Prachi Bhagchandani

Prachi Bhagchandani, a humble topper from Udgam School, gives all the credit for her extraordinary achievement to her school and teachers. This all-rounder has never taken tuitions or joined any coaching classes and believes in being self-motivated and consistent. Being a fitness oriented person, she loves playing sports, gymming and going out for walks as and when she gets time. Moreover, she is an artist who has won many competitions nationally (Young Envoys International Hyderabad, Avantika Delhi etc). She also made our country proud at international levels in various countries like London, Japan, Turkey. Recently, she won the selected prize out of 24,572 works in the 19th Kanagawa Biennial World Children’s Art exhibition held in Japan. This all-rounder received the Outstanding Student of the Year award for maintaining discipline, guiding the Prefects of classes 9th to 12th as the Prefect in-charge and for extending her support towards all school activities. What’s more! She aced her Design Entrance Examinations which had a completely different syllabus. Let’s learn from her and follow her footsteps!

Prachi won the 19th Kanagawa Biennial World Children’s Art exhibition held in Japan

What role did your school and parents play in your achievement?

>>  Being a student who has never taken tuitions or joined coaching classes, I entirely dedicate my achievement to my school and parents. Constant support, motivation and encouragement coupled with hard work and determination on your part, has the power to make anything and everything achievable. Right from the beginning, my teachers were always there pushing me to work harder and perform better. All the credit goes to them.

Students consider physical health as well-being but winners like you that well-being is a broad concept which includes good brainpower too. Any specific tips you would like to share for boosting the brainpower and improving concentration and memory?

>>  I strongly believe that the mind and body are not separate. What affects one, eventually affects the other. So, It’s equally necessary to give yourself a break. Talking to parents over a cup of milk, listening to soothing music, meditating for a few minutes are some ways I took to recreation. Apart from this, one should avoid munching on food items loaded with salts, sugars and fats. Instead, they should be replaced with dryfruits, fruits, foxnuts etc.

Most students label ‘lack of time’ as the main hurdle on their road to success. But your results show that you surely know how to manage your priorities and create a balance in your life. Can you share some tips regarding how you prioritise your life and make the most of your time?

>>  Consistency is the key to success. It’s the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out, which ultimately pays you at the end. Be it the unit tests, school examinations or even preboards, everything should be taken seriously along with paying full attention in the classroom.This not only leads to consistency but also makes you confident. If you master consistency you’re halfway there. After that, it’s only about knowing what is very important and has to be worked upon keeping the distractions aside.

How did you overcome exam related stress and anxiety? What were your stress busters?

>>  First of all, while studying one should not consider it as a burden. It’s when you start enjoying it and stop running after just finishing the course before your friends, you realise that Stress and Anxiety are mere words in the dictionary. As previously mentioned, meditation and also going for a walk act as stress busters. I also continued my habit of reading newspapers and this helps in its own ways.

Self-motivation and self-confidence play an important role in success. How did you ensure that you stayed motivated and confident?

>>  Consistency drives self motivation and self confidence. Giving my best right from the beginning of the academic year kept me self motivated. Because once you understand any concept, you have to just read it again and again.Then comes a time when you know the book like the back of your hand and self confidence comes into the picture. This further motivates you to perform even better.

Achievers tend to lead an organised life. How do you deal with clutter and ensure that it doesn’t come in way of your success march?

>>  Instead of keeping a to-do-list or time table on paper, I kept one in my mind. Everyday, after waking up I devoted a few minutes to plan my day and work accordingly. Afterall, what you do everyday matters more than what you do every once in a while. I feel this kind of time table helped me a lot because it didn’t place any restrictions on me. For if I managed to complete today’s tasks before time, I could continue further without thinking twice and wasting time.

Can you share a few study techniques and tips that you followed to make studying easier and fun?

>>  Regular reading, revising concepts and getting doubts solved on time are a must. Enjoying this process and relating one topic with the other makes things even more clear. You can always take to Internet to know more about a particular topic and go beyond the books. Apart from this, I took to practising past papers and working on time management. Because if you lose out on time, you won’t be able to even write the things you very well knew. Thus, The more you read, the more you can write. Also it’s necessary to become a bit strict with yourself as time passes. Understand every concept and never ever mug up anything, it won’t last long.

Little things make big difference. And exam day is rightly called the D-Day. Any specific things you kept in your mind while giving your exams?

>>  Because of devoting 3 hours everyday, right from Day 1 of the academic year, along with completing assignments on time and taking each and every test or examination seriously, the D-Day was just like any other day. The day before the exam is only meant for going through your handwritten notes and revising for one last time. As previously mentioned, keep an eye on the time and preplan the way you are going to attempt the paper. You should not be wasting even a single minute there. If you find any question challenging, use the reading time thinking about the solution but only once you have gone through the entire paper. Even then if there’s any problem, just skip the question and come back again once you’re done with the paper. At the end, I would just say, Don’t lose your calm and give your best shot. Let the examiners also savour your delightful answers.

~  Priya Sarin
priya[at]thestudentsdigest.com

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