Ashwin Rao’s family was prepared to celebrate on Monday, when the Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE) results were to be announced. They had anticipated Ashwin topping his school.
But when they learnt that he was the joint topper with Pune’s Muskan Abdullah Pathan in the entire country, his parents were stunned!
The Class 10 student of St. Paul’s English School, J.P. Nagar, Bengaluru, scored 99.4%, managing centums in science, social studies, and computer science, and only lost a mark in mathematics. His score in English and Kannada was 98 each.
“I never expected this. A national rank is huge and I’m really happy,” a visibly elated Ashwin told The Hindu. His parents - Dwarka Rao, an automobile engineer, and mother Laxmi Rao, a homemaker - were overjoyed.
“I was speechless when I was informed that he was the all-India topper,” said his mother. How did he manage this feat? “I didn’t even feel that the board exams were difficult owing to the three preparatory exams. After the second one, I was so thorough I could’ve attempted the boards without any further preparation. There was no need to take additional coaching as my teachers guided me very well,” he said, adding that he went about his daily schedule and focussed on the subjects he loved most — mathematics and computer science. Ashwin did find Kannada and history to be relatively challenging.
His study schedule also did not disrupt his extra-curricular activities, which includes football, swimming, kung-fu and video games.
He plans to study science in Classes 11 and 12 at St Paul’s English School and then engineering - preferably involving computer science and mathematics - at one of the IITs.
But when they learnt that he was the joint topper with Pune’s Muskan Abdullah Pathan in the entire country, his parents were stunned!
The Class 10 student of St. Paul’s English School, J.P. Nagar, Bengaluru, scored 99.4%, managing centums in science, social studies, and computer science, and only lost a mark in mathematics. His score in English and Kannada was 98 each.
“I never expected this. A national rank is huge and I’m really happy,” a visibly elated Ashwin told The Hindu. His parents - Dwarka Rao, an automobile engineer, and mother Laxmi Rao, a homemaker - were overjoyed.
“I was speechless when I was informed that he was the all-India topper,” said his mother. How did he manage this feat? “I didn’t even feel that the board exams were difficult owing to the three preparatory exams. After the second one, I was so thorough I could’ve attempted the boards without any further preparation. There was no need to take additional coaching as my teachers guided me very well,” he said, adding that he went about his daily schedule and focussed on the subjects he loved most — mathematics and computer science. Ashwin did find Kannada and history to be relatively challenging.
His study schedule also did not disrupt his extra-curricular activities, which includes football, swimming, kung-fu and video games.
He plans to study science in Classes 11 and 12 at St Paul’s English School and then engineering - preferably involving computer science and mathematics - at one of the IITs.