All India Toppers: JEE Advanced 2013!

Joint Entrance Exam- JEE (Advanced) 2013 results got declared earlier than expected, on Friday, June 21, 2013. The exam was conducted on June 2. Pallerla Sai Sandeep Reddy, a student of Sri Chaitanya Narayana IIT Academy, Andhra Pradesh bagged the All India first rank. The same guy has also topped EAMCET engineering stream whose result was declared on June 5, 2013.

Interestingly, P Sai Sandeep's classmate from the same coaching institute has secured All India Rank 2 at JEE Advanced. And with just one mark separating the ranks, we have the third topper. Here’s what all the three Toppers told shiksha correspondent Madiha Jawed about JEE, their preparation strategy and IIT plans!

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P Sai Sandeep Reddy,JEE Advanced 2013 Topper

I am delighted. I have been preparing for this for the last 5 to 6 years i.e. since class 7. However, I wasn’t that serious till class 10, but picked up momentum after 10^th. And yes, of course, I was expecting to top. I had high hopes and was quite sure.

Actually since the beginning, JEE Advanced was my main target. I took EAMCET to just give it a try. I never really prepared for it.

Since JEE Advanced was my target, I started preparing for it quite early. I found JEE and EAMCET quite similar. Both had the same topics and EAMCET like JEE did not have tough and standardised questions. However, there were some portions in EAMCET that were not covered under JEE and for these portions; I started my preparations just a week before EAMCET.

I never really prepared for JEE Mains as my sole aim was to crack JEE Advanced. I devoted 12-14 hours a day towards my studies.

I am a student of Sri Chaitanya Narayana IIT Academy and that’s why I did not face much problem because the institute gives you training for both IIT and state boards.

The state board exam was very easy. Being a resident of Andhra Pradesh, it’s an advantage for us. North Indian people have to study more I guess. My overall score in JEE Mains was 311/360. 

The syllabus for both the exams was quite similar, except for some topics as I told earlier. Preparing for EAMCET was not at all tough and the questions were very easy.

I liked maths and was quite good at Maths since my childhood. I practiced a lot and it really helped to pick up speed. It was this speed that made EAMCET easier for me.

My overall score in JEE and EAMCET was 332/360 and 154/160, respectively. The subject-wise break is:

JEE Advanced: Physics – 112/120; Chemistry – 113/120; Maths – 107/120.

EAMCET: Physics – 39/40; Chemistry – 39/40; Maths – 76/80

I am vying for IIT Bombay and have no second thoughts about it as I'm quite sure to get through. As far as the stream is concerned, I am planning to pursue Computer Science.

Most importantly, IITs are the best in the country and who would not want to study in an institute like that.

The new JEE concept is not really good according to me. It has extra syllabus for JEE Mains and you need to study forcibly for Mains even if you do not want to. Moreover, I do not like the percentile and the board marks system.

In fact, even a talented student would falter and might not get admission because of the percentile and board thing. Most importantly, what I have noticed is that the board is not good at correcting exam papers, so, ultimately, it’s the student who suffers.

I scored 98% in my XII^th boards and preparing for XII^th was not a great deal. In fact, many students got more marks than me. We need to prepare well and give extra time to our studies. It’s not about the syllabus but about how well you manage your time and studies.

Besides JEE and EAMCET, I took VIT, where I bagged the 31^st rank and BITSAT where I scored 41/450(there are no ranks in BITSAT).

• Have a good study plan based on the syllabus
• Divide time between subjects based on your interest and difficulties faced
• Study topics you are not good at
• Spend more time on subjects you are not good at
• Time division is highly important, so divide your time accordingly
• While studying, complete concentration is of utmost importance
• Do not study continuously. Study for 50-60 minutes and then take a 10 minute break.
• Interact with your teachers as much as possible

A.Ravi Chandra, second topper,JEE Advanced 2013

Since my intermediate 1st year, I was expecting to be in the Top 10. However, I never expected to be in the Top 3 for JEE Advanced 2013. I am very happy and delighted.

JEE Advanced was my main focus since the very beginning and I have been preparing for it since my Intermediate 1^st year. JEE Mains had questions that were mostly factual while on the other hand, JEE Advanced had analytical and logical questions. I scored 315/360 in JEE Mains.

I am a student of Sri Chaitanya Narayana IIT Academy and the institute helped me a lot. It’s like if you are preparing for IIT-JEE, you will automatically be able to crack your state boards. That’s the kind of training we got at our institute. P.Sai Sandeep, the 1^st topper and I were classmates and sometimes used to study together.

