JEE Topper Draws Flak For 'Arrogant' Reaction To IIT Aspirant’s Gruelling Schedule

The Joint Entrance Exam (JEE) is one of the most competitive tests in India. Doing well in this two-part exam is essential to get a seat at India’s top engineering universities such as the NITs (National Institutes of Technology) and IIITs (Indian Institutes of Information Technology). Due to the high cut-offs and intense competition, many JEE aspirants abide by a tightly packed schedule that leaves little time for rest and recreation. Recently, an X account named Indian Tech & Infra shared a photo of a 17-year-old’s schedule for JEE preparation.

According to this schedule, the aspirant’s day starts at 4.30 am and ends at 11.45 pm. The day is full of preparation and classes, with just two nap breaks in between, one for 15 minutes in the morning and one for 30 minutes in the afternoon. As per this schedule, the student gets barely five hours of sleep which is not healthy in the long term.

Kalpit Veerwal, who scored full marks in the 2017 JEE Main reshared this post and wrote, “I literally scored full marks in JEE Main 2017 (AIR 1) and didn’t study half as much. Students who study this much usually end up burnt out, skill issue.”

In a follow-up post, Kalpit wrote, “I had received multiple offers from Kota coachings to stay in their VIP hostel and stuff, they were even paying me to attend their classes. I rejected and stayed in Udaipur only, I used to play cricket, watch TV, etc with regular 8+ hours of studies. And I still felt pretty burnt out by the time I entered college, my whole first semester in IITB was basically enjoying lol.”

Commenting on Kalpit’s posts, an X user wrote, “This is like 100% true, most ppl in India suffer from skill issues, every high school should set up career counsellors, so that kids get a clear picture of their skills and the careers they should pursue accordingly, or else they gonna hate their job n life even if it pays in lakhs.”

While Kalpit’s posts secured thousands of likes, many people criticised him for arrogantly dismissing someone else’s way of preparing.

An X user commented, “AIR 1 and all good for you, lad! However, undermining someone else’s hard work to cope up in a shorter duration (starting preparations in 11th) while brushing off your privilege of doing so pretty early (starting preparations in 8th) and calling that a ‘skill issue’ shows how condescending you are! Stop being so arrogant for a change!”

Other than getting the AIR 1 at the 2017 JEE Main, Kalpit also became the first student to have scored 100 per cent in JEE Main. His achievement got him a spot in the Limca Book of Records. He went to attend IIT-Bombay. As per his X bio, he describes himself as an “Entrepreneur & Investor”.