Kolkata: Seven youngsters from Bengal secured a perfect score of 400 out of 400 in the Indian School Certificate (ISC) examination as the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) announced the Class 12 board results on Thursday. Besides these top achievers, 4,237 out of 28,791 students from Bengal scored between 90% and 95%, while 2,718 students achieved marks above 95%. The overall pass percentage stood at 99.13%, which is 0.07% higher than the previous year.
The Perfect Scorers
The seven students who achieved the perfect score are Harshit Agarwal of La Martiniere for Boys, Agnibho Chakraborty of St James' School, Sujato Pal of Vivekananda Mission School in Joka, Ilina Rajkumar Udani of The Heritage School, Anan Rami of DPS Megacity, Rashi Choubey of Mahbert High School in Siliguri, and Anushka Ghosh of St Xavier's Institution in Panihati.
Shift in Exam Pattern
Educators across Kolkata attributed the strong performance to students' successful adaptation to the CISCE's changed exam pattern, which now places greater emphasis on higher-order thinking, critical analysis, and application-based learning. The weightage of critical analysis questions, which began at 10%, has risen to 40% this year and is set to reach 50% by 2027. School heads noted that this shift has rewarded conceptual clarity over rote learning and helped students perform strongly even in traditionally challenging subjects.
Rupkatha Sarkar, principal of La Martiniere for Girls, said the move away from rote learning towards conceptual understanding is now reflected in the Class 12 results. "Students are slowly getting used to the shift from rote learning to conceptual learning, and it is showing. Those who performed well up to a certain percentage in Class 10 have done very well in Class 12 as the change took place gradually. While they were still adjusting in Class 10, they adapted better in Class 12."
Damayanti Mukherjee, principal of Modern High School, echoed this sentiment, stating that the council is increasingly testing understanding rather than textbook recall. "We teach them case study methods and train them through a research-oriented approach. This helped students respond effectively," Mukherjee said.
Subject-Wise Performance
Although question papers in some subjects, such as physics and psychology, were considered slightly tricky, schools reported high scores in those areas as well. Commerce and science students performed particularly well, though some principals noted a dip in economics scores. Nonetheless, the overall trend remained one of exceptionally high aggregates across all streams, with many students scoring above 95% and a striking number crossing the 90% mark.
School-Wise Highlights
The scale of the performance is evident in school-wise figures from Kolkata's leading institutions. At St Xavier's Collegiate School, 100 out of 169 students scored 90% or above. La Martiniere for Boys saw 108 of 170 students cross 90%, while La Martiniere for Girls had 106 out of 170 above that mark. Modern High School recorded one of the strongest performances, with 135 of 154 students scoring above 90%. At The Heritage School, 94 of 205 students crossed 90%; Garden High School had 33 of 54; and DPS Megacity had 104 of 347 students scoring above 90%.
Implications for College Admissions
Though other boards are yet to declare their Class 12 results, ISC students, with their high aggregates, may find themselves in a favorable position during college admissions. This year's results have reinforced Kolkata's reputation for academic excellence, with perfect scores, a surge in marks above 95%, and an extraordinary spread of 90%-plus results across schools. This reflects both student consistency and successful adaptation to a more analytical examination system.
