Patna: Prashant Kumar and Pranjal Singh, both of whom are from the city, have topped from the Guwahati zone in the Joint Entrance Examination Advanced for BTech admissions to the Indian Institutes of Technology. Prashant (rank 150) has topped among the boys, and Pranjal (rank 3189) among the girls.
A total of 839 candidates cleared the test from the Guwahati zone, which includes Bihar, the north-eastern states and parts Bengal.
Prashant, who completed Class XII from DAV School in BSEB Colony securing 97 per cent, has scored 264 marks out of 360 at the JEE Advanced.
"I used to study around six to seven hours daily," said Prashant, who prepared for the JEE with Vidyamandir Classes in Patna and whose father, Manoj Kumar Singh, is a police inspector posted in Dumraon. "I used to revise the topics taught in the classroom and coaching the same day without failure. I also used to study in advance the topics taught in coaching so that it is easy for me to understand."
Rajiv Ranjan, Prashant's physics teacher at Vidyamandir Classes, said: "Prashant, with his rank, can get computer science engineering at any premier IIT."
Pranjal, daughter of civil engineer Shailendra Kumar Singh, did her Class X from DAV School Transport Nagar and Class XII from Shivam International School (96.6 per cent). She too prepared with Vidyamandir Classes.
"I am happy with my rank," said Pranjal, who wants to study computer science at a premier IIT. "I owe my success to my parents and teachers."
The results of the Guwahati zone this year are poor compared to other zones. None of the students from the Guwahati zone figures in the top 100. Last year, Patna boy Abhyuday Bhartiya had secured 104 rank while in 2016 Patna boy Ishan Tarunesh was ranked 33. In 2017, a total of 3,118 candidates qualified from the Guwahati zone and 2,468 candidates got through the year before that.
This year, Panchkula boy Pranav Goyal bagged the first rank, scoring 337 marks out of 360. As many as 1.55 lakh students had appeared for the exam and 18,138 students qualified.
