its been four days since icse indian certificate of secondary education results were announced but the feeling of being the all india icse topper who scored 994 is yet to sink in for swayam das in fact he seems more surprised at the feat he has achieved my goal was to be the school topper says the 15yearold from koparkhairane adding i never expected to be the national topper somehow my school teachers always believed it to be possible while swayam is yet to enjoy his newfound success he gets excited when talking about the preparation that went into cracking the exams rattling out the subjects that were easy and tough the student from st marys icse school says science is my favourite subject followed by computers and math i thought geography was easy but when i started getting ready for competitive exams i found science better and that really gave a boost to my confidence the toughest were history and civics as i had trouble memorising incidents and dates i took classes in the neighbourhood for english as it is difficult too while i learned poems in advance i thoroughly read up on shakespeares merchant of venice swayam managed to sail through without additional coaching classes his best support was his family friends and teachers i got tips from almost everyone he said my neighbours helped me with my hindi my mom is a secondary school teacher so she would correct my practice papers point out the errors and discuss tough topics with me my dad is a scientist so he helped me with science i would discuss my doubts with friends and teachers at school and they helped me get clarity he elaboratedif swayam never missed his daily studies he also did not miss his daily dose of outdoor games i never stopped my outdoor activities i would go out play badminton or football and go for cycling i realised that by doing that i was able to comprehend and remember my studies better he reveals its not surprising that when you ask him for tips swayam advocates to relax with outdoor games indoor games dont help much but outdoor games refresh your mind and body they energise you and give you confidence what about social media i stayed away from it i was and am active only on whatsapp he sayswith plans to continue with the icse board swayam talks about his future goals i would like to be a researcher in the science stream but i will decide that only after i complete class 12 the icse topper is looking forward to the dinner celebrations with parents and friends i had asked my parents for a pet dog after my results but when i saw my study books for class 11 and 12 i gave up on the idea says swayam laughing