Parishi Madhogaria

Parishi Madhogaria, a valedictorian from Fountainhead School is here to share her success mantras with you all and prepare you for excelling in your upcoming exams. She did both her 10th (O-levels) and 12th (IBDP) standards from Fountainhead School and got a distinction in IGCSE and topped in IBDP. She is more of an auditory learner and absolutely loves to read and do social service to see children smile. Her love for reading has evolved her as a reader, starting from her first book which was historical fiction then moving to young adult fiction and gradually moving towards philosophy. She finds the most peace when she reads philosophy or self-help literature. And like a true winner, she absolutely loves to serve the society. Her talents are many and varied and she can’t get over the high that she gets when she sees something that was planned by her happen in real and CAS (Creativity, Activity & Service) activities really gave her an exposure for this. Apart from academics, she writes poems which don’t rhyme so this little wise girl calls it spoken word poetry or Poetic liberty. This bright young girl loves paradoxes and thinking about all the possibilities that are possibly not possible. In this interview with Priya Sarin, Parishi Madhogaria will share her success journey and inspire us in the process. Let’s learn from the winner!

A good revision is the key to excelling in exams. During exam days, how do you revise your lessons and ensure a quick brush up?

>>   My revision for IGCSE and IBDP was very different in nature. What I did for IGCSE was solving as many past papers as I can, now past papers are very important because you get an idea about what is an examiner actually expecting you to write and then it becomes very easy to frame your thoughts in those limited lines provided for you to answer. For IBDP, it was way more extensive, I started with reading my notes for Chemistry, Reading textbook and flashcards for Biology, for language and literature I read the prescribed novels again and maths was practice and for Business Management it was textbook. This is like studying all material I had for 2 years in a span of a month. But what I did for a quick brush up was, I printed syllabus for all my subjects and highlighted the points I was not very strong in and then I just practised those points. I also solved past papers for IB and what I realised was that the question pattern is very similar and that you can really get to know what exactly is expected from you which is very helpful.

Good schooling and proper parental support are the main pillars behind every student’s success. What role did your teachers and parents play in your success?
>>   My teachers have been the best I could have had. Not only did they had knowledge in their subject but they knew me and all of my classmates inside out and knew how we learn. Because of the fact that my learning have always been very direct and my teachers were very approachable it has been a very smooth process. For me school was in all literal terms my second home. My mentors and teachers in school were always open to discuss any kind of problem I was facing and were very understanding. Not only this but because we had deadlines which were set very practically, it made sure we students never stressed out, and when we did which was very rare our teachers and coordinator were very supportive. My parents have been a very strong influence on my academic performance. I was never forced by my parents to choose a particular subject or forced to score a particular grade. And because of this very positive non-existent expectations I was never really stressed about scoring bad which made it very easy for me to focus on my present studies which again is very important. 

Winners often live in the present. They don’t waste their time lamenting about the past or unnecessarily worrying about the future. How do you ensure that you make the most of your time by being present in the present?
>>   I make sure that there are no very hard expectations that I make for myself, through this I know that I won’t be worrying about the future. This being very specific to the academic part of future. In general, I believe that doing my best in present is something that will be reflected in future, so most of my time is utilised in making my present worthwhile. Past is the best learning and this is not me being philosophical but the fact that past is a reflection of your action with it’s effect makes it like a learning which you can review and develop new strategies from. If I were to give a personal anecdote it will be that in my 10th midterms I scored really low in Enterprise and after discussing it with my teachers what they said was that my answers made perfect sense but lacked terminologies, so here by figuring out the real issue I was able to work on it in present. 

Routines are important to lead an organised and successful life. Though most students are good at setting routines, when it comes to following them, they fail. Any tips for such students?
>>   1. Don’t overestimate:
So there is one thing which is very essential when it comes to making schedules or routines that do no overestimate yourself. What I have observed myself is when I start making revision plans I tend to keep like 8 chapters a day saying that each chapter is just like 10 pages so it won’t be time consuming. The main thing that we miss here is the fact we aren’t just reading the chapters we need to make sure we understand what it states.
2. Take breaks:
It is very important to have a perfect balance between studying and relaxing, so when we make plans it is important to understand that watching a Netflix show is equally important. It is very important to keep our brains engaged so we need to ensure that we relax which is different for everyone, it can be sleeping, jogging, playing or even watching a show. Although this doesn’t imply that we just keep on binge watching saying relaxation is important.
3. Reward yourself:
So like keep a check that if I complete today’s agenda I get to eat ice-cream.
So by having rewards, you will be very motivated to follow the plan.

Positive thinking is an essential trait that differentiates the toppers from struggling students. It helps them to meet the challenges of life head on and achieve success. Can you suggest a few habits which can help your juniors remain positive in today’s world?
>>   1. Do not compare yourself:
What I have observed is we start to compare our performance with our peers and especially with those friends who we have studied with. What happens when we do this is we think that both of us made the same efforts but the results are different. This thought in itself de-motivates us to work hard. Now this is a very subjective view but from what I have been through it does hold true on many levels.
2. Say that you have given your best and mean it:
There is just one answer that I give to my parents when they ask me “How was your exam?” I say “It went okay, but I gave in my best”. Now just by phrasing the statement this way what I get is a sense that I will get what I have worked for.

~  Priya Sarin
priya[at]thestudentsdigest.com

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