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Kedar Joshi

AIR 159, IIT

JEE - 2013

I come from a quiet

city called Hubli in

Karnataka, and

growing up in this

rather subdued

environment, I did

not witness the mad

flurry of IIT JEE

activity that

consumes so many children in bigger cities. I did, however, spend a couple

of years at a foundation academy that laid the first layer of solidity in my

understanding of concepts.

The academic peak of my school life was coming first in the state of

Karnataka in the RIMC (Dehradun) selection exam, but since I did not want

a career in the armed services, I decided to stay on in Hubli instead.

I had decided to aim for the IIT JEE at the beginning of my 10th std, and

when my boards results came out, the 94% on my scorecard gave me the

confidence to pursue this dream with conviction and a positive outlook.

Fully aware that Hubli isnt the most conducive place for JEE preparation in

India, I took a call (that would change the trajectory of my life) to shift my

base to Pune and started working towards a good rank at the IIT JEE. One

thing I worked particularly hard to imbibe were the 3 Ds that Lalit sir drilled

into us - determination, dedication and discipline. I was truly blessed tohave very approachable mentors in the form of the Prime Academy faculty

who are IITians themselves and could guide me with firsthand experience.

At Prime, I used to spend long days at my desk, going after every segment

of the JEE syllabus with gusto. One flaw with my approach was that I used

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really long, laborious methods to solve any problem. However, over the

years, I had developed a very effective habit of pursuing every problem till

the very end, and not leave it once the tough part was over, which gave me

an enviable speed of calculation.

One day at Prime, when the entire batch was struggling with a particularly

tricky problem, Lalit sir happened to glance into my notebook. He noticed

that while everyone else was using a shortcut method, I was lost in my own

long battle with the problem. At this juncture, Lalit sir suggested a shortcut

trick I could use, and even after starting from way behind, I remember

solving it before anybody else.

Over the next few weeks, I spent a lot of time in close quarters with thefaculty at Prime Academy, learning more such tricks, shortcuts and

workaround solutions to many types of problems. If Lalit sir hadnt spotted

me then and taught me quicker, more efficient ways to solve problems, Id

have never been able to get through so many questions in the JEE

Advanced.

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Just as important as having the right study group is practice tests, and I

had the best of both at Prime. They were just right in number, enough to

give me a lot of practice but not so many as to take away my self-study

time. Also, we had a great group with Prithvi, Jainam and Abhaycontinuously pushing me to give my best.

I remember the result day. I received a call from Lalit sir while on the bus

from Mumbai to Pune; I had an All India Rank of 159 in an exam that

leaves so many listless. Funnily, being in a packed bus, my only

celebration was an awkward, silent fist pump that vented but a fraction of

the enormous emotion welling inside me.

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My natural field of choice was Mechanical Engineering, and what better

place to do it from than IIT Bombay. Given my rank, I got in easily and

happily settled into the next phase of my life.

A year into IIT, I have tried my best to benefit from the multitudes of

opportunities IIT offers. Im now a part of the IIT Bombay swimming team,and won a bronze medal in IIT Guwahati last year swimming backstroke in

medley relay at the inter IIT sports meet.

With a CPI of 9.23 and the responsibility of being the convener, robotics

club, I am juggling both academics and extra curries, and it is a greatly

satisfying experience.

Next year, I will join the IITB team for the Mahindra Rise driverless car

competition and hopefully, many such challenges will follow.

To all those preparing for IIT, I wish to convey this. With the right

motivation, adequate resources and most importantly, mentors who will

guide you every step of the way, preparing for this exam should not only be

fun, but also a very rewarding experience.

I want to thank the faculty at Prime Academy for all their support, I will

always be grateful for your sincerest and involved efforts in helping me get

into IIT.