BENGALURU: Two students from the city scored a perfect score of 45 in the International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma programme, the results of which were out on Friday. The two students, Shivali Verma and Neev Vaibhav Parikh, of Greenwood High achieved the perfect score, while their schoolmate Shourya Mukherjee scored 44. IB Diploma is the equivalent of Grade 12. Dilsher Singh and Vinicus De Paula from Stonehill International School (SIS) secured 42 points to be among the other top achievers from the city.
Shivali is all set to pursue her higher education in Molecular Biology and Biotechnology at Columbia University, New York, with her strong interest towards research being her driving force. She told Deccan Chronicle that the uniqueness of the IB programme in terms of the curriculum and its rigour as a college-level high school course helped her better her interest towards academics.
“By maintaining a consistent and equally rigorous performance and effort throughout the years of the course, I found that my preparation for the exams was eventually no different from the everyday work balance that I maintained while being coached by my teachers in school. This, along with the instrumental guidance of my school and its faculty, helped me successfully tackle the IB exams,” she said.
Neev Vaibhav Parikh
The other topper Neev will be flying to Brown University, Rhode Island to further his studies in Computer Science and Entrepreneurship. He said that approaching the two years of IB with exactly what it demanded helped him fare well in the exams. “The IB curriculum is challenging and it demands hard work, grit and perseverance. I was trying to learn and do better with each failure. The invaluable support and excellent guidance provided at Greenwood High helped me achieve this,” he said.
For Dilsher, his interest in mathematics and science combined with effective mentoring at SIS came handy while he took the exams. A versatile sportsman who plays for the football and cricket teams, also being part of the swimming team, he said that the programme and the school helped him develop skillsets for life.
“The combined efforts of all at school have also made me feel better prepared for my higher studies. The IB programme, at the same time, has provided me with a holistic environment for learning and made me a confident learner,” he said. Vinicius, who scored the same to be the school topper said that the freedom and space provided at the school to follow his intuition has added to his confidence of facing situations even outside academia more confidently.
The IB Diploma is a rigorous two-year programme designed to prepare students in multidisciplinary approaches to solving problems. It is crafted to be academically challenging, allowing students to acquire a vast breadth and depth of knowledge and understanding, make connections across traditional academic disciplines through in-depth academic research, and strengthens their ability to solve problems and understand concepts.
