Shubhan R

BENGALURU: If you thought WhatsApp is too distracting while preparing for competitive exams, Karnataka 's Joint Entrance Examination-Main I topper, Shubhan R , thinks otherwise.

Shubhan, who scored 99.99 percentile, is a student of city’s Sri Chaitanya PU College. He told TOI that WhatsApp was his best bet to get his doubts cleared from his lecturers 24/7. “I would send my doubts to my teachers who were always extremely supportive and always responded to my questions even if it was midnight. It helped me keep pace with preparations,” he said adding that using social media in the right direction is the key.

However, Shubhan steered clear of other social media platforms the time he entered class 11. “I had to focus on my class 12 boards and the competitive exams,” he explains adding that now he will dedicate his time for Class 12 boards and prepare for JEE Advanced after that. A focussed student since the beginning, Shubhan scored 490 out of 500 in his Class 10 boards and hopes to do better in Class 12 boards. "My favourite subjects are Physics and Mathematics because it requires application but not memorising things," the topper said.

Result of JEE- Main I was announced on Friday (January 17). The final merit list will be announced by the National Testing Agency after the JEE-Main II exam in April. The exams are for admission to various engineering colleges including IITs and NITs.

JEE Advanced will be held on May 17.

Shubhan says his parents - Raviprasad and Sudha Gopalakrishnan - were also always ready to help him in any manner while preparing for exams. "I used to have a lot of assignments and if I needed a photocopy or anything, they were always there for me," he says.

The 17-year-old wants to complete his engineering from one of the premier IITs and go on to work with Google in the area of Artificial Intelligence . "AI is a growing field and I want to explore that," he said.

