JEE Advanced: Four from Chandigarh tricity in top 100

Pranav Goyal, 17, a resident of Sector 15, Chandigarh, who secured the All India Rank (AIR) 1 in the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) Advanced 2018, owes his success to his mentors and parents.

An alumnus of Bhavan Vidyalaya, Panchkula, Pranav was also the tricity topper in the Class 12 exams conducted by the Central Board of Secondary Education, with 97.2% in non-medical stream, and secured AIR 4 in the JEE Main.

Besides Pranav, tricity has three more students in top 100 — Neel Aryan Gupta with AIR 10, Sahil Sood with AIR 36 and Aneesh Garg with AIR 52.

Over 3,000 students from tricity had appeared for the exam at various centres in Chandigarh and Mohali on May 20 for admission to the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs).

Last year, too, tricity had produced the national topper besides two more students in top 10. In all, eight had made it to top 100.

Parents an inspiration

Sharing his success mantra after declaration of the JEE Advanced results on Sunday, Pranav said: “If you focus well, hours you put in for studies won’t matter. So just stay focused, maintain a balance and be calm. Have faith in your teachers and their guidance, and always ensure you are conceptually sound.”

His father, Pankaj Goyal, who runs a pharmaceutical company, and mother, Mamta Goyal, who too is an entrepreneur, said they are proud of their son as his hard work has paid off.

“The movie ‘3 Idiots’ was an eye opener. It taught me not to pressurise my child and let him do what he wants to,” said Goyal. “My son has always been a topper and has worked very hard for the past two years to achieve this rank.”

Pranav, who loves to play chess, watched cartoons and read novels as a stress buster.

“My next aim is to take admission in the IIT, Mumbai. Later, I want to pursue masters in business administration and follow in my parents’ footsteps to become an entrepreneur,” said Pranav, who is a Kishore Vaigyanik Protsahan Yojana (KVPY) scholar and National Talent Search Examination (NTSE) scholar. He also cleared the Indian National Mathematical Olympiad (INMO) with AIR 5 in Class 11 besides excelling in the Indian National Physics, Astronomy and Chemistry Olympiads with AIR 2 in Class 12.

Neel beats all odds

Neel Aryan Gupta, 18, of Zirakpur, completed Class 12 from Sri Guru Gobind Singh Senior Secondary School, Sector 35. Before securing AIR 10 in JEE Advanced, he had bagged AIR 182 in JEE Mains.

Neel Aryan Gupta

Neel’s success is an inspiration to everyone. While preparing for the exams, he reportedly developed a serious medical condition. On consulting doctors at the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), he was put on conservative medicine although his condition required immediate surgery.

This happened just a few days before the JEE Main exam on April 8.

“I was in severe pain, but cracking the exams was much more important. So, I decided to bear it,” he said.

Neel’s father, Deepak Gupta, is a property dealer and mother, Renu Gupta, is a bank manager. He, too, is a KVPY scholar.

Sahil gets second-time lucky

Sahil Sood, 19, is a first-year student of metallurgy department at Punjab Engineering College (PEC). After securing AIR 36 in the JEE Advanced, he now plans to pursue computer science engineering from the IIT, Mumbai or Delhi.

Sahil Sood

This was Sahil’s second attempt. An alumnus of Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 35, he failed to get a good score in his first attempt and took admission in PEC.

“Since Class 10, I’ve dreamt of studying at an IIT. I got lucky this year,” said the resident of Sector 46, Chandigarh.

His father, Sanjay Sood, is a manager at Punjab National Bank’s Sector-17 branch and mother, Preeti Sood, is a psychology lecturer at GMSSS-35.

Aneesh’s hard work pays off

With AIR 52, Aneesh Garg is the third topper from tricity. A resident of Sector 40, Chandigarh, he studied at Bhavan Vidyalaya, Panchkula.

Besides securing AIR 281 in JEE Main, he too is a KVPY scholar and cleared the INMO.

Aneesh Garg

“I was expecting a single-digit rank,” said Aneesh, who wants to pursue computer science engineering from the IIT, Mumbai. “I studied for about 10 hours a day and strongly believe that nothing can be achieved without hard work.”

Aneesh’s mother, Tinu Gupta, teaches science at a government school while his father, Deepak Gupta, is an assistant director general in the telecommunications ministry.

Bhavan students at top again

Bhavan Vidyalaya, Sector 15, Panchkula, continues to produce tricity toppers. Both Pranav Goyal (AIR 1) and Aneesh Garg (AIR 52) are its students. Last year’s JEE Advanced topper — Sarvesh Mehtani — is also its alumnus.

Eishwak Aggarwal, tricity topper in medical stream in CBSE Class-12 exams, also studied from this Panchkula school. She also bagged 90th rank in National Eligibility cum Entrance Test for medical courses. Even non-medical and commerce stream toppers were its students.

Of the five students who shared top position in the CBSE Class-10 exams with 98.8% marks this year, three were from this school. School principal Gulshan Kaur gave the credit to the school staff for helping students achieve top ranks.