MUMBAI: The results of the JEE (Main) exam, the first step in the quest for a seat in the IITs and other top tech institutes of the country, threw up a unique surprise on Monday. All the top six all-India rankers scored 350, forcing the CBSE to apply several tiebreakers.
Finally, Andhra Pradesh’s
Suraj Krishna Bhogi topped with a score 350. K V
Hemant Kumar Chodipilli, also from Andhra, stood 2nd with the same score. Parth Laturia from Maharashtra’s Nanded who had travelled to Kota to prepare for JEE came third, again with 350.
The overall cut-off for all categories slipped considerably in this year’s exam. The common rank list cut-off dropped from 81 to 74. Around 10,000 more students qualified this year to take the JEE (Advanced), the passport to the Indian Institutes of Technology, bringing the cut-off down.
Topper wants to pursue Computer Science from IIT-Bombay
The all-India topper from Andhra Pradesh has set his eyes on IIT-Bombay, like many other aspirants.
“He wishes to pursue Computer Science from the institute,” said his father Hari Krishna. The topper’s father said Suraj was yet to reach home in Vijayawada from his coaching institute and was planning to return only after the Advanced exam. “We are very proud of him,” said the father. Hari works at a local supermarket in Vijayawada and has a younger daughter. “She too wants to go to
IIT like her brother,” he said.
“The success in JEEMain brought me a step closer to achieving my aim of becoming an engineer in computer science,” said Laturia from Kota. Son of doctor parents, Laturia chose engineering due to his interest in mathematics.
“Everyone expected me to become a doctor but my inclination towards maths has pulled me to engineering. I wanted to make my career in applied mathematics,” said an elated Laturia.
Three Delhi students figured in the top 20. Delhi state topper, Simar Preet Saluja, bagged the 9th position with a score of 345.
A student of DPS-R K Puram, Saluja was also a Delhi topper in the National Talent Search Examination conducted by the National Council of Educational Research and Technology in 2016, and the Kishore Vaigyanik Protsahan Yojana (KVPY) exam.
Math whiz Bhaskar Gupta, with an all-India rank of 7 (score of 345), emerged the Mumbai topper.
“I am passionate about maths. I find the subject very easy as it has no theory, but only equations,” said an ecstatic Gupta, whose father is an IITian and mother a doctor. A student of Jamnabai Narsee School till class X, Gupta has his sights trained on the computer science degree from IIT-Bombay.
“JEE (Main) was just a screening test for the Advanced exam. My focus will be on JEE (Advanced) preparation for the next three weeks,” said Gupta.
“Some of the students he met during his participation in the Junior Science Olympiad were also in Kota. So he decided to enrol in one of the leading coaching institutes there,” said his mother Alpana.
(Inputs from Shoeb Khan, Krittika Sharma and K Venkat)
Suraj Krishna Bhogi with his family.