Tolyatti student gets 100, 100, 94 on exams

A graduate of School No. 61 in Tolyatti, Darya Byakova scored 100 points on the Russian language Unified State Exam, 100 points on physics, and 94 points on specialized mathematics. She is now choosing among top Russian universities.

In an interview with TOLYATTY.RU, the young woman shared how she prepared for the exams, how she relieved stress, where she plans to enroll, and how colored pens help in preparing for the Unified State Exam.

‘I Lay in Bed with Books, My Eyes Closing’

— Dasha, congratulations on the brilliant result! Tell us, why did you choose physics, Russian language, and specialized mathematics?

— It all started back in the ninth grade, when we were taking the Basic State Exam and needed to gradually determine what I gravitate toward — the humanities or the exact sciences. At that time, I took physics and social studies and realized that physics comes easier to me: I have a good feel for the subject and understand it. So choosing physics for the Unified Exam was quite logical.

Computer science, let’s say, doesn’t inspire me, so I preferred physics paired with specialized mathematics. I also grasp mathematics fairly well, but I prepared for it especially thoroughly — it took up the lion’s share of my time and effort.

— How were things with your studies? Were you an all-round excellent student from first grade?

— Yes, practically all my school years I studied with straight A’s; I earned ten commendation certificates. Studying came easily: I never crammed anything, and my parents didn’t check or help with homework — I handled everything entirely on my own. At the same time, you couldn’t call me a ‘nerd’: I didn’t sit hunched over textbooks and notes for days on end. There was always time for friends — we hung out, had sleepovers — and for dancing. For a long time, I did jazz-funk, and then I switched to high heels dancing.

In tenth grade, I joined a gym. At that time, it was almost a fad — everyone suddenly started going to fitness, and I thought: why not, especially since the club was within walking distance from home. My mother and I bought memberships on a promotion and started attending group classes, strength training, and even the pool together. That helped me switch gears and relieve psychological tension. When you study all day long without a break, it’s hard, so unloading is essential.

About a month before the exams, I stopped going to the gym: intensive review courses started at the online school, and there was neither time nor energy left for sports. After the Unified Exam, I returned to activity gradually — I started doing Pilates and stretching.

I’m also grateful for my family’s support. My mother supported me with small daily phrases and pleasant little things. She would come into my room, put out sliced fruit, and say: ‘Dashinka, I love you’ — that was very encouraging. My father also supported me with words and spoiled me with treats. My sister is currently studying at Kazan Federal University (KFU); she finished her third year. We called each other when we both had time, and I would complain: ‘Oh, I’m so tired of all this.’ Her support helped a lot.

— When did you start preparing purposefully for the Unified State Exam?

— I took my first steps back in tenth grade: I did assignments, watched webinars, but I didn’t put serious emphasis on the exam. I did it more so that eleventh grade would be easier: to build a foundation, rather than face a huge volume of information from scratch.

In eleventh grade, preparation became more thorough. The first semester went relatively calmly: after summer, you’re just getting into rhythm, everything is just beginning. But after New Year’s, I realized the exam was imminent and I needed to go all out — study more, review more actively. I had a specific goal — to get into a state-funded program in St. Petersburg. There, competition is fierce: at the universities I was considering, the passing score started at 250. Of course, there are lower ones, but those were not the universities I was aiming for.

— What did your typical day look like in eleventh grade?

— I woke up about an hour before I had to leave home. I didn’t even think about makeup or extra preparation — I had no energy, I just wanted to steal extra minutes of sleep. I walked to school; the first two lessons I actually came to my senses, and by the third lesson, my brain woke up and finally started working at full capacity. After classes, I returned home, grabbed a snack, and immediately sat down for webinars. Often, there were three a day, and then I started on homework.

Sometimes the volume of information was so great that I stayed up late, eventually lying in bed with books, my eyes closing. When I felt I had reached my limit and couldn’t take it anymore, I would switch off. Most often that happened well after midnight. Staying in that mode for a long time is an incredibly draining mental ordeal.

