Anika Gupta from Kanpur’s Sheiling House School, Pushkar Tripathi from Balrampur’s Jesus and Mary School and College and Kanishka Mittal of Lucknow’s City Montessori School (Kanpur Road Branch) are tied for the top position in the country with Hargun Kaur Matharu of Pune’s St Mary’s School. All four have scored 499 out 500 marks or 99.8% (in English and best of four subjects).

Gupta describes “consistency and hard work” as the mantra for her success. She is following in her parents footsteps and papering to appear for the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) in two years to become a doctor. Her father, Saurabh Gupta, is an ENT surgeon and her mother, Vandana Agarwal, is a Pathologist. Anika has a younger sister Rishika who is 10 years old.

Kanishka Mittal of CMS, Lucknow, with school founder Jagdish Gandhi. (Express photo)

Speaking to The Indian Express on Sunday evening, she said, “Hard work and consistency were important for me. I used to give myself four to five hours of studying time by myself. Previous years question papers and mock tests are also very helpful.”

“I didn’t expect to do so well and hence, it is overwhelming. I would give the credit for this to my school teachers and my family who always motivated me. I used to study 4-5 hours,” she added.

Mittal of Lucknow’s City Montessori School (Kanpur Road Branch) said, “I would like to thank God, my parents, teachers and friends. For good results, one should plan and be consistent. Students should listen to their teachers because they have a lot of experience and their guidance is very important.”

Matharu from Pune, who is also the all-India topper, found out about her achievement on Sunday evening while she was busy celebrating her younger sister’s ninth birthday at home. “In terms of preparation, the most important thing is that when teachers teach a subject in class, you follow it well. I didn’t take any coaching. I never had a planned schedule. I would study as much as I wanted,” Matharu told The Indian Express over the phone, straining her voice to be heard over the loud birthday celebration in the background.

She is interested in robotics, wants to appear for the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) and study coding eventually. “I like reading, one of my long-time favourites is Percy Jackson and I spend a lot of time doing art, just drawing and doodling,” she added.

Overall, students from Uttar Pradesh have achieved a pass percentage of 99.98 in the ICSE results. A total of 47,085 students appeared in the examination, with 26,930 of them being boys while the rest being girl students. A total of 10 students failed to clear the examinations, out of which four were girls and six were boys.

The ICSE examinations were conducted in 61 written subjects of which 20 are Indian languages and nine are foreign languages and one Classical language.

As per data provided by the Board, a total of 3,085 students from Scheduled Castes category took the examinations and secured a passing percentage of 99.94 per cent. A total of 204 students of the Scheduled Tribes took the examination with a 100 per cent success rate. A total of 12,124 students from the Other Backward Classes took the examination with 99.98 per cent passing percentage.