No social media, negative news helped crack exam: JEE Advance topper Shubham Kumar

Kota: Not giving in to negative news and abstaining from social media helped Gaya native Shubham Kumar top the joint entrance exam, or JEE, one of the country's toughest entrance exams. According to results announced Monday morning, Shubham topped JEE-Advance-2026, scoring 330 out of 360.

Shy of a mark, Gurugram resident Kabeer Chillar secured the second rank all-India, securing 329.

Both attended classes at Kota's Allen Career Institute.    

Talking to PTI, Shubham credited his success to his parents, faculties in Kota and his hard work.          

"I had been toiling hard for the entrance exam for two years, so it was natural to expect good marks," said the 18-year-old who came to Kota as a class 11 student two years ago.  

Shubham's father, Shiv Kumar, is a hardware businessman in Gaya, Bihar, while his mother Kanchan Devi, is a homemaker.   

Although Kota has often hit the headlines for multiple cases of suicides by students, Shubham said he chose to ignore the negative news and media coverage, and rely on the ecosystem of the city which sees thousands thronging to it year after year to prepare for several entrances. 

A self-imposed social media ban and use of the phone only to connect to his parents and teachers also held him in good stead, Shubham said, adding, he would devote 8-10 hours to study in a day, and could indulge in his hobbies of cricket and badminton only on Sundays.        

"When in stress, I would meditate for 5-10 minutes," the student said.

"I think family members, cousins and friends are very helpful in moments of stress," he added.

The role of Kota, the city, contributed to his success in no small measure.  According to Shubham, exclusive study material, experienced faculties and a competitive group of students are possible only in a city like Kota and no other place.

"There should be a willpower, an urge from inside that we have to do something so that we can achieve our goal," he added. "I turned every challenge into motivation. My entire focus was on my goal. Now, I will pursue a BTech from the CS branch at IIT Bombay," Shubham said.            An elated Shiv Kumar said he expected his son's success.

"Since he had been preparing here for so long, I knew he would perform his best," he told PTI. Kanchan Devi said she is proud of her son's achievement.

On a contrasting note, Kabeer, who missed the top rank by one mark, said he would never take stress over papers or studies.

He called himself "mentally very strong" and said he needed to read a text only once to have enough comprehension to recall it when required.

While they prepared for the exam, both top rankers had one common practice: Never to use social media.

"I never use social media. I have WhatsApp and Instagram but only to connect with faculties and friends for subject discussion," said Kabeer, who also eyes a computer science course at IIT Bombay.

Kabeer's father, Mohit Chhillar, is also an IITian and software engineer, while his mother, Priyanka Chhillar is a private school teacher.

"The way he worked, it was expected that he would do something extraordinary," Priyanka Chillar said.

According to Allen Career Institute, it has produced All India Rank-1 in IIT-JEE seven times.  Earlier, Rajit Gupta secured AIR-1 in 2025 and Ved Lahoti achieved AIR-1 in 2024 from the same institute.   Before them, Chitrang Murdia (2014), Aman Bansal (2016), Kartikeya Gupta (2019), and Mridul Agarwal (2021) from the institute topped the engineering entrance Allen Career Institute's director Rajesh Maheshwari and CEO Nitin Kukreja congratulated all the students and their parents on their success.