JEE Advanced 2025: IIT-Kanpur zone topper's mother left home to be with son at Kota hostel

Hindustan Times

2 days ago

Akshat Kumar Chaurasia (Common Rank List 6), the IIT Kanpur zone topper in JEE Advanced 2025, acknowledged the sacrifice of his mother who left the comfort of her home and decided to shift with her son to Kota to be his pillar of support, shielding him from the stress of competitive exams.
'A lot of credit for my success goes to my mother, Vaishali Chaurasia, who happily came to Kota to stay with me in the same hostel, which many will not find comfortable enough. But hats off to her that she stayed there. I would like to thank my father, Manoj Kumar Chaurasia, who never objected to it. Had they not taken such a bold decision for my study, this would not have been all that easy. My father works at Oriental Insurance as a senior divisional manager,' said Akshat of Varanasi.
Akshat wants to study computer science at IIT Bombay.
'I believe, for the time being, technology will rule the world. From Artificial Intelligence (AI) to robotics, the world will see technology finding precedence over everything. I think we will see many more exciting things in the future. I am looking forward to studying at IIT Bombay. It has been a dream since I was in Class 9,' he said.
Akshat, who passed Class 12 with 98% marks, cracked the JEE Main and Advanced exams in his first attempt.
'It is not very difficult to pass Class 12 and crack the competition if a child is determined to strike a balance between the board exam and competition. Physics, chemistry and mathematics were looked after by teachers in coaching. The rest of the subjects were looked after by school,' he said.
Akshat's elder sister is a software engineer in Pune. She did B Tech from IIIT Bhagalpur.
Chirayu Jain (AIR 28) from Indore stood second in IIT Kanpur zone. His success mantra was to study consistently.
Shreyas Lohiya (CRL 68) from IIT Kanpur zone wants to pursue computer science either from IIT Bombay or IIT Delhi. Though Shreyas hails from Prayagraj, he appeared in the Class 12 board examination from Lucknow. His father Gajendra Lohiya works at the Doordarshan Lucknow centre and mother Vandana Lohiya is a homemaker.
A native of Mathura, Krishna Agrawal (AIR 75) is among the top five from Kanpur zone.
He appeared in the board exams as a student of Loyola International and JEE, both from Lucknow.
'After school, I used to go straight to my coaching institute. I (also) did self-study at home. Happy to crack the exam in the first attempt. I would like to study computer science either from IIT Bombay or IIT Delhi,' he said.
Prayag Tiwari (AIR 112) was also from IIT Kanpur zone.
Harshita Goyal (AIR 434) is the topper among women candidates from IIT-Kanpur zone.
A resident of Ujjain, Goyal wants to study computer science from any of the top five IITs.
'I am happy to be a topper among women candidates (in IIT-Kanpur zone),' she said.
Advay Mayank of Delhi Public School Noida has secured AIR 36 in JEE Advanced 2025. He wants to study computer science, either from IIT Delhi or IIT Bombay. The family is weighing both options. A resident of Indirapuram, he said he attended coaching for three years from Class 10 onwards. In the CBSE Class 12 exam this year, he scored 99.2%.
'Those preparing for next year's exam should practise more and take mock tests seriously as these teach you better time management and how swiftly one can finish writing answers and move to the next one,' he said. His mother, Dr Aditi Sinha, is a paediatrician, and father Mayank Kumar is a marketing professional.
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