Karnataka’s Kevin Martin is among the 15 toppers in paper 1 of the Joint Entrance Exam (Mains) conducted by the National Testing Agency for admissions to various Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs). The results of Paper-I were declared on Saturday.
Martin, a student of Nehru Smaraka Vidya Kendra, Bengaluru, took coaching at Allen Career Institute. He secured a 100 NTA score in the January 2019 examination.
Staying away from a smartphone was the key for Martin. “It took two years of preparation to be able to get this percentile,” he said.
“In the first year, I spent a lot of time using my phone. On realising that, I decided to keep away for the second year. I also stayed at the coaching institute’s hostel to get more time for studies,” he said.
Martin said even as he would appear for other competitive exams, JEE advanced would be his priority.
The first JEE (Main) Examination was conducted by NTA between January 8 and 12 in two shifts per day across 258 cities in the country and abroad.
A total of 9,29,198 candidates registered for Paper–I (BE/BTech). Among the other toppers is Sundararajan Srinivasan, with a score of 99.977, and Shashank K J with a score of 99.96 from BASE Institute.
“After the exam, I felt I could have done better. I challenged NTA on two questions in physics as all the answer choices were wrong. My teachers were very helpful throughout my preparation. I always ensured I got enough sleep, which helped me,” said Srinivasan.
Kaustabh Roy, a student from FITEE, is also among the toppers from Bengaluru, with a 99.95 percentile.
“Ranks will be declared after the 2nd JEE to be held in April 2019. For the first time, students have a chance to improve their performance. This is the @narendramodi Govt caring for students and trying to reduce exam stress,” said Union Minister for Human Resources Development Prakash Javadekar on twitter.
“The National Testing Agency declared results of the JEE Mains exam held between 8th and 12th Jan, in record time, & 12 days ahead of schedule. Made possible due to use of advanced technology and tireless team work of NTA team. I congratulate all students who did well & the entire team,” he posted on the social media site.