Board exam results usually get wrapped up in the annual frenzy about percentages, cut-offs, school-wise tallies and who scored what. The mark sheet of Aarav Vats certainly has it all. It says that it has secured 96.6% marks in the 2026 CBSE Class 10 board exams. But there’s another, more hard-won story that only percentages can tell. Come onA student of Amity International School, Saket achieved this score while undergoing treatment for lymphoblastic lymphoma, a rare and aggressive form. Cancerand the months leading up to the exam were made up of chemotherapy, physiotherapy, physical exhaustion and a lot of intense work to learn not to surrender to fear, as well as very natural exam anxiety.What drives Aarav’s story is not simply that he did well against the odds, a phrase so overused that it often obscures the true pain of its original composition. He seems to have faced the disease with a kind of uncanny tenacity, and to have studied patiently, methodically, and with a quiet refusal to let diagnosis become the only reality around which his entire young life would now be structured. This is where the story really lives, in the mood that made it to 96.6%. And that temper, as his own account shows, was made of something more than temperance. It was shaped by teachers who adjusted their hours, parents who never brandished weapons, and a mind that, despite illness, continued to be curious about the world beyond the textbook.
The assessment that tested, but did not defeat Aarau.
When Aro first learns of his condition, the full gravity of it doesn’t come off all at once. This is perhaps one of the strangest blessings of childhood. Sometimes, the mind doesn’t rush to destruction as fast as adults normally do. “When I first learned about my condition, I didn’t think much of it because at the time I didn’t realize how serious it was,” he says. “After about two months of chemotherapy, I read about it and told myself it’s not something I should be afraid of. I even told my parents that I understood my condition.”This mindset seems to return again and again through his account: absorb what’s happening, don’t fall for it, and move forward one day at a time. “I had a ‘never lose hope, never give up’ attitude,” says Aarao. “I followed what my doctors and my parents told me, and it helped me recover.” Now, he says, the experience has changed the way he looks at both life and success. “Now, I look at life a little differently. I think health is more important. Studies are also important, but being healthy is more important to me.” The line is almost deceptively simple, but it has the force of something learned from the body’s own trial.
A routine built around healing, fatigue and recovery
For many students, board preparation means long hours, tight schedule, less distractions. For Arau, this meant learning how to fit academics into a day already claimed, in large part, by therapy. “In the mornings, I would go for chemotherapy and physiotherapy,” he says. “By the time I got home I’d be pretty tired, so I’d take a nap. After that, there was often another physiotherapy session.” This is not the kind of timetable that one would expect to come across with high scores across the board. And yet, somehow, that’s exactly what happened.What helped was flexibility, accommodation and a school that seemed to understand that discipline is sometimes best preserved with kindness rather than severity. “My teachers were very flexible with their timings,” says Aarao. “They took classes whenever I was available — sometimes in the morning, sometimes in the afternoon, and even at night.” They cleared my doubts whenever I needed, even at around 11 pm.” One can imagine the emotional impact of such availability on a child trying to keep up with school while his body is being asked to endure more than most children’s bodies.He says he usually studied for about five to six hours a day — three to four hours in classes his teachers took for him, and another two or three hours spent learning from books, writing and practicing questions. This number, on its own, may not seem unusual in India’s exam culture. But in Aarao’s case, context changes everything. These were hours reclaimed from fatigue, recovery, travel for treatment and the normal emotional drain left behind by serious illness.
How Aru studied when time was short.
If the illness changed the amount of time available to Aarau, it also shaped the quality of his preparation. “Study-wise, the biggest challenge was that I couldn’t devote as much time as I wanted because of chemotherapy and physiotherapy,” says Aarao. “I had to cover a large area in a short amount of time and grasp the concepts quickly.”This emphasis on concepts became even more important as time itself became scarce. “Since I didn’t have enough time to memorize everything, I concentrated more on understanding the concepts. I also practiced sample papers and questions given by my teachers.”In fact sample papers have played a decisive role in solving a very practical problem: speed. “During my pre-boards and mid-term exams, my pace was quite slow, and I had to skip some questions,” he says. “My teachers advised me to focus on more sample papers, and it made a huge difference. It helped me improve my speed a lot. By the time I got to the board exams, I was able to attempt all the questions, and my speed was back to normal.“Notably, he did all of this without relying on the traditional coaching ecosystem. “I didn’t really take any coaching or tutoring,” says Arau. “My school helped me a lot, so I didn’t feel the need.” He used some YouTube videos and AI to create practice tests and identify possible question types. But when he talks about support, his language often returns to people rather than tools. “AI,” he says, “can transform education, but it cannot replace teachers and their experience.” But beneath the flexibility of teachers, technology support and absence of coaching was the real strength of Aarao’s preparation in the path he took.“Whenever I find a concept, topic or chapter difficult, I try not to stress about it,” he says. “I take it line by line and understand slowly. I prefer to write things in my own words rather than memorizing definitions.”
