Ved Lahoti, a 17-year-old from the IIT Delhi zone, has emerged as the top scorer in the JEE Advanced 2024 examination, with an impressive score of 355 out of 360. Lahoti, who studied at the Allen Institute in Kota, credited his success to hard work and faith in his abilities.
"Your hard work should be of the same level. Have faith in your hard work. If you have worked hard according to your target, then you will definitely get success. It is important to practise as much as possible to learn," Lahoti said in an interview with Allen Institute.
Lahoti's father, Yogesh Lahoti, works as a construction manager at Reliance Jio, while his mother, Jaya Lahoti, is a homemaker. The teenager appeared in both sessions of JEE Main 2024, scoring 280 marks in the January session and 295 marks in the April session. He also scored an impressive 97.6 per cent in Class 12 from a CBSE school in Kota.
Like most JEE toppers, Lahoti wants to study computer science engineering (CSE) from IIT Bombay. In an interview with The Indian Express, he said that he wants to explore options in CSE, artificial intelligence and other alternatives during his first years of study at the institute and then decide his future course of action.
When asked about his preparation strategy, the JEE Advanced topper said that he studied from the notes provided by the coaching institute and NCERT textbooks. Although he relied on the coaching materials and is thankful to the institute for clearing his doubts, he did not feel coaching is mandatory to crack JEE Advanced. “A coaching only streamlines the preparation and guides in general. It can be helpful but not compulsory,” Ved said.
“A positive pressure, combined with healthy competition is necessary to clear an exam like JEE Advanced,” the topper added. He also said that he kept himself away from social media while preparing for the exam for the last two years in Kota, in another interview.
Lahoti appeared from the IIT Delhi zone, one of the seven zones under which the IIT JEE Advanced centre list is categorised, namely IIT Delhi, IIT Guwahati, IIT Bombay, IIT Kharagpur, IIT Roorkee, IIT Kanpur, and IIT Madras.
