Two from Maharashtra secure 100 percentile in JEE

Gargi Bakshi

Declaration of the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) second session results on Thursday has turned out to be a proud moment for Maharashtra as two students from the state - Gargi Bakshi and Atharva Tambat - are among the 13 from across India to have secured a 100 percentile.

Both the high-scorers from the state are students of Mumbai institutes. While Gargi is a student of PACE Junior College in Dadar, Atharva is from Ryan FIITJEE Integrated Junior College in Sanpada. Both are now focusing on preparing for JEE-Advanced.

Speaking to mid-day, Gargi said, "I was certainly expecting a better score from my previous attempt, but a 100 percentile is really great. I am interested in pursuing Computer Science Engineering, preferably from IIT-Bombay. And hence I'm focusing on preparing for JEE Advanced."

"The result is really impressive. We are all so proud of her," said Dr. Makrand Bakshi, a dentist from Nashik and Gargi's father. In her first attempt in February, Gargi had secured 99.95 percentile. "She was not really happy and knew that she could do better. The second attempt has proved it," shared Dr. Bakshi. Daughter of a dentist couple, Gargi, just like her elder brother Sahil, was always more interested in the Mathematics and Technology field.

With the previous JEE-Mains score, Gargi has already secured admission at IIIT Hyderabad where Sahil is pursuing a dual degree. "That was her plan B if the IIT dream doesn't pan out and it is already secured. Now all eyes are set on JEE-Advanced, which will determine whether she makes it to IIT," said Dr. Bakshi.

Gargi has spent the past year studying online from her Nashik residence. She had shifted to Mumbai after securing admission at the Dadar college and was staying with her maternal grandmother.

This year students will have four attempts of the JEE-Mains considering the pandemic situation. Students can appear for as many of the exams as they want and the highest score will be considered for the merit list, which will be declared after the last exam to be held in May.

Speaking to mid-day, Atharva said that he was very happy, as he had not only secured a 100 percentile but a perfect score of 300/300. In the first attempt in February Atharva too had scored a 99.97 percentile. "Now all focus is on clearing JEE-Advanced," said Abhijit Tambat, Atharva's father and an engineer himself.

"He is looking forward to joining IIT-Bombay in the Computer Science stream," shared Abhijit. A resident of Vashi, Atharva studied at St. Mary's ICSE School in Koparkhairane where he ranked first in the Std X exam. "The online studies pattern actually worked for Atharva as he does a lot of self-study. It gave him more time to prepare."