Two students have bagged the perfect score of 720 marks in the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) this year. Akanksha Singh from Kushinagar is one of them. Akanksha is the NEET 2020 topper among girls and secured AIR 2 rank.
But the journey hasn’t been easy. Akanksha used to travel 70 kms from her residence in Kushinagar to her coaching institute in Gorakhpur for two whole years before her family shifted to Delhi.
“I used to return from school at around 2 pm and my coaching used to start from around 4 pm. I used to take 2 hours to reach my coaching institute. I usually studied during this time but while returning from coaching at around 7:30 pm, I usually ended up sleeping or resting. Once I reached home around 9:30 pm, I used to start studying again.”Akanksha Singh, NEET topper
When the pressure eased slightly, she realised that she needed to work harder to keep up with her classmates. “When I went there (Delhi) in 11th and 12th, most of the students were already very well prepared from different institutes. Initially, when they started teaching the chapter, I used to take quite some time to understand the topic that’s being taught. A lot of people picked up these topics faster,” she said.
Weathering Internet woes as she attended online classes like students across the country, she strategised and prepared for the exam.
“My exam strategy was just like most people’s. First, I used to cover Biology. I used to take about half an hour to complete Biology, Chemistry would take around 30 minutes and Physics would take me around 40-45 minutes to finish. Due to practicing during the lockdown, the time I used to take to complete, reduced. Practice helps you cut down your timing.”Akanksha Singh, NEET topper
Akanksha also revealed that she swore off smartphones for two years before the exam in a bid to tune out distractions. Neither was she active on any social media platforms as she worked to bag the NEET 2020.
Despite scoring the same as the Soyeb Aftab, Akanksha Singh was placed second in NEET 2020 because of NEET’s tie breaker policy where the candidate older in age will be given preference over the younger one.
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