Get a perfect 720 out of 720 marks in NEET.
When the results of the National Cum Entry Eligibility Test (NEET) -2020 were declared, Soyeb Aftab, 18, from the city of Rourkela in Odisha, found her name among the 7,71,500 applicants. He made history by securing a perfect 720 out of 720 marks.
As the student fraternity and society went wild over his spectacular feat, the sacrifice of a lower-middle-class family to use education to move up the social ladder came to the fore.
Since childhood, Soyeb has been brilliant in her studies. But academic brilliance alone does not guarantee one’s success in matters of personal and professional space and money. And Soyeb’s family understood this reality.
After earning 96.8% grades in Class X from Desouza Rourkela school in 2018, the family made a conscious decision to facilitate medical training in Kota for him to overcome fierce competition.
In April 2018, Soyeb was not the only one who moved to Kota to study XII at the Sarvodaya school and train simultaneously. His mother, Sultana Razia, a housewife, accompanied him. His father, Sheikh Mohammed Abbas, continued to work in Rourkela to earn money and finance his stay in Kota. Mr. Abbas has a tea leaf business and also deals with building materials.
“I came to Kota with the dream of beating NEET with a good qualification. As time passed, I received support from the teachers and my confidence level increased. I expected my ranking in the top 500, ”Soyeb told the media.
“When my XII results came out and I got a score higher than 90%, I thought I would be in the top 100. I had never expected 720 out of 720. Even after the test, I anticipated that my scores would be around 700. There were doubts in two questions and I was not sure about some more questions. But when I counted them with the answer sheet, I realized that all my answers were correct, ”he said.
“My father continued working in Rourkela while my mother and little sister stayed with me. He had not been home during the COVID-19 lockdown. In fact, I had stayed in Kota since April 2018 with no vacation. Probably the consistency that I maintained in the preparation was the reason for the feat that I have achieved today, “he said.
He aspired to study at AIIMS-Delhi, and owed much of his success to his mother. He noted that his father, family and teachers contributed significantly.
“If you are focused on your goal, you will surely succeed. Problems can arise and hinder preparations as COVID-19 did this year, but students should not take their eyes off the target, ”he urged.
Mother’s struggles
Ms. Razia has completed her graduation and knows the value of education. “I stayed with him to make sure he doesn’t get distracted by bad food and I didn’t even let him go to the market. I faced all the difficulties in providing my son with a distraction-free environment, ”she said.
“He has been a brilliant student since school. He had never doubted that he would not achieve the rank of NEET. It was beyond my expectations for him to create history by getting 720 out of 720, ”he said, adding that students should try their best in studies.
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