How many pens I used up, how many notebooks! I spent a whole sum on stationery. For math classes, I bought large A4 notebooks with 96 pages — just in the last six months, I accumulated about five. Plus correctors, markers, colored gel pens — all of that was actively consumed.

— Do colored pens help you find solutions to math problems?

— Absolutely. For example, in tasks with parameters, which are often solved graphically, it was much more convenient and even pleasant for me to draw lines, curves, and circles in different shades. That’s more visual than in the exam, where only a black pen is allowed: axes, graphs — everything blends, and sometimes it’s hard to immediately figure out where is what. On the actual exam, I even got a bit flustered because of that and worried I would make a mistake, but in the end, I got the maximum score on that task.

In geometry, color also helps — you can highlight additional constructions, mark an important segment or part of the drawing to focus on the key element.

— And in physics, what is more important — knowing formulas or understanding processes?

— Actually, both are important, but the key point is understanding in which situations to apply which formula. The simplest one I would call Ohm’s law for a section of a circuit: current equals voltage divided by resistance, that is I = U / R. And I’m hard-pressed to pick the most difficult one: for me, they are all about the same level.

I spent relatively little time on physics because that subject came easier to me. Mathematics is objectively harder, and the volume of material is noticeably larger. That’s even evident from the number of answer sheets: on the physics exam, you usually use five or six sheets for extended answers, while for mathematics, you can easily get up to twelve.

— When was it especially hard for you?

— Objectively — in May. There was less and less time left before the exam, and suddenly I realized: you’ve studied for eleven years, you’re graduating, leaving, becoming an adult. You don’t know how life will turn out, where you’ll get in, if they’ll give you a dormitory. If not, what then? Rent an apartment, live with relatives? Many questions. And they still worry me now. An anxious period.

‘A C Student Can Also Get 100 Points on the Unified Exam’

— What role did school play in your preparation? Did they help?

— We regularly wrote practice exams, and I could always approach the teachers, ask questions, clarify unclear points. The math teacher genuinely cared about my result and supported me at every stage. The Russian language teacher was very demanding, and that only helped: such strictness disciplines you, helps you truly learn the material and firmly consolidate it.

The principal also helped; Andrey Viktorovich Kordik came when I moved to eighth grade, and with his arrival, noticeable changes began at the school: they equipped a sports ground, renovated the gym, and, as far as I know, they now plan to update the cafeteria and replace the fence. All this movement inspired us students!

— Tell us honestly, can you get a high score on the Unified Exam relying only on school, without tutors?

— I know examples where graduates prepared exclusively at school and got the maximum 100 points. But, honestly, the time spent in lessons from 8 a.m. to about 2 p.m. is not enough for many to achieve a serious result. Even with the greatest desire.

After classes, you still need to continue working: study with a tutor, use online schools, solve practice papers on your own. I am convinced that turning to a tutor is by no means a sign of weakness, inability, or poor school preparation. It is simply an assistant on the path to the goal. I myself studied at an online school, attended group classes, watched webinars, bought preparation courses…

I also firmly know: even a student who used to get C’s and B’s is capable of scoring high on the Unified Exam, if they really get motivated, set a clear goal, and start preparing hard. School grades are not at all an indicator of intelligence. They are rather a reflection of attitude toward studying, and that at a particular moment. The last two years, and sometimes even just one eleventh grade, as I now understand, can radically change the situation.

‘A “Gentleman’s Set” Won’t Be Enough’

— What essay topic did you get on the Russian language exam?

— The topic was: “What kind of person can be called truly cultured?” The author of the text is Korney Chukovsky. In the essay, we needed to show the author’s position, give two examples with explanation, analyze the semantic connection, provide our own example, and write a conclusion.

