The all-India JEE (Advanced) topper, who secured 355 marks in the 2024 exam, had initially scored 352, but after IITs released the provisional answer key, he was certain he couldn’t have got two questions wrong.
He challenged the two questions and after taking the feedback into consideration, IITs acknowledged one answer to be correct and raised his score by an additional three marks.
“I was determined to break the JEE (Advanced) score record,” says Lahoti.
Lahoti, who feels “nothing is impossible”, says he believes in finding logical answers to everything.
“If you are determined, everything is possible. There should be a goal in life, and it should be big. After this, hard work should also be of the same level,” he said.
“Have faith in your hard work. If you have worked according to the target, then you will definitely achieve success. To learn, it is necessary to practise as much as possible,” says Lahoti, who had set his sights on JEE (A) seven years ago and wants to join IIT Bombay’s computer science stream.
While Lahoti’s razor-sharp focus saw him through, Mulund boy Dhruv Doshi, who bagged an all-India rank of 9 and got Mumbai a spot in the top 10 after three years, believes in taking life as it comes. He says he was unsure about preparing for JEE (A) till he took his Class X exams.
Now that he is among the top scorers, Doshi, who is the son of an anaesthesiologist and a dentist, is aiming to secure a computer science seat in IIT Bombay.
A student at Rahul International School, which offers integrated coaching, he had secured 96.6% in his CBSE Class XII exams this year.
“I have always loved mathematics. And my target was to get a seat comfortably in IIT Bombay as it is closer home. But I was not expecting such a good rank,” says Doshi, adding that the mathematics portion of the exam was simpler than other sections and even previous years. In his free time, Doshi loves to travel, and play cricket and football.
Rajkot’s Dwija Patel (18) from the IIT Bombay zone, who at rank 7 is the topper among girls this year, says she developed an interest in coding after being introduced to it in Class IX. “I learnt the basics and I liked it, and mathematics has always been my favourite subject. So, engineering was an obvious choice,” she says.
The daughter of a mathematics teacher, Patel learnt some of her Class XI and XII maths in her secondary school from her father. “I knew I would get a good rank but was not expecting to be in the top 10 category,” she says, adding that the paper was relatively easier. Patel, too, wants to pursue computer science from IIT Bombay. As the exam neared, she spent 8-10 hours on preparation.
