Chirag Falor, the Pune-based student, who bagged the first rank in the Joint Entrance Exam (JEE) Advanced results on Monday, said he would continue with his studies in the United States’ Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

After obtaining an all-India rank (AIR) 12 in JEE-Main exam, Falor secured admission in MIT in March but was pursuing studies online from here due to the coronavirus outbreak and subsequent lockdown.

“I have already attended classes online at MIT and will continue with it,” Falor told PTI after the JEE-Advanced results were declared on Monday.

Also read: Delhi HC issues notice on plea seeking stay on JEE Advanced results

The topper said that securing a seat at the IITs was the toughest and he prepared four years as it is just one exam but with a vast syllabus, while MIT evaluates the candidate on personality and potential and checks how much he or she can leverage from opportunities.

“I used to attend MIT classes online during the night and then prepare for IIT exams in the day,” he said.

Falor had got the Bal Shakti Puraskar for 2020 and was praised by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the time.

Some 1.6 lakh students had registered for the exam and 1.5 lakh appeared for it, with over 43,000 candidates, including 6,707 girls, clearing it.