What if I do not perform well in Board examinations?
I got 62 per cent in class 12th while my closest friend scored 97 per cent. Why can’t I score as much too?
Questions like these cross children’s mind while going for our after class X or XII Board exams. Even parents attach too much importance to performance in the board exams. But, do marks matter? They do but if you don’t get good grades that doesn’t mean end of the world. Ask Nitin Sangwan, a 2016 batch IAS officer from Gujarat cadre who scored only 24 marks in Chemistry, just one above the paint grades.
As CBSE and ICSE Board exam results were declared this year, Mr. Sangwan shared his 12th board mark sheet in Twitter encouraging students by saying, “In my 12th exams, I got 24 marks in Chemistry – just 1 mark above passing marks. But that didn’t decide what I wanted from my life. Don’t bog down kids with the burden of marks! Life is much more than board results. Let results be an opportunity for introspection & not for criticism.”
Sangwan is not the only one to rise like a phoenix. A 2009 batch IAS officer from Chhattisgarh cadre Awanish Kumar Sharan, had passed his class X boards in the third division. Yet, he went on to successfully clear the toughest exam in the country – Civil Services. He too shared his mark sheet on Twitter. A Rajashthan cadre IPS officer Aditya failed in 30 other examinations but cleared the UPSC exam to enter civil services.
All these stories demonstrate that students should not be intimidated by board exams and they also should not be discouraged if they do not fare well in these examinations. Results don’t decide the future. One always has the scope of improving himself by self-analysis or pursuing some other discipline that might interest him more.
These stories went viral on social media. Mr. Sangwan’s tweet garnered over sixty thousand likes and fifteen thousand retweets and comments. Let’s hear their stories from them only.
FOURTH TIME LUCKY
Nitin Sangwan belongs to a middle-class family in Haryana. It wasn’t an easy ride for him to become an IAS officer. After 12th grade, he completed his B.E. before pursuing a master’s in management studies course from IIT Madras.
He said that he failed in his first attempt at civil services exams. However, in his second attempt, he got into DANICS (Delhi, Andaman and Nicobar Islands Civil Service) cadre but was not satisfied with his performance. He appeared for the third time and was selected into IRS. Still, his hunger for success had not satiated. He had a bigger dream. In his fourth attempt, he once again cleared the exam and achieved 28th rank to become an IAS officer in 2015. He is now the Deputy Municipal Commissioner with Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation and the CEO Smart City Ahmedabad.
In an interview with the Indian Masterminds, Mr. Sangwan advised the civil services aspirants by saying, “Just work hard, you will be there. There is no shortcut”. Nitin Sangwan is also known for his skillful leadership ability and his hardworking nature and has been honored by Hon’ble President of India in 2016.
PEARLS OF WISDOM
He also spoke about how he cracked the civil services despite scoring low in the chemistry exam. He said, “I worked hard persistently, there were some disappointments, but I improved”.
Asking Mr. Sangwan on why he opted for civil services in the first place, he replied, “Civil services is not only a career. It entails a service as well. That’s why it attracted me a lot”. Apart from being such a talented person, he is also fond of drawing and cartooning. He has also authored a bestseller – “Essential Sociology”.
Mr. Sangwan also pointed out the challenges he faced as an IAS officer and said that “The biggest challenge is the slow pace of technology adoption – in both public as well as staff in service”.
Speaking about some of his achievements, he said, “I am proud of my tenure in Veraval as SDM when I did ensure removal of encroachments at large scale, contributed to beautifying the city and got all record digitized for better transparency in administration. These can be checked at www.sdmveraval.blogspot.com”.
ANOTHER CHINK IN SHINY ARMOUR
Much before Sangwan, Mr. Awanish Kumar Sharan, an IAS officer from 2009 batch, Chhattisgarh cadre had shown a similar recovery curve. In response to a tweet of RJ Raunac, asking people to share their class 10 and 12 scores, Mr. Sharan shared his mark sheets. He had scored a mere 44.5 percent marks in class 10 meaning he couldn’t even get a second division.
However, he redeemed himself a bit in class XII by getting s first division at 65 percent. He again slipped a bit in graduation whether he could barely get the first division by scoring 60.7 percent. Yet, he was undeterred by not ‘very high’ scores, worked hard, and finally got selected in civil services.
HARD WORK PAYS
Speaking to Indian Masterminds, Mr. Sharan said, “Scoring average marks is not the end of the world and there is always a way to turn things around. Through sheer hard work and perseverance, one can crack the civils”.
Asked why he opted for civil services, he replied, “It gives an opportunity to work towards the country and its citizens. And nonetheless, I had no other option other than cracking the civils”.
Mr. Sharan also had some points to advise the civil services aspirants who are going to appear for the UPSC exams soon which includes:
a) Motivation a fleeting feeling
b) Uncertainty you need to have a backup plan
c) Discipline daily set goals
d) Positivity
e) Luck
OTHER EXAMPLES
Another example comes from an IPS officer from Rajasthan, Aditya, who scored 67 percent marks in the board exams, however, he had a dream of becoming a civil servant. He did not give up and focused on clearing the civil services exam after failing in almost 30 competitive exams.
Struggling for three years, he finally cracked the exam in the fourth attempt to become an IPS officer. He is currently working as a Superintendent Police (SP) in Sangrur and is completing his training at the National Police Academy in Hyderabad.
Similarly, Suman Rawat Chandra a 2010 batch IAS officer from Maharashtra cadre also said “For all the lovely kids who didn’t score 90+% in the recently declared school exams result, it’s not the end of the world. Work hard with optimism and conquer your fears and then the world !!”.
She is currently the District Magistrate and Collector in Buldana, Maharashtra. Learning from these examples, students appearing for the board exams should not overstress on what the outcome would be, but they should do an introspection of where they are lacking behind and improve themselves to achieve whatever they wish for.
