JEE-Advanced exams: Topper Pune boy says will stick to MIT

A Pune-based boy who topped the Joint Entrance Exam-Advanced, results of which were announced on Monday, said he would continue with his studies in the United States' Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Chirag Falor, who topped the prestigious exam on Monday after obtaining an all-India rank (AIR) of 12 in JEE- Main, secured admission in MIT in March but was pursuing studies online from here due to the coronavirus outbreak and subsequent lockdown.

"I have already attended classes online at MIT and will continue with it," Falor told PTI after the JEE-Advanced results were declared.

Some 1.6 lakh students had registered for the exam and 1.5 lakh appeared for it, with over 43,000 candidates, including 6,707 girls, clearing it.

Falor scored 352 out of 396 marks.

He said a securing a seat in the IITs was the toughest and he had prepared for four years as it is just one exam but with a vast syllabus, while MIT evaluates the candidate on personality and potential and checks how much he or she can leverage from opportunities.

"I used to attend MIT classes online during the night and then prepare for IIT exams in the day," he said.

Falor, who studied in Pragati Public School in Delhi and in St Arnold Central School here till Class X, said he planned to go back to the US in January next year.

Falor had got the Bal Shakti Puraskar for 2020 and was praised by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the time.