Teen from Ghaziabad, who quit coaching at Kota, secures AIR 8 in JEE Advanced

“I started my preparation in class 9 but I was more focused on the Olympiads then. But I started focusing on JEE in class 11. I took up coaching at ALLEN coaching centre last year,” said the 17-year-old who did his schooling from Seth Anandram Jaipuria School, Ghaziabad.

“Initially, I was never aiming for admission at an IIT. I enjoyed studying science and maths… I wanted to explore and study more,” he added.

Kedia had spent a few months at Kota but decided to return during the pandemic-induced lockdown. “Keeping myself motivated was the biggest challenge during Covid… being isolated at home was tough,” he said.

He said his biggest source of motivation were his parents and teachers who taught him everything he knew.

Kedia’s parents were born in Uttar Pradesh’s Muzaffarnagar and moved to Delhi a few years later.

Said his father Bhaskar Kedia (43), who works as a sales head for an IT startup, “The biggest challenge for any family who supports their child while preparing for JEE is the amount of investment, mentally and financially, that one has to make during this time. There is always this fear that while you’re aiming for the bes, what will happen if we do not succeed. This anxiety was our biggest challenge to deal with as a family.”

His mother Shweta (43), a tuition teacher, added, “Malay always had my support… I made sure he eats on time. We even decided not to go out or participate in other engagements so he wouldn’t feel left out.

“Malay is the oldest of two sons… We are now working on keeping our second son motivated as well,” she added.

Also among the top 10 is Prabhav Khandelwal, who secured All India Rank 6 in JEE Advanced. He had secured AIR 61 in JEE mains.

Khandelwal now plans on pursuing B.Tech in Computer Science from IIT-Bombay.

His father works at the State Bank of India as chief manager in Delhi and his mother is a homemaker. The family hails from Rajasthan’s Bharatpur district. Khandelwal and his mother stay in Kota.

Said Manoj Gupta, his father, “It is a competition and every child has their own capability. Prabhav was always interested in Math. He chose what he loved and succeeded. He did his coaching from ALLEN in Kota and gave his examination in Delhi.”

“We gave all the support our only child required. It all happened naturally. He chose the path he loved and succeeded at it. We would never advise any student to study laboriously, smart work is all that counts,” he added.

Five of top 10 from same institute

New Delhi: Five students of Sri Chaitanya Educational Institutions are among the top 10 rank holders in JEE Advanced results announced on Sunday. In the all-India open category, Vavilala Chidvilas Reddy (rank 1), Ramesh Surya Theja (rank 2), Rishi Kalra (rank 3), Raghav Goyal (rank 4) and Abhinav Chowdary (rank 7) are from Sri Chaitanya, said a release issued by the institute.

Sri Chaitanya secured 32 ranks in top 100, and 181 ranks in top 1,000, the release added.

Speaking on the results, Sushma, academic director of Sri Chaitanya Educational Institutions, founder-director of Infinity Learn, said, “Providing quality training in online and offline methods with top faculty made this achievement possible. Besides, unique programmes, micro-schedules, internal exams, and ranking systems consistently helped students raise the bar higher.” —ENS