Despite personal loss, I secured 90.6% in class 12th: Nishu Pal

Hansraj College, DU

I belong to a middle-class family. My father was an auto-driver and my mother is a homemaker. I have a younger sister. I pursued my high school studies from UP board. I secured 71.5% in high school. Since I was good at Maths, I chose PCM in 12^th. Everything was going well but my father expired 20 days before my Board exams. Since I had prepared for class 12^th from the beginning, that time did not affect my studies. But mentally, it took me time to recover from that situation. I secured 90.6% in 12^th from UP Board and became the 2^nd topper of Ghaziabad in 2013.

Moral – Prepare for any exam from the beginning, and it’s my guarantee that you will achieve your goal in any situation and at any cost.

Now was the time to choose a course after which I would get a job, because I had to work for my family after my dad. I dreamt to qualify IIT and do BTech but we were not financially sound.

At that time, University of Delhi had started new FYUP (four year undergraduate programs) and so their 3-year B.Sc Computer Science course was upgraded to B.Tech Computer Science. The admissions were on the basis of merit, not entrance exam. That time, I felt really lucky. I filled the admission form after the release of the first cut-off list. I got admission to PGDAV College (South Campus) but it was not satisfactory. So, after the 4^th cut-off, I got admission to Hansraj College (North Campus). Now, the problem was admission fee. So, my cousin who works in LIC helped me financially. And that’s how I got admission in University of Delhi. For 12^th class students, it is most important that they pass their board exams with a great score because good score is equal to good college.

But that’s not the end. Each year, in summer vacations, I did a part-time job to pay for my admission fee.

It is my luck that at that time, there was no entrance exam. But even if there was one, I am  sure I would have easily cracked that exam because I was confident after my 12^th results. I would like to say that you can crack any exam with passion, hard work and lots of practice.

After admission, the problem I faced was English. Since I was from UP board, my English speaking and understanding skills were not very good at that time. So, to grow out of this, I started reading and listening to English language. After some time, I was easily able to understand English but speaking was the same as before. But a good college makes a lot of difference. Lots of presentations developedconfidence in me. I started speaking in Hinglish. It helped me a lot and till date, it works.

In my college, there are lots of opportunities to build ones future. But I had to get a job first. So I focused on that. Lots of companies came for placement and took interviews. After rejection in lots of interviews, I got a job in sales and marketing. I knew that was a different line but I could not do anything because my family conditions were difficult.

But this job has helped me grow because through it, I met different people and talked to them. I started taking interest in it and forgot about the old path. It helped me a lot in developing my presentation skills, personality, behavior, and self-confidence.

Let’s talk about the mistakes I made. Firstly, I think those are not mistakes, actually, those were the best options for me at that time:

1) Not preparing for IIT exam.My financial condition was too bad at that time, so I moved on to Delhi University.

2) Choosing a job different from my stream. But it helped a lot, as I told earlier.

No one makes mistakes in their life knowingly. It all depends on the conditions at that point of time. If you have different kinds of options and even then you choose the wrong option, then that’s a mistake.

Right now, I am self-preparing for government exams and I am sure that I will crack the exam with my passion and hard work.

At last, I will advise all the students to:

1) Be positive and follow your dream

2) Work hard in your 12^th to get a good score

3) Choose a course in which you have interest. However, it does not matter which course you have chosen, it matters how much effort you give to that course

4) Give your 200% to college studies because it is always about marks, not education. All companies set a percentage criterion. If you do not qualify that, then you cannot sit in placement

That’s all from my side. Thanks for giving such a platform to inspire other students through my story. It’s a great idea.

About the Author:

My name in Nishu Pal. I have completed BTech in Computer Science from Hansraj College, Delhi University. My hobbies and interests include reading adventure stories, listening to music and cricket