Tamil Nadu - Coimbatore   

They had a good grasp of the basics

A.A. Michael Raj

TNPCEE rankers prefer Electronics and Communication Engineering

Coimbatore: Two of the top rankers in engineering in the Tamil Nadu Professional Courses Entrance Examination (TNPCEE), whose results were announced on Sunday, said that their firm grasp of the basic principles in their school subjects enabled them to do well in the State-wide entrance examination.

"It feels great. I had expected 95-plus but I did not expect 98.02 marks," S. Sabarish, a student of SBOA Matriculation and Higher Secondary School, Coimbatore, told The Hindu . He had obtained the fourth rank in the State.

State second

However, obtaining top ranks was not new for Sabarish. He had been State second in Science in the 10th Standard examination and State first in French, Computer Science, Mathematics and Chemistry in the Plus Two examinations.

"I took a one-month crash course at a coaching centre where they taught us how to use shortcuts and manage our time. However, the basic knowledge came from school," Sabarish said. He had studied four hours a day for a month during the holidays, in preparation for the entrance examination.

Coaching centre

At the coaching centre, there had been a half-hour to one-hour test every day and Sabarish had worked to develop his skill at solving problems. He said that he had also gained from the coaching classes he had attended for the entrance examination to the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs).

"Skill in problem-solving comes with practice and you begin to do it instinctively," he said. He is confident of a seat in Anna University to study Electronics and Communication Engineering (ECE), but would like to wait and see whether he could get into BITS, Pilani or the National Institute of Technology in Tiruchi (formerly Regional Engineering College).

Study sessions

For relaxation after study sessions, Sabarish played the guitar, listened to music, watched television, read books and spent time on the Internet. These did not distract him from his studies. "You have to plan first, then everything becomes easy," he said. After engineering, he planned to study aerospace science.

Sabarish said that his parents - K. V. Sankaranarayanan, a biochemist at a private hospital in Chennai and B. Bhuvaneswari, a Reader in biochemistry at the Avinashilingam Deemed University - had helped him without displaying any pressure to perform. He also gained inspiration from his sister, S. Archana, a design engineer at a company in Bangalore. Teachers at his school had helped him become successful, he said.

"Get familiar with the problems, then you can solve them faster," is his advice to students planning to appear for entrance examinations like the TNPCEE.

A. Arun, a student of Lisieux Matriculation Higher Secondary School, Coimbatore, who came fifth in the State, said he had scored 97.88 marks in the TNPCEE, relying only on his textbooks. There had been no special coaching in school and he had not attended private coaching classes either.

Self-motivation

"I normally study three hours a day and during exam time, for the whole day," he said, adding that his performance had come mainly because of "self-motivation". There had been no pressure from parents. His choice in engineering was Electronics and Communication Engineering, after which he would like to take up a career in computer science.

"I have no plans to go abroad. I am going to stay in India," said Arun, who is the only son of K. Anganan and N. Muthulakshmi.

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