How JEE Advanced 2021 topper Mridul Agarwal created history

With 96.66% Mridul Agarwal from the Delhi zone has topped IIT entrance exam, JEE-Advanced. The results were announced on Friday, Oct 15 and Mridul scored 348 out of 360 marks in the Joint Entrance Exam (JEE)-Advanced.

For his success, Mridul gives equal credit to his family and teachers.

Mridul's parents were over the moon and extremely proud of their son’s achievement. His mother was his constant source of motivation throughout the year and through tough times.

Mridul’s father, Pradeep Agarwal, is a Finance Head in a private company and his mother, Puja Agarwal is a homemaker. His younger brother is in seventh grade.

Mridul was always a meritorious student and was keen on cracking the IIT-JEE exam to find a place in IIT Bombay.

He scored 98.2% in his Class 10 and Class 12 CBSE Board Exams.

On his journey to achieve success, Mridul would spend about 12 – 14 hours a day studying. This included the coaching as well as 6 to 8 hours of self-study. Committed to crack the entrance, he had joined a coaching Institute’s 4-year classroom programme in Class 9 and was consistent in his preparation throughout.

When the pandemic struck, Mridul used it as an opportunity to improve and study more.

Mridul wants to pursue Computer Science Engineering from IIT Bombay and launch his own start-up once he graduates. When he is not studying, he enjoys watching movies.

Notably, Mridul's score is the highest ever score by a student in the JEE Advanced examination since 2011.

Over the past decade, the highest has been 96, which was in the year 2012 when the topper scored 385 out of total of 401.

Reportedly, a total of 41,862 candidates have qualified in JEE-Advanced this year, of whom 6,452 are female candidates.