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Journalism of Courage
Not just excelling in their academic life, but some IIT students are also using their skills to educate and inspire Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) aspirants. Thanks to their good ranks in JEE Advanced, these students have found followers on social media who ask multiple questions about their preparation plan. Encouraged by this, many IIT students have started building their content on not just engineering exam preparation but also on campus life.
JEE is taken by over a million students every year and only a handful clear it. The indianexpress.com reached out to some IIT students who while during their studies have started their own YouTube channels and are busy mentoring engineering exam aspirants.
Eknoor Singh, an IIT Bombay student, has been producing content on YouTube since 2020 documenting his life on campus. Aged 20 years, Singh also publishes videos on JEE Advanced preparation tips. He boosts 131k followers on his channel and wishes to continue making more videos as long as it complement his main aim.
The idea behind starting his YouTube channel was to fill learning gaps that most students complained of. “Through my channel, I would be able to guide students with the trips and tricks that create the difference between somebody who is scoring well and somebody who is scoring exceptionally well in the IIT JEE exams,” he said.
The Punjab boy scored an all India rank 1243 in JEE Advanced 2020. He is a final-year BTech Mechanical Engineering student and will graduate from IIT Bombay next year in 2024.
“If you realise how much of what is important to you, that is basically prioritising things, then it becomes very easy to manage time,” said Singh while responding to a question on how he manages his studies and his YouTube channel.
Singh is happy that his channel has been instrumental in giving him recognition on and around the campus. On discovering a video on his YouTube channel, one of IIT Bombay’s professors spoke to him at length about how the institute has evolved in the last 10 years infrastructure-wise and student-development-wise.
Through his channel and internships, Singh has been funding his education at the IIT Bombay without taking any help from his family members.
“Bhaiya aapne bilkul kisi dost ki tarah padhaya sahi mein 10 minute mein itna tough topic yaad ho gya. Thank you.” (Brother you have taught us like a friend …really in 10 minutes I was able to understand this tough topic).
This is one of the many comments Tatsam Ranjan received on his YouTube channel. Highly dissatisfied with the money-making content, this IIT Delhi student started creating videos on his channel. After clearing JEE Advanced (AIR 395) in 2022 and other major engineering exams with a “decent score and rank”, he wanted to give some practical advice to his juniors that can be implemented. His interest in teaching and guiding made him start his YouTube channel. Tatsam joined IIT Delhi and is pursuing a dual degree in Mathematics and Computing.
“During my JEE preparation days, I used to watch YouTube videos for guidance but was highly dissatisfied with the way many tutors were teaching. There were only two or three YouTubers to which I’d looked up and followed their guidance,” Ranjan said.
When asked how he balances time between his YouTube Channel and IIT studies, he said: “Since my school days I have been active in sports music and student councils. The key is to accept when you’ve wasted your time and then improve upon it. I use my calendar app to block time slots for events which clearly shows where my time is going. I was able to manage a good GPA along with my YouTube successfully.”
Ranjan’s YouTube videos also highlight the correct way of living a stress-free life and the way of dealing with generic problems.
This Haryana boy further said that his ultimate aim is to serve as a senior who is trusted by the students and his channel reaches a level where the aspirants do not have to search through multiple random channels to find the content they need.
“I always wanted to share the knowledge I have, therefore I will continue teaching online,” he added.
Hailing from Maharashtra’s Parbhani town, Rushi Kale thanks his elder sister for motivating him to prepare for IIT JEE. The 21-year-old was curious about cameras and got one when he joined IIT-Bombay. During JEE preparation, Kale started using YouTube more often to clear his academic doubts and then one day he came across Gaurav Taneja’s (Flying Beast) channel which inspired him to start his own YouTube channel. Kale now has 46.5k followers on YouTube.
“I connected with Gaurav Taneja as he was also an IITian and was also documenting his life. He inspired me to start my YouTube channel. However, I decided to start the channel only after my JEE Advanced. Finally, after achieving my dream college, my parents gifted me a smartphone through which I started making content.” Rushi Kale.
The main motto of starting this channel, Kale says, was not to be famous or to earn money. He wants to document his college life but as this channel is gradually growing, the IIT Bombay student aims to be the best Indian YouTuber.
Kale’s professors are proud of his work and he is making a podcast with them.
The ultimate aim, Rushi says, is to create a one-stop IIT-related YouTube channel. This final year civil engineering student wants to make videos on every IIT. He has already covered five of the 23 total IITs. His current genre is college life and JEE aspirants.
A recent video of Rushi Kale has also garnered over 1.2 million views. The video was posted on February 26, 2023 and was on whether IIT students are able to solve JEE Advanced questions. He walked through his campus asking random students some questions on JEE Advanced and presenting them with Rs 500 if they were able to answer the five questions correctly. The video received over 2,100 comments.
Kalpit Veerwa is also one into producing content on YouTube to guide students in engineering and medical entrance tests. Veerwal created history by scoring a perfect 360/360 mark in JEE Main 2017. As he achieved a rare feat, he was bombarded with queries on JEE by his peers and juniors. This Udaipur boy prepared for the JEE Advanced exam online from his hometown.
He started his YouTube journey in 2018 along with launching his own company AcadBoost while studying at IIT Bombay. His channel has over 334k followers.
While others in the IIT Bombay were sitting for internships and placements, Veerwal was hiring interns for his company.
“I wanted to come up with a common platform to guide and mentor students so that they are not only prepared for the exam but also the life ahead of them,” Veerwal said adding that his channel AcadBoost has preparation videos on IIT JEE Main, NEET and skill learning for the students of Class 9 to Class 12.
“IIT Bombay studies was not a big hurdle for me, but managing my company along with it was tough,” Kalpit recalled his journey and thanked his team and his mentors who helped him a lot. Despite a challenging third year, he completed his BTech in three-and-a-half years. He graduated from IIT Bombay in 2021 as the institute has a provision to provide degrees to those who complete their course work prior to the completion of four years.
The Udaipur boy further said that as he was the JEE Mains top scorer and a YouTuber, the entire campus knew him. So it, Veerwal said, was always motivating.
“Now, when I look at IIT Bombay, everyone is doing some or the other thing. But back then, I was among a few who had a YouTube channel and a company of their own. My channel started before things went online during Covid,” Veerwal added.
“I always wanted to start my own company but I did not know this is what would manifest into,” Veerwal said adding that he really likes to help his juniors.
“While delivering content on YouTube, I make sure that three things are always fulfilled. One is that it should have an impact, second it should be fairly practical and should be cutting-edge and third is I should feel passionate about it,” the IIT Bombay graduate added.
One of Kalpit’s videos which was on the ‘shocking realities of IITs’ has over 1 million views. The video posted on November 25, 2018 got over 1.9 million views. Kalpit in the video has asked the students not to be influenced by coaching institutes or news about placements and life after IITs. He said that students should prepare for IIT JEE Advanced only if they are passionate about the engineering field.
