Elizabeth who was her mentor throughout class XII. “Solving previous years’ question papers helped me in gaining an advantage. In one of two subjects the paper had the exact same question as the previous years’ and I was able to attempt it with ease,” said Sasirekha. Periodical tests and class revisions were a great help to her. In fact all these helped her to complete the portions by November itself. With no TV environs at home and with her mother constantly motivating her to obtain a state rank scoring in the exams was easy for her.
Napa Hari Priya, with two marks more than Sasirekha stands first in the school. Exuding confidence she felt that cutting off TV, or abstaining from watching movies are not necessary conditions for high scorers. Spending two hours in the mornings and evenings right from June will work wonders she opines. She has many feathers to her cap. She was the class caption, had been under-achievers and was also an active NSS volunteer throughout the year.
Sampras, a student of Commerce at St. Bedes HSS, Santhome, has obtained 1084 and topped the stream in his school. “I took up commerce as I cannot afford a career in Science,” he said. He felt he did not have much of competition in school and so he topped easily. Weekly tests, good coaching and revision exams organized by the school were a great help to him. Following him closely is Ashok Peter with a score of 1044. “I was surprised to see my scores. I had been an average student throughout and just weeks before the exam I gave it a serious look. I was largely helped by my brother who coached me intently at the last moment and by the grace of God hard work has paid off,” said Peter.
Lokesh who has topped the school in Computer Science group with 1141 is sure of joining of EEE at Anna University. “My family has several financial constraints, if God wills I would like to pursue high voltage engineering or an MS in any foreign university.”
“Parent-teacher-student is a triangular relationship. Even if one vertex in the triangle is weak the goal cannot be achieved,” said G. Pandian, principal of Sivaswami Kalalaya HSS, Mandaveli. Regular parent teacher meetings are part of the exam preparation at this school. Parents are told about the type of food to be given to children, advised against giving students mobile phones, prevent burning midnight oil, abstain from taking children to hotels, no junk food, no TV, no quarrels at home and so on. “This is the right environs a parent can provide the children,” said the principal.
S. Aishwarya, topper in computer science, (1174) thinks highly of all the instructions given. She switched over from CBSE to state board for plus two. “Textbook is the bible as far as state board is concerned and the system gives us more confidence during exams,” said Aishwarya. She spoke highly about how motivating the teachers were. “My chemistry teacher used to clearly point out mistakes in the paper and so before the exam I just had to go through my answer papers. Also I studied a lot during May last year and this helped me to cover the portion with ease and stay ahead of my class.”
S. Poorna, topper in Commerce (1164), has always scored above 95 from class XI onwards. Doing assignments regularly, taking up weekly tests are a great boon according to her. “The comprehensive revision exams conducted by school from December onwards made us thorough in each topic,” she added.
Aishwarya Murali the topper (1167) in Biology stream plans to join medicine and pursue neonatology later on. “Without the support of my teachers I would have been nowhere. I owe a lot to my mother Jayalakshmi, a doctor, who was always by my side whenever I needed her,” she said.
Looks like it is those who had been systematic have climbed high. Most of them have even had time for leisure activity. With no pressure from parents, why with even a few hours of TV viewing they had come out with flying colours.
