The result season is here. Today on 2nd of May, 2019, the CBSE Class XII results were announced on the official CBSE results page http://cbseresults.nic.in

Now most of us take this examination very seriously. Life or death matter, right?

You are bombarded by phone calls from friends asking how much did you get. Pestering relatives repeatedly ask for your login details so that they can verify your results themselves and compare them to their kids’ results. These marks are a question of social status and are fairly exalted in their importance.

There is only one thing though. Aside from being a measurement of your merit and your skills, they are nothing much. You are not superior or inferior to anyone who has more or less marks. They are a fairly subjective measuring criteria and there are many proofs to demonstrate that the system is flawed at a basic level. The concept of grades was introduced to cover this flaw but the highly competitive Indian job market could not digest the flexibility of grades.

So, before you start obsessing over marks and grades, here are a few pointers that you need to be aware of :

There is a world beyond Class XII

After the dust settles, and the colleges are assigned, no one cares if you got 85% or 75%. You are all in the same boat. Good college, bad college – may make a slight different but every step in life requires the same effort for everyone. Heck, the toppers have it slightly rough. Which brings us to our next point.

The toppers struggle more.

Research shows that if you compliment your kid for their ‘intelligence” and “achievements” you drive them toward complacence. Later in life, when they find the odds stacked against them, they do not show as much resilience as someone who, say, has faced failure over and over again. Low grades teach you more than high ones.

Marks don’t mean much.

That brings us to our next point- there is no deeper meaning in a 98 percent score. It is just that. A student studied well and under a given set of parameters, managed to perform well by adhering to the prescribed syllabus. All those who get 90 out of 100 in English Literature are not sons of Shakespeare. Most of them cannot string a bunch of words together to form a good sentence.

Don’t take success or failure as permanent.

Even if you let your success or failure define you, it is never carved in stone. In a bad college, you can turn things around by studying harder. Once all the school, college exams are done, the playing field again becomes level. Everyone has to sit for the same competitive exams where no one asks you your marks in X or XII.

Nonchalance is sexy. Hardwork is sexier.

A big takeaway from all stories of struggle is that hardwork always pays off. Your genius is merely unrealized potential unless and until you work hard. Do not let the praise get to your head. You still have a long way to go.

And if you are surrounded by negativity, do not let that get to you either. Because that’s the thing with hard work, it bears fruits – no matter what.