Goa student bags record 28th spot at AIIMS entrance test

PANAJI: Aumkar K Shah, a student of Cujira’s Mushtifund Aryaan Higher Secondary School, has become the first in several decades from Goa to bag an all-India rank of 28 at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) entrance test. Shah has made it to the first 50, earning a seat at the prestigious AIIMS, Delhi.

Shah’s classmate Rayner Cardozo has also made it to AIIMS with a rank of 211. This makes the duo a rare two from Goa to make it to AIIMS in the same year and opting to join the institute. Cardozo is set to get admission at either the Jodhpur or Bhubaneshwar AIIMS campus.

Shah, the son of organisational development consultant Kishore Shah, and Goa Medical College (GMC) professor Dr Hemangini Shah, is also a certified scuba diver and has a black belt in karate.

He even has his name in the Limca Book of Records for launching a book together with his father, while still a child.

“I used to go to sleep at 10.30pm and wake up at 7.30am. My message to other students is that even if you study for two hours, do so with complete focus. You don’t have to be awake till 2am to do well,” said Shah, a Taleigao resident.

Shah has secured a 100 percentile in chemistry at the entrance test, which was held online on May 26 and 27. Shah said he aims to pursue neurology superspecialty after completing his MBBS and post-graduation.

“I actually found the AIIMS entrance test paper quite tough because it tests your understanding of concepts. Also, question papers from 2013 are not available and I didn’t know what to expect. However, by God’s grace and with support from Aryaan’s teachers and my parents, I made it,” said Shah.

Rayner, whose father Rosario Cardozo is an electrical engineer, and mother Jenice is a businesswoman, said he wants to specialise in medicine and cardiology in future.

Director of Mushtifund Aryaan Higher Secondary School Vyankatesh Prabhudessai said he supported Shah’s view that students need not slog it out to make it to institutes like AIIMS, Delhi, or one of the IITs, but need to only properly understand concepts and study with complete focus. “We don’t want to become another Kota,” he said.

The last-best known rank at the AIIMS entrance test by a Goan was 86 by Pratheek Rebello last year. He later joined an IIT.