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UAE ICSE toppers ecstatic after passing with flying colours in new format of Grade 10 exams

Ahan Mishra from GEMS Modern Academy and Sahasra Buddharaju from JSS International School are the joint top scorers

UAE students have come out with flying colours in the Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE) Grade 10 exams of 2022, despite the new mode of conducting examinations in 2 semesters.

Sahasra Buddharaju from JSS International School (JSSIS) and Ahan Mishra from GEMS Modern Academy (GMA) were the joint UAE toppers with 99.4%.

Sahasra Buddharaju from JSSIS, who scored 3 centums out of 5 subjects, said she wasn’t always the best student in class. “I started to feel a little competitive when I saw so many people doing better than me,” she said. “So I slowly built my game up to par over the last couple of years. From the beginning of this year, I knew I wanted to be the topper. So I doubled down and studied whenever I could. I did a lot of practice tests and revisions and took detailed notes in all my classes. I was studying at least 6 hours a day.”

The art hobbyist aims to be an interior design major. “Art was my way of unwinding, and I hope to take it up as a profession. I don’t have a dream college, but I hope to study in Australia or the UK. Five years from now, I hope I am studying in a good college and having fun with it.”

The 15-year-old’s brother has just graduated from the 12th standard of the same school. “I am hoping my results are better than his,” she chuckled.

Ahan Mishra from GMA, who celebrated his achievement with dinner with his parents, said he was ecstatic with his results. “I had in mind that I wanted to do well, so I worked really hard,” he said. “I am happy to see that it paid off.”

However, the 16-year-old strived for a very balanced lifestyle throughout the year. “I played basketball and was on the school team,” he said. “I was also taking piano lessons. I participated in cricket and badminton occasionally. I also played video games with my friends when I could. Art was a great way for me to destress. Whenever I would get worked up, I would open my book and sketch something.”

The youngster made it a point to study at least 2-3 hours a day. “I didn’t study for too long, but when I was studying, I was completely focused,” he said. “That came a long way. Science was the easiest subject for me. Languages were never my forte, so I struggled a bit with French. My ambition is to get into medicine. I have some dream universities in the UK. My next aim is to get into those.”

This year, the ICSE followed a new format of dividing the academic session into two semesters, with approximately 50 per cent of the syllabus being covered each semester.

“The Council’s two-semester exams with different formats in November and March set up a challenge for our students and teachers,” said Nargish Khambatta, Principal/CEO of GEMS Modern Academy, Vice President – Education at GEMS Education and Convenor of CISCE, UAE.

She added, "Barely had the students prepared and appeared for the first semester exams, when they had to quickly re-calibrate for the second set of exams. Once again, our students have inspired us with their transformative ability to adapt to change, stoic resilience and laser sharp focus for the Board exams.”

A total of 252 students appeared for the ICSE Grade 10 exam from GEMS Modern Academy, with a batch average of 91.6%, surpassing that obtained in pre-pandemic years.

Ahan Mishra was followed by Siddhant Punamiya and Parna Sur, both of whom secured 99.2%. Standing third in the batch is Saayuj Ion Matthew and Sarah Manoj, who both secured 930. Desiree Moraes, Akshay Akhileshwaran and Shreya Pulujkar all scored 98.8%.

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“We are absolutely thrilled with the result. The hard work and dedication of our ever-supportive management, teachers, parents, and students has borne fruit, as always,” said Ms. Lata Nakra, Principal of JSS International School.

A total of 85 students appeared for the ICSE Grade 10 exam from JSS, with a batch average of 90.8%. Following Sahasra Buddharaju was Sunaina Reji Baker who scored 930 and Suhani Sharma who scored 98.8%.

Ambassador school, another ICSE school in the UAE posted impressive results with two school toppers- Parv Wadhwa and Chirag Sharma- scoring 98.6 percent. They were closely followed by Anushka Vastawat and Sailakshmi Narayanan scoring 98 and 97.2 percent respectively.