City boy gets 17th all-India rank

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, April 27

Prabhpreet Singh Sodhi, a student of Apeejay School Jalandhar, has secured the 17th all-India rank in the JEE Main exam whose result was declared today.

A resident of Urban Estate Phase I in Jalandhar, Prabhpreet who aspires to pursue engineering in the computer science stream said he had never imagined that he would score so high, leave alone secure an all-India rank. Expressing thanks to God, his teachers, brother and parents for supporting him all through, Prabhpreet especially thanked his teachers Prof Sanjeev Nanda, Prof Vikas, Prof PP Singh and Prof Sachin for helping him prepare for JEE Mains.

While his father Jasjit Singh Sodhi is a Social Compliance Auditor, his mother Vimaljeet Kaur Sodhi is a science teacher at a government school. His elder brother Simranjeet Singh Sodhi is pursuing MBBS course at Safdarjung Hospital in New Delhi.

Prabhpreet said an atmosphere of academics prevailed at his home right since his childhood. “Although my brother is into biology, I was into mathematics. Even though there was a strong support system for me in the medical field, given my choice, my parents never pressurised me to opt for the medical profession and let me stick to my choice in engineering.”

Speaking on what made him stand above the rest in studies, Prabhpreet who aspires to make it to IIT Delhi if he hits a high spot in the JEE Advanced exam scheduled for May 21, said, “There was no special plan. I just stuck to my tuitions religiously and spent four to five hours studying every day, during which time I laid emphasis on quality not quantity.”Currently living with his parents and grandparents in Jalandhar, Prabhpreet’s hobbies include listening to music and activities like social networking during his free time.

Prabhpreet first, Vittal Bhandari second in district

While Apeejay School student Prabhpreet Singh Sodhi has bagged the first position in the state and district and 17th all-India rank in the JEE Mains exam, Vittal Bhandari of DPS School bagged the second rank in the district (all-India rank 1,558).

Harkirat Singh Arora of Swami Sant Dass Public School bagged the third position in the district (all-India rank 1,689) in the JEE Mains exam and Harnoor Dingra of MGN Public School (all-India rank 3,000) stood fourth in the district.

Speaking to The Tribune, Vittal Bhandari thanked his mother for the efforts put in for his studies. Vittal’s mother Sonu Bhandari and sister Nidhi Bhandari had been his prime motivation for his studies. Vittal, who lost his father in 2002, said, “My mother has supported me all through my studies. She has never questioned my choices. Nor has she ever pressured me for the same.”

While Vittal studies primarily in the morning, he said he spent his remaining time watching TV. Meanwhile, city fourth ranker Harnoor Singh, the son of doctor parents MD medicine Dr SS Dhingra and pathologist Dr Parvinder Dhingra, bagged 231 marks in the JEE mains. While Harnoor studied for eight to nine hours daily, he has also bagged second rank in the state and first in the district in the NTSE exam last year, also clearing the nationals.

Meanwhile, 10 students of Apeejay School also qualified for the next level of the exam. These students include Abhay Jolly, Akshit Walia, Shreya, Prabal Aggarwal, Tushar, Rajat and Lakshay. From Swami Sant Dass School, six students have qualified for the next level of the exam. These include Harkirat Arora as well as Prabhpreet Singh Hora, Divyanshu, Simran, Aadil and Harpreet Kaur.

From MGN Public School, eight students qualified in the JEE Mains. These include Harnoor Dhingra, Navlakshya Basra – all-India rank 6,959, Harsaroop Singh, Rohit Kumar, Mohit Sharma, Sushil Kanith, Raghav Dahwan and Arpit.

From Innocent Hearts School, Abhishek Arora, Abhishek Kochar, Manoj Kochar, Ashwani Gupta, Narender Kumar, Harsh Verma, Lalit Kumar and Vishal Arora cleared the JEE Mains examination.