JOIN USHe cut down on physical education classes, studied for seven hours a day during holidays and prepared meticulously for entrance exams. He has now secured an enviable score in the JEE (Advanced) exam which determines the eligibility for admission into Indian Institute of Technology (IITs) in the country.
For Ananth V Kamath, a student of Air Force School, Hebbal, who secured 99th rank in the All India test, his love for pure sciences weighs more. He had also got a high score of 310 in the JEE (Main), the preliminary exam for eligibility to the Advanced test. Elated that he is, for having seen a good result out of his hard work, he is all set to keep that score aside and pursue his dream in pure sciences at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc).
Ananth had a humble perception about his achievement. “I know a few students who have secured good ranks in IIT and are choosing pure sciences. For me, it was a choice between engineering and pure science. I chose the latter,” he said. Interestingly, he appeared neither for the CET nor the Comed-K. He said he took part in Kishore Vaignanik Puraskar Yojana and in science Olympiads which furthered his interest in pure sciences. He will now be pursuing the four-year BS course at IISc. He said he planned to specialise in either Chemistry or Mathematics later.
“We do not have to choose an optional subject until the third semester. As of now I am thinking of these two subjects for specialisation. I might change the choice when I explore more during the coursework.”
Was the IISc entrance exam tougher than the JEE (Advance) test? It was not tougher but since the number of seats at IISc are far fewer, the competition was higher, Kamath said. His preparation was a constant effort. He made use of library and physical education classes to prepare for the exam. However, he also made sure that he caught seven hours of sleep every day. He underwent coaching at the FIITJEE institute and most of his reference material was from the institute, the student said.
A Comed-K topper has excelled in JEE (Advanced) too. Abhijeet Shenoi, a student of NPS (Indiranagar) who topped the engineering stream in the Comed-K UGET 2013 exam, has got an All India Rank 238. The student said he had not yet decided on the branch he would choose.