The text told how Chukovsky asked a female student to read aloud to him so he could rest a bit and listen. He chose Gogol’s “Nevsky Prospekt” for her. The girl read absolutely monotonously, without any feeling — she just moved her eyes over the lines. The author himself sincerely admired the text, noting how many “verbal fireworks” there were, what vivid images. He saw all this richness, but the girl remained indifferent, not delving into the content.

The main idea of my work boiled down to the fact that a cultured person is someone who can experience admiration for art: music, poetry, literature. Such a person has a rich inner world. I especially remembered the phrase that before the girl lay a beautiful multicolored patterned fabric, but it seemed gray and monochrome to her. I used this image in my essay and built the analysis of the semantic connection on contrast: on one side, the student’s complete indifference; on the other, Chukovsky’s reverent perception of every literary device. That way I managed to show the difference in perception and depth of the spiritual world of two people.

— Was the physics exam difficult?

— When I saw the test materials, I just sat and laughed at how lucky I was! The first part was easy, although in a couple of tasks I doubted: the wording was a bit strange, unusual. The second part also turned out simple; I was more worried about the formatting, to write everything correctly, not make any mistakes so they wouldn’t deduct points for carelessness, and in the end everything was fine.

— What was the hardest on the specialized math exam?

— In specialized math, there is the so-called gentleman’s set: that’s the first part and the second part, which includes seven high-difficulty tasks. Among them are a trigonometric equation, an inequality, an economic problem. But for a high score, the gentleman’s set is not enough — you need to solve complex problems, for example with parameters.

To handle such a task, it is not enough to just find the roots — you also need to understand how they behave when the parameter changes. And to do that, you have to draw on several branches of mathematics: algebra, properties of functions, and graphs. You need to combine all of that.

Another important point is formatting. On the Unified Exam, they look not only at the answer, but also at how you reason. Each step needs to be explained, each case considered separately. If you keep silent somewhere or miss a variant, they immediately deduct points. So it’s not just math that matters, but also clarity and attention to detail. I wrote 94 — for me, that’s a wonderful result.

‘Is This a Dream?’

— How did you find out about the first 100 points? Remember your first reaction.

— The first hundred came in Russian. My parents just screamed with joy, and I screamed too. I never wrote a single practice test with 100 points: the maximum was 94 or so. Before the results, I allowed that it could be 100, but I knew that much depends on the strictness of the grader. There is the human factor, typos, the computer might misread a digit. Such little things can prevent you from getting a hundred.

For physics, it was already the second hundred. I found out about it when my homeroom teacher called me, and that woke me up. Mom had just come in to wake me up. They tell me I have 100 points, and I ask: ‘Is this some kind of dream?’ Mom and Dad were very happy, all the relatives called, congratulated, rejoiced, and said they were proud of me.

— Where do you plan to enroll?

— I’m still deciding on fields. I’ve already chosen universities: ITMO, SPbU, and LETI, all in St. Petersburg. I’m in love with that city; I dream of studying and living there. As for a profession, I lean more toward work related to physics, but I don’t rule out going into IT.

— Why St. Petersburg instead of Samara, Kazan, or Moscow?

— The first time I went with my sister to that city was in the summer after tenth grade. The second time I was there in eleventh grade, when a friend and I attended the spring school at the Faculty of Physics at SPbU. Classes lasted until four, and then we went to the center, wandered the streets, relaxed, popped into cozy cafes. That gave me a great mental break because studying was nonstop. During that visit, I fell in love with St. Petersburg completely and irrevocably.

— Do you agree with the opinion that the Unified State Exam is a big stress for students and should be abolished?

— The Unified State Exam is a mentally extremely difficult ordeal, especially when you’re aiming for a top university. At the same time, it’s the most convenient and fair option: imagine having to travel around to different cities and take exams for each university separately. Here, the task is maximally clear: prepare, give your best, and write for the maximum. A lot depends on your own attitude, on the belief that you can do it. It’s just a stage you need to get through with the thought: ‘I did everything I could.’