Bengaluru, (DHNS): Shridhar Dodmani, a student from Excellent PU Science College, Vijayapura has secured the first rank in the Engineering stream in the Karnataka Common Entrance Test (CET), the results of which were announced by the Karnataka Examinations Authority (KEA) in on Friday. Speaking to DH, Dodmani said he attributes his success to the guidance that he received from his teachers and the encouragement by his parents. Consistent efforts, he believes helped him ace the test. Dodamani said that he would study for four to five hours every day. However, CET was not his sole focus. “Studies should be the natural choice for a student and not imposed on a student,” he said. This topper aspires to be a computer science engineer. “Logics and problem-solving interest me. I constantly revised the memory-based topics” he said.

“There was integrated coaching at college. Weekly tests at college helped me prepare.” His father is a teacher while his mother is a banker. He also secured a rank of 928 in JEE and said he would wait for JEE Advanced results before taking a call. Dodamani has also secured the first rank in Bachelor of Science, Agriculture stream. This year, as many as 1,92,905 students appeared for the common entrance examinations. Narayan Pai, a student of Sharda Independent PU College, Mangaluru has secured the second rank for engineering while Debarsho Sannyasi from Jindal Vidya Mandir, Ballari, secured the third rank. Pai said he wishes to pursue engineering in NITK. In the MIT entrance, he has secured the fourth rank . A resident of Dongarkery in Mangaluru, he said Physics interested him since the beginning. “I was studying the lessons daily,” he said. He had studied in Kendriya Vidyalaya-II at Ekkur till 10th Standard. He had scored 10 CGPA in class 10 CBSE. Sudha Pai, his mother said, “I had expected him to score well. The second rank in engineering stream has increased our happiness.”

Sannyasi secured a 98% in his CBSE boards and hopes to pursue engineering with a preference for either computer science or electrical. “I started preparing two years ago for all competitive exams with JEE as my focus. CET was covered under the same. I took extra coaching. Including school, coaching and studying at home, I was studying 12 hours a day,” he said. His family hails from Kolkata and this student was also a badminton player. However, he discontinued it during exams. Free seats Five toppers each from engineering, BSc Agriculture, Bachelor of Veterinary Sciences, BPharm and PharmD streams can avail free seats provided these students avail seats through the Karnataka Examination Authority’s counselling process.