By
Saman Jawaid Baqir
(Saman is daughter of Sumbul and Jawaid Baqir, who is my youngest brother, who is full time into farming and they also look after a school. They live in Kichaucha Sharif, a village around 70 kms from Faizabad in Eastern UP. Saman studied in a School in Baskhari which is 6 Kms away from her house.
Saman and her elder Sister Wahiba have proved to me and to the rest of us that academic brilliance is achievable irrespective of the difficult environment and scarce facilities. They both have excelled scoring over 96% to 99% percent marks in their 10th and 12th grade CBSE Board examinations. Wahiba is presently pursuing graduation in Computer Engineering.
At my request Saman has briefly narrated her experience and exploits and I am certain that at least our young ones would pick up a few beneficial tips from her.
Please do read and pass it on.
Baqir Shameem)
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Over to Saman:
‘I never loved to read. One does not love breathing,’ says Jean Louise ‘Scout’ Finch in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird. This pretty much applies to me too except that I love both reading and studying.
I have always been a studious student – completing homework on time, revising daily and preparing for exams before a couple of months.
I have always been the stereotypical nerd you see in teen dramas – wearing glasses, scoring ‘As’ in tests and getting anxious in social gatherings and get-together’s.
Studying is a wholesome task, for me. I always get motivated after watching study sessions on YouTube.
The thing which most of my friends find odd about me is that I love studying but I hate going to school. I never liked going to school because I think that it doesn’t let me work at my own pace.
If I never enjoyed going to school then how did I manage to perform well in my exams?
I studied on my own. Now, that doesn’t mean that I never took the help of my teachers. My school teachers provided me with all sorts of practice papers and worksheets which helped me a lot. Apart from being solely focused on school lectures and school textbooks, I paid close attention to YouTube video lessons and online learning platforms like Khan Academy. Recently, Khan Academy have added a whole new bunch of video lessons based on the Indian curricula. Even before this, Khan Academy has always been my go to platform for learning anything.
I was a science student and science can never be fun if you don’t learn it from different platforms. I used to watch a lot of videos on YouTube from channels like AsapSCIENCE, It’s okay to be smart, CrashCourse, PBS, Veritasium, Kurzgesagt etc during ninth and tenth grade. This made me curious and I decided to take science in eleventh grade.
I never did anything new. Just the plain old technique of making short notes, following schedules and daily revision over a year. I will not say that I always stayed productive and motivated. I had my fair share of unproductive days but I tried to not give them much attention and focus more on the productive days.
Impressions, Perceptions and Views. 
Saman is the child that scored 95.5 percent in the recently declared 12th result.
First of all, it is amazing that she has been studying in a back of no where kind of place. But her love of reading has and will take her places. Her quest for knowledge is incredible, learning from different platforms. She has made full use of modern technology for learning.
Evidently, brilliance seems to run in the family as her sister too seems to be a bird of the same feather. I must complement the family and specially the parents for providing the right atmosphere and environment at home. One can feel love and Togetherness in the family.
If she did not like going to school much proves that she was not adequately challenged at school.
Her full potential for brilliance will be achieved in basic sciences. A computer course as generally perceived will make her a tech cookie. She may not be challenged enough.
Wish Saman all the best. The world is her oyster.
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Thank you Naidu. I am sure Saman will be happy reading your comments. Coming from you who scored distinctions in all six subjects in the Senior Cambridge examination way back in 1958, is a very huge compliment to the child. She and her parents will certainly be grateful and pleased.
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