ISC topper Mihika Samant (above) with parents. (Express Photo: Nirmal Harindran)Maharashtra ISC topper and city girl Mihika Samant is among the 16 students across the country who share the second rank in the merit list of the Class XII examinations, results of which were announced on Tuesday.
Mihika obtained a score of 99.75 per cent (399 marks out of 400). A student of St Gregorios High School in Chembur, Samant chose the Humanities stream after Class X.
Both ISC (Indian School Certificate) and ICSE (Indian Certificate of Secondary Education) results were announced on Tuesday. Of the top 10 students from the state, three, including Mihika, have made it to the national merit list. While Mihika stood second nationally, Shreya Raj (Commerce) and Nimish Shreeram Wadekar (Science) stood third nationally.
Mihika hopes to pursue further studies in sociology, social psychology or political science. “Everyone around me has always supported me in my choice of Humanities, since they know that this is what I like,” she said.
Her mother Kalpana said, “Since the beginning, she was focused on her studies but she didn’t study all the time. She loves her subjects and has never opted for coaching. She has her own method of studying.”
Five of the state’s 10 toppers belonged to Sulochanadevi Singhania School, Thane. Principal Revathi Srinivasan said, “I am happy. Many students have scored a perfect hundred in most subjects, which is a significant improvement. Most of the toppers have also been involved in extracurricular activities and have shown that they enjoy the process of learning.”
However, the school was not able to download the Class X results. “We still haven’t received ICSE results,” Srinivasan told The Indian Express in the evening.
Shreya Raj and Nimish Shreeram Wadekar, who ranked second in Maharashtra and third nationally, are also from Sulochanadevi Singhania School, as are Keerthana Jagganathan (Humanities), Misbah Wajid Ansari (Humanities) and Jayani Jignesh Shah (Commerce), who obtained the third rank in Maharashtra. Jamnabai Narsee School students Maryanne Rodrigues and Srushti Jitendra Nandu also bagged the third merit positions in Maharashtra.
Talking of the challenges she faced, Shreya said, “Since I had scored 96 per cent in Class X, there were many expectations from me.” She studied with the help of her own notes and revised what was taught in school everyday.
Shreya wants to be a chartered accountant and has been preparing for CA foundation. “I would paint for half-an-hour or so and also read history books. A major thing I did was to stay away from social media for the entire year,” she said.
Nimish said, “I studied the concepts in school, so I did not have to revise them at home, reducing the workload significantly. I didn’t go by time, I decided to study topic-wise.” He added that he has been singing as a hobby since years and has recently started learning to play guitar. Nimish wishes to study computer science engineering.
From Maharashtra, 44 schools (2,737 students) put up candidates for ISC examination. The pass percentage for ISC was 99.27 per cent, with girls outperforming the boys.
