Movies during study breaks helped Chandigarh boy top JEE

CHANDIGARH: Pranav Goyal from Panchkula emerged as an inspiration for many Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) aspirants by securing the all India rank 1 in the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) (Advanced), results of which were declared on Sunday.

Pranav, 16, who secured 337 out of 360 marks in the JEE (Advanced) has his eyes set on the coveted IIT-Bombay. He completed his schooling from Bhavan's Vidyalaya, Panchkula, which is also the alma mater of 2017 JEE (Advanced) topper Sarvesh Mehtani.

"I want to pursue computer science as I have keen interest in developing programmes. After completing BTech, I would want to take up a private job to get hands-on-experience and subsequently get into entrepreneurship," said Pranav, who was in Hyderabad with his parents for a felicitation ceremony by his coaching institute.

The student attributes his success to maintaining balance between study hours and breaks. "I studied for five to six hours every-day. I took regular breaks to destress myself during the exams," said Goyal, who had secured AIR 4 in JEE Mains and 97.2% in Class XII examination. He did equally well in other exams such as the National Talent Search Examination among other Olympiads. The student watched cartoons and read English and Hindi novels to help him with the exam stress.

"Punjabi music was like meditation for Pranav. He was not a nerd as he watched movies, read books and spend enough time with the family," said his mother Mamta Goyal, a proud mother.

Faculty members of his coaching centre said they had identified his potential at a very early stage. "He had the right blend of being the JEE topper. In Class 11, he studied for hardly an hour everyday. Considering his potential, we changed his study pattern and urged his parents to motivate him to put in more number of hours," said Mrinal Singh, centre head of the coaching centre at Chandigarh.