JAIPUR: Students of Rajasthan Board of Secondary Education (RBSE) have attained unprecedented success in IIT-Mains. The state board ranked fourth in the country with selection of 9,752 students out of 1.5 lakh applicants. CBSE ranked first with 64,481 students making the cut. This new examination system gives 40% weightage to Class XII marks that means that performance of RBSE students in science is also significantly better than other boards. The overall pass percentage of RBSE students in science was 80.45% in 2014. CBSE was followed by Andhra Pradesh Board with 20,730 students being selected, Maharashtra Board 11,724 students, Rajasthan Board 9,752 students and 8,670 students of Gujarat Board cleared IIT-Mains exam.

The unusual success of RBSE students can be attributed to its curriculum which is considered the toughest. Most of the teachers in senior secondary level are highly experienced also contributing to their success. "I stuck to the basics of RBSE textbooks. To my surprise RBSE textbooks cover a wide spectrum of subjects - Physics, Chemistry and Maths. I referred to both Class XI and XII textbooks for preparation," said Tarun Sharma, a class XII student of RBSE who made it to IIT-Advanced and is hoping to clear the finals.

Explaining the reason behind the achievement, Manoj Sharma, vice-president (business & development), Resonance Eduventures Pvt Ltd, in Kota, said, "The success of any board, especially Andhra Pradesh board and Rajasthan board, is also due to easy access of systematic coaching hubs-Hyderabad and Kota, respectively." Around 2,070 students in our intsitute who cleared IIT-Mains were from Hindi medium, mostly from Rajasthan board, Sharma claimed. Jogeshwar Rao, director, Rao IIT, Kota, which has students from all boards including RBSE, said, "Rajasthan students' aptitude for science has been remarkable. Undoubtedly, they are among the most laborious students."