The National Testing Agency declared the JEE Main 2021 (February Session) results for Paper 1 (BE/BTech) on March 8, 2021. The JEE Main examination was conducted by the NTA from February 24 to 26, 2021. This was the first out of four Joint entrance exams for engineering to be held this year. This year, Pravar Kataria a student of Pragati Public School, Dwarka affiliated to the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has made his city proud by scoring an impressive 100 percentile by getting 296 out of the total of 300 marks. We got a chance to speak to Pravar to know more about his JEE preparation.
What was your first reaction when you heard your score?
I had already looked at the answer key beforehand and calculated my scores. So it didn't really come as a shock as I was almost confident I will score a good enough rank. I wasn't sure about the 100 percentile but that makes me really happy now.
Why do you want to study engineering? Which branch would you be interested in?
Mainly because I am interested in Mathematics, I was always interested in formulae and theorems since I was a kid. I have plans to take up Computer Science engineering. There's no specific reason for choosing this but the market right now is good for CS and there are jobs readily available.
When did you start your JEE Main preparation? What was your strategy and daily routine like?
I began preparing for JEE since I was in Class 11, however, I did not put in extra time for JEE preparations at that time. By the time I was promoted to Class 12, the lockdown had begun in India already. In the initial days, I couldn't gather enough motivation to study and thought to myself that there's still a lot of time to prepare. My teachers and family members helped get me through this phase. Then I began devoting at least 10 hours a day to my studies. Weeks before the exam I solved a lot of sample papers, which helped me to identify my strengths and weaknesses and focus on those.
Would you say coaching helps?
Coaching guides us in the right direction. Teachers at Aakash were very supportive, my peers were also quite motivating, which helped me to concentrate on what I was preparing for. Things become much easier when you have someone to guide you. They also provide study material that is quite effective.
How was it different from other years given the pandemic situation?
We coped with the new normal as we had to take the exam anyhow, otherwise, we would have lost a year. COVID-19 protocols were followed at the centres and we didn't worry about that much.
