JEE Main 2021 Topper Mridul Agarwal AIR 1 Interview: ‘Work Hard and Have Confidence’

Mridul Agarwal from Rajasthan is one of 18 candidates who has secured full marks in JEE Main 2021. Read to know his preparation strategy, driving force and words of encouragement for future aspirants.

National Testing Agency (NTA) has announced the JEE Main 2021 result on September 15 to all the candidates who wish to pursue their engineering dreams. Out of the lakhs of students who appeared for the national level examination, 18 students stood out as JEE Main 2021 toppers with perfect scores. Mridul Agarwal from Rajasthan is one of the 18 JEE Main 2021 toppers who secured 100 Percentile in JEE Main 2021.

Giving credit to his hard work and determination for his success, JEE Main 2021 topper Mridul is now preparing for JEE Advanced 2021 and aims to study Computer Science Engineering at IIT Delhi or Bombay.

Q. First of all, congratulations on your result. What was your reaction when you saw your scores?

Mridul: I was quite surprised and excited when I saw the scores because I felt like all the hard work that I had put in in the past two years finally gave results. I was very excited and satisfied with my JEE Main 2021 result.

Q. Since when have you started preparing for JEE Main?

Mridul: I started preparing from the 11^th standard. I took a classroom programme from Allen Career Institute.

Q. What was your preparation strategy for getting good marks in JEE Main?

Mridul: I think for JEE Main, one should be focused on NCERT. Revision is also important when you study. It is necessary to keep revising repeatedly since the syllabus and topics are too vast. This will ensure that you do not feel lost when the syllabus is completed. I also created short notes of what I studied and kept revising JEE Main 2021 Session 4. I also practised using JEE Main mock tests.

Q. Who has been the driving force behind your success in JEE Main?

Mridul: My parents and teachers. They have been continuously motivating me to do well in life.

Q. Describe your daily routine while preparing for JEE Main

Mridul: In the 11^th standard, I used to have school and coaching classes. I attended school in the morning and then the coaching classes. After reaching home, I used to self-study. Every week or two weeks, I used to attempt tests. In 12^th standard, the lockdown happened during March. Initially, there was much tension regarding how we would manage classes online. However, there was not much problem. Within a month, I got adjusted to the online classes. We had four-five hours of classes daily and then I used to spend five-six hours on self-study.

Q. Can you recommend some books that you used for JEE Main preparation?

Mridul: I was focused more on JEE Advanced during preparation and JEE Main is also covered in that syllabus. Specifically for JEE Main, NCERT is the best book. One thing I would like to recommend is NCERT lab manuals. Many students usually do not know about NCERT lab manuals and there are always one or two questions in the exam from the manuals.

Q. What is your preparation strategy for JEE Advanced?

Mridul: JEE Advanced is more of a conceptual exam so currently, I am just revising whatever I have studied. So I am just focusing on revising and studying the tricky concepts.

Q. What are your future goals? Which college and course do you wish to pursue in future?

Mridul: I want to study Computer Science Engineering at either IIT Delhi or IIT Bombay.

Q. Please relay some words to students who are currently preparing for JEE Main.

Mridul: I would like to say just keep on working hard and have confidence in yourselves. JEE Main is a competitive exam so the focus should be on not making mistakes. Even I used to make many mistakes, but coping up is the most important thing to score high. To ensure that I don’t do the same in the exam, I used to keep a mistake copy and noted all of my commonly made mistakes from mock tests and sample papers. After checking and revising them, I felt like I made fewer mistakes when I attempted the mock tests again.