My overall score in JEE Advanced is 330/360 and the subject-wise break up is:

Maths – 110/120; Physics – 120/120; Chemistry – 100/120

In my 12^th boards, I scored 968/1000 i.e. 96.8%

IIT Bombay is my dream institute and I want to pursue my UG there because of the job opportunities you get after passing out. Secondly, all the toppers go there.

As far as the stream is concerned, I am going to opt for Computer Science.

JEE Mains is just the same as AIEEE while JEE Advanced is equal to IIT-JEE. There is nothing new in the pattern. It’s the old pattern with a new name and I absolutely like it.

I am a student of Andhra Board. The syllabus of Andhra Board is bigger than the JEE syllabus but the depth of the JEE Syllabus is any day more.  I never concentrated on my state board and studied it only a month before the exam. My sole target was JEE Advanced. 

Apart from JEE, I took BITSAT where is scored 410/450, EAMCET where I bagged the 9^th state rank and VIT where I got the All India 36^th rank.

I would advise the aspirants taking the examination next year to pick up any good book on IIT prep from the market and just practice. Practice actually makes a man perfect. Also, the second tip is to solve previous years’ question papers. It really helps and I can assure you of this fact as I did the same.

Anand Bharoskar, Third Topper, JEE Advanced 2013

It is a pretty awesome feeling. I am all happy and satisfied because I wasn’t expecting it. I would have been happy if I got anything under AIR 100 but this is just too much. I never thought I would be the All India 3^rd topper for JEE Advanced 2013.

I have been preparing for the last two years and took coaching classes in XI and XII from Ranker’s point, Indore. Since the very beginning, my focus was JEE Advanced. My JEE Main score was 306/360. After Mains was over; I got a revision pack from both Resonance and Ranker’s point. The packages helped me a lot in realising my weak points.

I was a bit in weak in Chemistry. For Organic Chemistry, I studied from a book by M S Chauhan and for Inorganic Chemistry; I referred to a book by K Kumar. Besides this, I also solved last 5-7 years question papers.

I scored 329/360 in JEE Advanced and 94.4% in my XIIth Boards. The subject-wise break up is:

JEE Advanced: Physics – 111/120 ; Chemistry – 118/120 ; Maths – 100/120

Std XIIth – Physics: 96/100; Chemistry: 95/100; Maths: 99/100; Computer Science: 95/100;  English: 87/100

Undoubtedly I will be going for IIT – Bombay and have planned to pursue Computer Science. However, my second option was IIT-Kanpur but I dropped the idea because the academics out there is quite challenging and thus I opted the easier IIT. Also, IIT Bombay has a reputed faculty. Most importantly, being a Marathi speaking guy, IIT Bombay will be culturally close.

I quite like the idea mainly because students can prepare easily for both – JEE and Boards with ample time in hand. Earlier, IIT-JEE was conducted right after boards, so students did not get time to study properly. Now students can concentrate on their boards as well as JEE.

I am a student of Sri Sathya Sai Vidya Vihar, Indore which is affiliated to CBSE. The syllabi of JEE Advanced and Boards weren’t quite different.

Basically Board syllabus is based on NCERT and a few chapters like semi-conductors and electronic devices are not there in JEE. The kind of questions in JEE, however, are tougher than boards. Also, NCERT questions are not asked in JEE, so that’s why it’s not sufficient to just stick to it. One has to refer to other books as well. 

I had to devote a bit of extra time to prepare for JEE but it was not a tough task for me. I started preparing for JEE since 10^th but started studied for my Boards only two months before the exam. If you are preparing for JEE, boards would not be tough for you. 

Besides JEE, I took BITSAT where I got 430, VIT where I scored 244 and MP-PET where I bagged the 17^th rank.

I also took Physics, Maths, Astronomy and Chemistry Olympiads. I cleared the 1^st and 2^nd round of the Physics and Astronomy Olympiads, however, could not qualify for the third round.

I also bagged the All India First Rank in Kishore Vaigyanik Protsahan Yojana (KVPY)

• Since, I found the exam to be tough, hardwork would top the list of suggestions I would give to any aspirant taking the exam next year
• Physics , Chemistry and Mathematics are easy subjects, so do not take it as a burden
• If you dislike studies, the more difficult it would get
• Have a long-term plan for your studies and be systematic