The people who held him.
For Aarav, an electric guitar gifted by his mother became one of the many small factors that helped him stay positive.
In stories of individual success, isolating the individual too quickly, resilience appears to be self-evident, as if courage emerges in a vacuum. Aarao’s account contradicts this myth. Again and again, his story comes back to people.“As a student, I would say that I am most influenced by my parents — my mom, my dad — and my brothers and grandparents,” he says. “My class teachers and the principal helped me a lot, so they all have a strong influence on me.” So, behind the board’s conclusion stands a family that hasn’t turned the numbers into a new burden, and a school that seems to have responded with practical, consistent support rather than token sympathy.There is one school memory that sticks out to him particularly well. After a long break from chemotherapy, Aarao returns to class to find that his teachers and classmates have surprised him with letters. The gesture is slight, but often thus human grace declares itself. “I didn’t feel insecure or different from others,” Aarao recalls. “In fact, they made me feel very comfortable and I realized that friends are very important in life.What is so surprising about this story, full of medical jargon, schedules and performance measures, is how well a child, after an illness, feels included in their everyday world.Support also extends beyond the classroom. “Whenever I was physically or mentally tired, I would talk to my friends,” he says. “They always encouraged me and reassured me that everything would be fine. Even my class teachers talked to me during these difficult times.” Aarao’s parents also seem to understand that recovery is not just medical. “They made sure I stayed positive. They got me games, movies, and my mom gifted me an electric guitar. It helped me stay positive and engaged,” says Aarao.Her support didn’t stop at helping her son stay happy through therapy or filling those tough days with games, movies, and an electric guitar so the disease wouldn’t swallow every corner of his childhood. It also extends to something less visible, but perhaps just as important in a country like ours, where Board Exams can turn homes into pressure chambers and parental anxiety often ends up being the trigger itself. Aarao says his parents did not add to the pressure of the board exams. “They told me I just had to pass. In fact, my father even said 33 per cent was enough,” he recalls with a smile. Sometimes this desire isn’t there, but its absence gives the child room to breathe and do their best.
Courage he borrowed, and made his own
In Aarav’s case, it seems courage doesn’t just come from the people around him or the ordeals he has to face. Some of it also comes from the private world that teenagers live in, and from the fictional figures who quietly teach them how to keep going. “As a person, I think I’m also influenced by the games I play and their characters,” says Arau. “For example, Leon Kennedy — he has this never-quit attitude, and I really admire that. During this journey, characters from movies and games have inspired me and kept me positive.”
A mind turned to the stars.
What saves Aarav’s story from being reduced to a one-note tale of courage is that he doesn’t just come across as ‘the guy who fought cancer and came out on top’. He also comes across very clearly as a student whose interest changes and mind is already bent on bigger questions from the next exam.Before Class 8, he says, biology was his favorite subject. Then physics took over. “It’s a subject where you need to do more than just memorize,” he says. “You need to understand a lot of concepts.” He started reading astronomy and space, physicists and their theories, even research papers. Somewhere in this movement from textbook learning to curiosity, one can already glimpse the desire that now drives him: the future of astrophysics, perhaps in organizations like ISRO or DRDO. “I enjoy learning about the universe,” he says. “So astrophysics felt like the right path for me.”
A soft definition of success
The story of Aarav Vats depicts patience, discipline and quiet strength.
Aarav now speaks of success in a way that feels earned and unusually candid for someone his age. “I don’t think success is just about numbers,” he says. “Skills matter a lot in life, and numbers or degrees alone don’t guarantee a successful career.” Then he adds the line that perhaps best sums up everything he’s been through. “At the same time, health is a big part of life. If you’re not healthy, nothing else really works.“For a boy who has already learned, first hand, how fragile ordinary life can be, this is not the wisdom of a topper speaking after success. This is the steady, hard-won description of someone who has discovered that success means little if health, hope and the will to keep going are not maintained.
