12th July 2020, 10:51 PM

It was JEE mains 2020 results day, I was waiting the entire day anxiously refreshing the website to view my results. The website just crashed over and over, I gave up and went to bed. Suddenly my best friend called me to tell me the results were out, I jumped out of bed turned on my computer and saw it:

JEE mains 2020
Percentile: 93.2727

I was devastated, all the time I put in seemed wasted. Maybe because I was not concentrating enough while I was studying. At that moment I knew I had to convince my parents that I would take a drop year and try again. However, at that time, my focus was entirely on preparing for JEE advanced as my performance in Advanced papers had always been better compared to Mains.

My preparation for Advanced has been very serious, however, its result was messed up because of the mistakes I made in chemistry.

JEE Advanced 2020
Rank: 29,903
Score: 70

I qualified. That’s it. At that moment I knew I had to take a drop and rewrite everything!

My parents were supportive, they joined me in FIITJEE for drop year, and I got 90% off its entrance test.

I got the best faculty one could ask for in FIITJEE, all our teachers were top HODs and subject experts. FIITJEE provided good material and proper worksheets, perfect for JEE preparation. I made sure to work especially hard in chemistry, analyzing my mock tests and pointing out the behavioural mistakes I frequently made.

Suddenly Covid wave 2 hit, which severely affected our family. I was the first to get infected and It lasted for a solid week, later on, my parents and my brother got infected. It was tough preparing for JEE during this time. After a while, I looked at how messed up my situation was and started taking action instead of being depressed. I believe taking action, even in the worst situations, would leave me exhausted at the end of the day, with no time to think about the situation and feel bad, allowing me to sleep well.

I had 4 attempts at JEE Mains, I thought there was no way I was going to mess this up! I was so wrong.

I thought I did everything correctly and tried my best to attempt all the questions, but this strategy backfired. Getting negatives is the worst thing that could happen! I lost precious marks because of these mistakes, I felt like I was not improving at all. My percentile for the was first 3 attempts were 94, 92 and 93 respectively, time is running out. Despite this, I never gave up. I kept on practising and stayed focused on what I needed to do.

I kept on giving mock tests in the NTA application and analyzed patterns, It helped me prepare a strategy for the final attempt:

• 45 minutes – Chemistry
• 45 minutes – Physics
• 45 minutes – Mathematics
• 45 minutes – Revision
• Mark 5 tough questions from each subject but don’t solve them initially.
• During revision, complete all other questions first.
• If time permits, do tough questions from the subject you find easiest first and so on.

In my last attempt at JEE Mains, I was able to score 218/300.

I waited for my result, I was so anxious and was not feeling well at that time. It was so bad that I had to sleep the entire day. Soon my friends called to tell me the results were out!

JEE mains 2021
Percentile: 98.7314

I was so happy, but there was no time to celebrate. I had to prepare well for JEE Advanced. However, I still was not feeling well. Despite trying to force myself to study, something was wrong. I started vomiting, had no strength and felt drowsy. My father took me to a local hospital where I was diagnosed with dengue fever. They advised me to be admitted to the hospital as early as possible. This news devastated me. I had no energy and could not even pick up a book to revise. I was constantly getting fever and losing platelets. As my situation worsened, doctors advised my parents to shift me to Care Hospital, so they did. It was even worse there, I could not even move to the washroom. At my lowest point, I decided to fortify my mind and heal myself from within. I knew what I had to do, I kept telling myself that I would overcome this and prepare for the exam. I sacrificed too much to give up now.
I started revising physics thermodynamics revision notes, solved several questions and understood their approaches, I could sleep well that night despite my worsening condition. I kept on doing this. One day, the nurse told us that my platelet count had started to rise, and I was feeling much better! They discharged me from the hospital on 21st September 2021, My birthday. I was so happy to go back home and continue my preparation.

The exam was on 3rd October 2021, I did all I could and warmed up for the exam! It went okay, I was not sure how I wrote the exam. I just waited for the result day.

JEE Advanced 2021
Rank: 16,874
Score: 90

I was genuinely happy even though I would not be getting into IITs because I knew I had given my best even in the worst situations. I can finally say, “Given the situation, I could not have done better than this” and to me, that matters the most. I am grateful for the opportunity to study ECE at NIT Kurukshetra, and I will always cherish it.