CUET Topper 2023 Irijaya Dash wants to join Miranda House; Know her CUET UG prep strategy

CUET UG Topper 2023 Irijaya Dash has scored 767 marks out of 800 in CUET-UG exam 2023. Aiming to take admission to one of the best colleges of the University of Delhi, Irijaya has a keen interest in Sociology and Political Science. Shiksha.com got in touch with CUET-UG Topper 2023 Irijaya Dash to know about her  CUET-UG 2023 preparation strategy, exam experience, plans on higher studies, targetted colleges and more.

CUET UG Topper 2023 Irijaya Dash

CUET UG Topper 2023 Irijaya Dash has scored 767 marks out of 800 in CUET-UG exam 2023. Aiming to take admission to one of the best colleges of the University of Delhi, Irijaya has a keen interest in Sociology and Political Science. Shiksha.com got in touch with CUET-UG Topper 2023 Irijaya Dash to know about her  CUET-UG 2023 preparation strategy, exam experience, plans on higher studies, targetted colleges and more. Talking about her subject-wise marks break-up, Dash informed that she has scored a perfect 200 in Political Science, 194 marks in Economics, 190 marks in Sociology, and 187 marks in Entrepreneurship. 

National Testing Agency (NTA) released the CUET-UG Result 2023 on the official website of CUET UG and NTA, i.e. cuet.samarth.ac.in on July 15. Motivating upcoming CUET aspirants, Irijaya said the formula is rather simple. “Choose the right subjects. Set the right goals. Do not slack off and resort to shortcuts. NCERT is your holy grail. Prepare well. Confidence is key. Do your best.” Check out the excerpts from the interview below:

CUET UG Topper 2023 Irijaya Dash Score Card

Q: You have scored more than 767 marks out of 800. Was this result expected? Please tell us about your first reaction.

A: Honestly, I was a tad bit disappointed when I first saw my normalised score because based on the released answer key and the calculated raw score, the expectations of my score were higher. But I’m truly grateful for what I’ve achieved and thoroughly believe that it wouldn’t have been possible without the guidance of my parents and teachers.

Q: Tell us about your family and educational background?

A: My parents are senior OAS officers holding the designation of ‘Additional Secretary’ to the Government of Odisha. I passed Class X from Loyola School, Bhubaneswar in 2021 as the School Topper with an aggregate percentage of 99.5% in the Board Examinations.

Q: How was your board result?

A: My board results were great, I secured 98% and was titled the Topper in the Humanities stream from Sai International School, Bhubaneswar, Odisha 

Also Read: CUET 2023 Topper Divija Bansal, 100%iler, wants to pursue BCom (Hons) from SRCC

Q: When did you start preparing for CUET Exam? What all books did you refer to?

A: My CUET prep went hand-in-hand with my Board Examination prep, though I did not exclusively start preparing for it until January ‘23. While NCERT books helped me greatly for my domain tests; newspapers and editorials took care of my GK and GE prep and guidebooks helped me with Quant, Numerical Ability and Logical Reasoning sections.

Q: How much time did you devote to self-study? What do you feel is better, coaching or self-study?

A: Being a firm believer of ‘effective study hours over long study hours’, I didn’t keep a precise track of the exact amount of time I devoted to self-study, but it surely would’ve amounted to about 12 hours a day from December ‘22. And while coaching classes can provide necessary course material which enhance one’s pre-existing knowledge base, there’s no substitute for hardwork (dedicated self-study, in this case).

Q: Which subject is your strong one and which is the weakest? Are NCERT books sufficient for preparations?

A: With English being my forever favourite, two subjects which I’ve come to like the most over the past two years are Political Science and Sociology, these are the ones which I’d consider part of my strongest suit as well. Entrepreneurship helped me score well in the Board Examinations and Economics helped me gain insight about real-world topics which I was less aware about before. I do believe that perfecting the NCERT syllabus finishes the tougher part of the job when preparing for CUET.

Also Read: CUET 2023 Topper Prabuddh Dubey, 100%iler, aims to study Economics from Delhi University

Q: What was your exam day strategy? According to you, what was the toughest and easiest section?

A: My exam day strategy was to go in cool and attempt the questions I knew the answers to with caution to avoid being marked negatively. While I found the domain papers relatively easy, the General Test and English papers were slightly tougher nuts to crack.

Q: Which all universities did you apply for? What was your dream college?

A: I have applied to the University of Delhi only; with Miranda House, Hindu College and Lady Shri Ram College for Women as my top preferences. My dream college is Miranda House. :)

Q: What are the courses you are looking forward to?

A: The courses I’ve applied for are Sociology and Political Science.

Also Read: CUET Topper 2023 Katyayini Madeti aims for Hindu College with 799.6 marks; Check out her CUET prep strategy

Q: To whom do you attribute your successful CUET journey? What would you suggest to future CUET aspirants in terms of preparation, attitude, etc.?

A: Whilst I always believed I could make it through with hardwork and dedication, the credit definitely goes to my parents, teachers and mentors for reinforcing that belief as part of my mindset and endlessly encouraging me to do better. And for future aspirants, the formula is rather simple. “Choose the right subjects. Set the right goals. Do not slack off and resort to shortcuts. NCERT is your holy grail. Prepare well. Confidence is key. Do your best.”

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