Maharashtra boy tops JEE (Advanced) 2019, says staying away from social media helped

Kartikey, who hails from Ballarpur in Maharashtra’s Chandrapur district but now lives in Mumbai, scored 346 out of the total 372 marks and secured the first spot in the Common Rank List of JEE (Advanced) 2019. He ranked 18 in JEE (Mains) and scored 93.69 per cent in the Class XII exams of the state board. Kartikey passed out of Alpha Junior College in Mumbai’s Vile Parle.

He had appeared for the exam from the Bombay zone, which includes Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka and Goa, along with an international centre in Ethiopia.

“I didn’t use a smartphone or log into social media for two years,” Kartikey told The Indian Express. He said his favourite subject was physics, but wanted to pursue the computer science stream from IIT-Bombay.

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Kartikey’s father Chandresh is general manager at Ballarpur Industries Limited and his mother is a homemaker.

In Delhi, Archit, who bagged the All-India Rank 3, said he wanted to pursue the Computer Science stream from IIT Delhi or IIT Bombay.

Bubna scored 335 out of 372 marks. “I want to pursue Computer Science from IIT Delhi or IIT Bombay,” said Archit, who studied at Amity International School, Pushp Vihar. He scored 97 per cent in his Class XII boards.

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The son of a businessman father and a homemaker mother, Archit said not taking excessive stress helped his performance.

“I had joined coaching and studied everyday for three to four hours. I was regular with my studies and that will be my advice to future aspirants too, just to be regular,” he said.

A cricket fan who also loves playing video games, Archit said he did not cut down on these during his preparations. “I watched the IPL and also played video games. It’s just about dividing time,” he said.

He said he did not find social media to be a distraction as he anyway did not spend much time on it. WITH ENS, DELHI