THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Ambiguities continued till Thursday evening in Joshua’s house, till the new ranklist of KEAM (Kerala Engineering Architecture and Medical) entrance examinations was out. Thiruvananthapuram native, 17-year-old Joshua Jacob Thomas, topped the rank list with an outstanding 100 percentile score.
“I had been preparing for JEE and my board exams simultaneously, and even had to drop some of my extracurricular activities in that journey,” Joshua said, with an affirmation that all his sacrifices are worth the achievement.
A student of Sarvodaya Central Vidyalaya, Nalanchira, Joshua was overwhelmed when his rank shifted up from fifth in the previous rank list.
He had also secured AIR 2 in the CBSE board examinations, scoring a total of 299 out of 300 in the key subjects- Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics.
“Desired course and location are our only preferences,” Joshua said. Having studied Computer Science in Class 12, he hopes to pursue an engineering career in the same stream. “Teachers used to say that rank might go up if the change in the ranklist happens,” said Renju Thomas, Joshua’s mother.