Ashton top achiever credits consistency for her seven distinctions

Procrastination was Ashton International College’s top achiever Kiara Harkoo’s biggest challenge and weakness in matric but she beat it by dedicating long nights to her school work and in the end helped her school achieve full marks in the IEB matric exams.

“It was my biggest weakness. I overcame it by persevering through long nights of work and went to exam workshops,” she said.

Harkoo obtained seven distinctions in Afrikaans, English, history, life orientation (LO), life sciences, mathematics and physical science with an overall average of 90.29%.

She was also in the top 1% for English (92%) and history (95%) nationally. Furthermore, she received a commendable achievement for being within the top 5% of students in five subjects and achieved a rating of seven in LO in the national senior certificate exam.

Harkoo credited hard work, dedication and consistency for her success, saying she gave lots of attention to subjects she didn’t perform well in.

“My matric year was challenging but still my favourite year of high school. I had not been performing to the best of my ability throughout high school, so I wanted to achieve higher marks across all my subjects. That’s the vague benchmark I set,” said Harkoo.

“Being more consistent in my academic life helped me achieve my goals. I attended extra classes every week for my weaker subjects and went to exam workshops.”

While her focus was fully on her studies, she found the perfect formula to recharge her batteries when she felt pressure.

“My friends and I spent our free time together and maintained a social life. We also did compulsory community service together. They are also the ones who motivated me to keep working hard.”

She is going to study chemical engineering at the University of Pretoria.

“I think it’s an invaluable sector to our country and it will become more vital in the future.”

Also Read: WATCH: IEB matriculants chuffed with results

Also Read: Music helps St Dunstan’s matric achievers hit the right notes