Kolkata: Seven youngsters from Bengal secured a perfect score—400 out of 400—in ISC as CISCE announced class 12 board exam results on Thursday. Besides the ‘Super Seven’, 4,237 out of the 28,791 students, who appeared for the test from Bengal, scored between 90% and 95% and 2,718 scored above 95%. The exam recorded a pass percentage of 99.13, 0.07% higher than last year’s.The seven perfect scorers are Harshit Agarwal of La Martiniere for Boys, Agnibho Chakraborty of St James’ School, Sujato Pal of Vivekananda Mission School, 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, Panihati. Educators across Kolkata linked the strong showing to students adapting well to the CISCE changing its exam pattern, which now places greater emphasis on higher-order thinking, critical analysis and application-based learning. The weightage of critical analysis questions, began at 10%, rose to 40% this year and will touch 50% in 2027. School heads said this shift had rewarded conceptual clarity over rote learning and helped students perform strongly even in subjects considered challenging.La Martiniere for Girls principal Rupkatha Sarkar said the move away from rote learning towards conceptual understanding now reflected in class 12 results. “Students are now slowly getting used to the shift from rote learning to conceptual learning, and it is showing. Those who did 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 to the change in class 10, they adjusted better in class 12.” Echoing her, Modern High School principal Damayanti Mukherjee said the council was increasingly testing understanding rather than textbook recall. “We teach them case study methods and train them through a research-oriented approach. It helped students respond effectively,” Mukherjee said.Though the question papers of some subjects, such as physics and psychology, were seen as slightly tricky, schools reported high scores in those as well. Commerce and science students performed particularly well, though some principals noted a dip in economics scores. Even so, the overall trend remained one of exceptionally high aggregates across streams, with many scoring above 95% and a striking number crossing 90%.The scale of the performance is evident in school-wise figures from Kolkata’s leading institutes. 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 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 33 of 54, and DPS Megacity had 104 of 347 students scoring above 90%.Though other boards are yet to declare their class 12 results, ISC students, with their high aggregates, may find themselves in a favourable position during college admissions. This year’s results have reinforced Kolkata’s reputation for academic excellence, with perfect scores, a surge in 95%-plus marks and an extraordinary spread of 90%-plus results across schools, reflecting both student consistency and successful adaptation to a more analytical exam system.
