Consistent hard work was Meghna's mantra

Meghna, a resident of Noida, studied at the Step By Step School and secured 99 marks in the English (Core) exam. In all other subjects, namely Psychology, History, Geography and Economics, she scored a perfect 100.

"It has been a really thrilling experience. There is no secret and one has to work hard throughout the year," she told reporters on Saturday, after results for the Class XII Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) exam were declared.

"I like baking and I used to watch a lot of TV," says the young girl, adding that she likes listening to music and reading non-fiction books.

However, her hobbies never meant that she was not serious about her studies.

"I had no particular style of studying and I never counted the number of hours I studied, but I must have studied around seven-eight hours a day," says Meghna, a Humanities student, stressing that she was consistent, stable and relaxed.

"You have to be consistent so that you do not panic at the last minute," she said.

Meghna, who loves psychology, says she has got into the University of British Columbia, Canada, and would start her classes in August.

Her 99 marks in the English paper robbed her a perfect 500 out of 500 score in the Class XII board exams.

Second ranked Anoushka Chandra, who studied in Ghaziabad's SAJ School, scored 498 marks out of 500.

Seven students, meanwhile, shared the third spot, with 497.

As has been the pattern in previous years, this year too girls outperformed boys in the Class XII exam with an overall passing percentage of 88.31, compared to 78.09 for boys.

The overall pass percentage this year is 83.01, up one percentage point since last year.

CBSE officials said 12,737 candidates scored 95 per cent or above and 72,599 candidates scored 90 per cent and above.