Sneha Pareekh of Assam has achieved All India Rank 1 in the engineering entrance exam JEE Main 2022. She not only received a 100 percentile, but also 300 out of 300. She was the only female who finished first in the session 1 results and thus did not take the session 2 exams. Now, as she prepares for the IIT entrance exam JEE Advanced, the 18-year-old believes that girls can excel in any field if they believe in themselves. Only two of the 24 students who received the highest rank in JEE Main are female.
Talking about fewer females acing the engineering entrance exam, she said, “there are fewer girls in coaching classes. It is not about the potential of girls. If the number of girls taking STEM and coaching classes for JEE is the same as that of boys, then you would see more girls obtaining ranks in the entrance exams.” Advising her peers she said, “if a girl has a passion for a subject, she should follow it. It never crossed my mind that I should stay back only because the classes for engineering were full of boys or the jobs are more male-oriented.”
An aspirant of computer science engineering, Pareekh said, “I was young when Google was introduced to us. It sparked my interest in computers and have been wanting to study science since then. I wanted to know how the internet works, and what is the science behind it. ”
First member of her family to study science
She is the first member of her family to study science. Her older sister is a business student, her mother is a housewife, and her father is a businessman.
Pareekh lives in Guwahati with her family, but her hometown is in Rajasthan. She claims that mathematics was her favourite subject, but she considers herself ‘weak’ in physics. Nonetheless, she received full marks in the subject as well. She received her education at the Allen Coaching Center in Guwahati.
She claims to have begun studying at 4 a.m. every morning while preparing. She used to revise everything she had learned the day before and then attend regular classes until 12:30. She also prioritised self-study, frequently returning to the coaching centre to complete assignments and dig deeper into new concepts. She claims she did not consult any additional books and instead relied on NCERTs and notes provided by her teachers.
She devoted more time to physics because she found it more difficult. For Chemistry, she claims she did not leave any ‘backlog’ and studied the chapters alongside the classes because she believes the subject required more cramming.
She also used to take a lot of mock tests which included topic-wise and subject-wise papers as well as full-length exams. “Whenever I got fewer marks in my mock tests, I would share my feelings with my family. They always motivated me and supported me. I used to analyze my exams and work on my mistakes.”
Maintaining healthy balance is also important during exam preparation
She, however, claims that maintaining a healthy balance is also important during exam preparation. “One can easily get exhausted. It is important not to force oneself. One has to listen to one’s body for sustainable preparation. Do take breaks. Do things that refresh you but refrain from activities that are draining. I used to stay away from social media as it can start as a loop and one can go on for hours and hours on it. For me, music and family time did the trick.”
For her preparations, she has left many family functions and friends’ birthday parties. No getting the top rank she said, “I am getting call from same people congratulating me who once made fun of me for not being outdoorsy. My efforts have paid.”
The JEE topper is also a KVPY scholar. Now preparing for JEE Advanced, she aims at taking a seat in IIT Bombay’s computer science course. For JEE Advanced her strategy is to revise and take mock tests.
