CBSE Class 12 toppers from Karnataka open up about their exam preparation

Nikita Kiran likes to keep things simple and to the point. However, the 16-year-old girl is ready to face the complexity when it comes to exploring the technology space. A coder and a badminton player, Kiran from National Public School, Bengaluru, secured 99.6 per cent with a score of 498/500 in the CBSE Class 12 examinations, results of which came Friday.

According to Kiran, all she invested in was three-four hours a day, and she would jot down notes in class. The state-level badminton player wants to pursue research in computer science and become a tech-entrepreneur. “Mock tests and term 1 examination helped me perform better. I used to stick to my notes and learn from textbooks. I love exploring the tech space and I started coding at a very young age. I have also developed a math game for my father’s website to make math learning fun. The objective was to get my hands on web development and I thought it’s a nice way to learn,” said Kiran, who wants to study computer science at IIIT-Bengaluru.

The Bengaluru region finished second in the country with a pass percentage of 98.16 per cent, just after Thiruvananthapuram (98.83 per cent).
In Bengaluru, 16,774 candidates registered for the examinations and 16,703 of the candidates appeared for them. However, the overall pass percentage at the national level was 92.71 per cent; of the 14,44,341 registered candidates, 14,35,366 sat the examinations while 13,30,662 of them cleared the exams.

Shreyas Kumar from Kendriya Vidyalaya in Mangalore scored a total of 482/500 (96.4 per cent) in the Class 12 examinations. But the marks “do not excite him”. Kumar, who pursued PCMC (computer science), said he had spent only two hours a day preparing for the examinations. “I love singing and I liked to invest time in music during my examinations. I studied for just two hours and then I jammed with my brother or I took the guitar and played music alone in my room. I feel it kept me composed and stress-free. I mostly played melodious songs on the guitar and loved to listen to ghazals,” said Kumar. He will be taking a break for a year to prepare for the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) next year.

Jesscia from DPS Mysore secured 494/500 (98.8 per cent) marks. She felt the physics examination was hard to prepare for. “I did not have a specific time schedule for studying, but I ensured I worked on subjects that I needed to improve, especially physics. I used to cover the subjects that I felt were tough and then move on to the rest. I would like to join the engineering team of the ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation) and be part of space programmes,” said Jessica, who wants to study electric and electronics engineering at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.