JEE Main exams: Amid Internet restrictions, lockdown, Jammu boy tops J&K

“It sounds easy when one says that you have to be focused, but to sustain it is not so easy,” Aryan said. “Revising the same thing again and again is not easy, especially with uncertainty over the conduct of the exam,” he said, referring to the delay in the JEE Mains — originally scheduled for April.

Mobile Internet connectivity had been suspended in J&K following the abrogation of Article 370, but Aryan said that instead of rueing the lack of high-speed Internet, he went “offline” to prepare for the entrance test. “My father Anil Gupta, who is an engineer in the J&K High Court; mother Ruchi, a homemaker; and my elder sister who also is an engineer, all played a major role in keeping me motivated…,” he said.

Based on the results of the JEE-Main exam, candidates are eligible to appear for the JEE-Advanced exam on September 27 to get admission to the 23 premier Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs). Aryan intends to study computer science at IIT-Delhi, and said that for the next 15 days, he will attempt as many mock tests as possible.