‘Always Ask Questions,’ Advises NEET-UG Topper Tanishka

With 715 out of 720 marks, Tanishka from Haryana’s Naraul has topped the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET-UG) 2022. For the last two years, she had been studying in Rajasthan’s Kota – the hub of coaching – and managed to achieve what many aspirants write on their walls in their rooms in Kota: AIR 1.

AIR stands for All India Rank. The Indian Express reported that Tanishka is the “first candidate from the OBC-NCL (OBC-non creamy layer) category to have topped the NEET-UG 2022 nationally.”

She scored 98.6 percent in her class 12 Boards this year, and even cleared the JEE-MAINS with a whopping 99.5%.

Tanishka said, “It’s been my dream to study at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Delhi. I want to pursue my MBBS there. I believe this profession lets you help people and makes you feel good and satisfied at the end of the day.”

She told The Indian Express that she wants to “do a specialisation in cardio, neuro or oncology.”

She said that she had heard a lot about the coaching institutes in Kota. She said, “I had heard that these institutes are the staircase to achievement, so I told my parents that I need to go and study there. They agreed. This was the right choice for me to make as the weekly and monthly tests and the discipline greatly helped me.”

She credited her parents for scoring the number AIR 1 in the exams.

Her parents are government school-teachers in Haryana. She said;

My parents supported me even when I did not score very well. They didn’t put any pressure of marks on me. They only motivated me to work hard.

Tanishka Yadav

Tanishka's father Krishan Kumar told Hindustan Times that her teachers often told him she will do well. He said, “She never loses her temper, and is self-disciplined. I hope my daughter’s success will motivate other girls too.”

Apart from studying in Kota and being disciplined, she said that one thing that helped her greatly was “asking as many questions as possible.” She said, “It only helps you understand concepts better.”