KOTA: Avoiding negative news and staying away from social media helped Gaya native Shubham Kumar top the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE Advanced), one of India’s toughest engineering entrance exams.
According to results announced on Monday morning, Shubham secured AIR 1 in JEE Advanced 2026, scoring 330 out of 360. Gurugram resident Kabeer Chillar missed the top rank by one mark, securing AIR 2 with 329 marks. Both students had been preparing at Kota’s Allen Career Institute.
Speaking to PTI, Shubham credited his success to his parents, faculty members in Kota, and his own hard work.
“I had been preparing for the entrance exam for two years, so it was natural to expect good marks,” said the 18-year-old, who moved to Kota as a Class 11 student two years ago.
Shubham’s father, Shiv Kumar, is a hardware businessman in Gaya, Bihar, while his mother, Kanchan Devi, is a homemaker.
Although Kota has often been in the news due to student suicides, Shubham said he chose to ignore negative news coverage and instead focus on the ecosystem of the city, which attracts thousands of students every year for competitive entrance examinations.
A self-imposed ban on social media, using his phone only to communicate with his parents and teachers, also helped him, he said. He studied for eight to ten hours a day and reserved Sundays for hobbies such as cricket and badminton.
“When I was stressed, I would meditate for five to ten minutes,” he said.
He added that family members, cousins, and friends played an important role in helping him cope with stress.
According to Shubham, Kota’s environment also contributed significantly to his success.
“Exclusive study material, experienced faculty members, and a competitive peer group are available only in a city like Kota,” he said.
“There must be strong willpower and an inner drive to achieve one’s goal,” he added. “I turned every challenge into motivation. My entire focus was on my goal. Now, I will pursue a BTech in Computer Science at IIT Bombay.”
An elated Shiv Kumar said he had expected his son’s success. “Since he had been preparing here for so long, I knew he would perform well,” he said.
Kanchan Devi said she was proud of her son’s achievement.
On a contrasting note, Kabeer, who missed the top rank by one mark, said he does not take stress over examinations. He described himself as “mentally very strong” and said he can understand and recall a text after reading it once.
While preparing for the exam, both toppers followed one common practice: avoiding social media.
“I never use social media. I have WhatsApp and Instagram only to connect with faculty and friends for academic discussions,” said Kabeer, who also aspires to pursue Computer Science at IIT Bombay.
Kabeer’s father, Mohit Chhillar, is an IIT alumnus and software engineer, while his mother, Priyanka Chillar, is a private school teacher.
“Given the way he worked, it was expected that he would achieve something extraordinary,” she said.
According to Allen Career Institute, it has produced the All India Rank 1 in IIT-JEE seven times. Earlier, Rajit Gupta secured AIR 1 in 2025 and Ved Lahoti achieved AIR 1 in 2024 from the same institute. Previous toppers include Chitrang Murdia (2014), Aman Bansal (2016), Kartikeya Gupta (2019), and Mridul Agarwal (2021).
Allen Career Institute director Rajesh Maheshwari and CEO Nitin Kukreja congratulated the students and their parents on their success.