JEE Main 2019: A sense of maturity and clarity on what he wants to do in future is evident in the voice of 17-year-old Vishnu Vinod, who was adjudged the Kerala topper in the Joint Entrance Examination (Mains) conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA), the results of which were declared on Saturday. The examinations were conducted all over India by the NTA for the first time from January 8-12 this year.
A 12th standard student of KE school at Mannanam in Kottayam district of Kerala, Vishnu recorded 99.9990801 percentile score in the examination. The score indicates the percentage of candidates who have scored equal to or below the particular percentile in that session. While he scored complete marks in Chemistry, he lost by a sliver in both Mathematics and Physics.
Over phone from Mannanam, Vishnu said he was very happy with the result as it exceeded his expectations.
“At the coaching centre, I would frequently top examinations so there was a small desire inside me to become the topper across Kerala. That wish has been fulfilled,” he said.
“I always liked studying, especially Maths, Physics and Chemistry. It was never a burden for me,” he added.
The foundation of his studies, Vishnu stressed, was on regularly practicing with mock tests and question papers provided by the private coaching centre. The same day the teachers would finish the relevant portions, he would go home and study them in depth and then solve possible questions on those portions, he said.
After a full day of classes at the coaching centre, he said he would get about 4-4.5 hours of useful studying time, thus clocking around 12 hours of focused studies a day. Apart from studying, he loves to read fiction and novels.
The NTA mode of examination, said the 17-year-old, was the ‘fairest’ as there wouldn’t be disparities in the difficult level of question papers. “The centre where the online test was conducted had all the facilities. Everything was done in a wonderful manner. I’m pretty happy with it,” he said.
Last year, Vishnu had got a boost in his studies when he cracked the Kishore Vaigyanik Protsahan Yojana (KVPY), a scholarship programme funded by the Department of Science and Technology, Govt of India. Administered by the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, the scholarship helps students who want to do research in basic sciences.
But Vishnu’s mind is focused on clearing the JEE-Advanced examination scheduled on May 19 and if luck favours, getting admission for computer science engineering in any of the IITs.
His father, Vinod Kumar, who is engaged in farming of cardamom and pepper in the high-range plantations of Kumily on the Kerala-Tamil Nadu border, said, “I’m very proud and very, very happy. He’s a hardworking kid and has slogged a lot. This is the result of 18 months of hard-work.”
