Hyderabad girl with 99.25 per cent

Last week, when the ISC results were declared, Class XII student of Nasr School, Harshita Jhawar was at home, furiously refreshing the page of the Indian School Certificate exams’ website, but to no avail.

“Then my class teacher called and congratulated me for scoring 99 per cent and I just couldn’t believe it,” says Harshita, who is also the only student from the city to make it to the all-India merit list. With a 99.25 per cent (best of four subjects), she ranks third in the list, along with 12 other students from rest of the country.

In fact, Harshita was her class topper even in Class X and was awarded the Abu Nasr Scholarship from her school, which took care of her academics in Classes XI and XII.

“My parents are my driving force. They never forced me to study and I wanted to make them proud for all that they have done for me. Being a vice-president at school, I would  end up missing a lot of classes, but my teachers constantly helped me remain up to date with what was being taught in class,” adds the 18-year-old, who has never been tutored in her life.

Before her exams, Harshita had made herself a time-table and made sure she studied at least ten hours every day, with regular breaks in between. Now that she has scored such great marks, selecting the right course and college is next on her agenda.

“I am a little confused about what I should do next, but I think I might pursue a Bachelors in management studies and I am looking at colleges outside of Hyderabad as well,” says Harshita who is also an avid reader and writer.

And her advice to other students is to not get bogged down by academics and treat it like a positive force, which will help them move forward. “According to me, nobody can be pressurised to study because you need to motivate yourself to take it up as a challenge and emerge with flying colours,” she adds.