Kashmir CET Topper

Kashmir CET topper’s success mantra is stress free study


Firdous Ahmad Ganai, who topped the 2011 Common Entrance Test (CET), has one— and the most important, he says advice for students aspiring to crack the exam: study without stress.

Ganai, who scored 205 marks to secure the top position in Kashmir division—and an MBBS admission in the Government Medical College Srinagar— attributes his success to “stress-free preparation.”

“The key (to success) is overcoming the fear of failure,” he says. Ganai, a resident of Palpora Khag in central Kashmir’s Budgam district, says that although he was selected for admission to BDS in his previous two CET attempts, his father, Hamzullah Ganai, motivated him to give another try for the prized MBBS course. “In the first two attempts the pressure of qualifying for MBBS proved too much. But this time around, I just concentrated on the studies without caring for the result,” he says.

“My father told me that hard work is in the hands of man but success in the hands of Allah,” says Ganai, who did his 10+2 from Iqbal Memorial Institute Bemina.

Ganai says that he studied 12 to 14 hours a day. “Time management is very important . You have to dedicate time to every subject (biology, physics and chemistry in Ganai’s case) and revise as much as you can,” he says.And how important is coaching? “I have been self studying for the past two years, but coaching is important in the sense that it helps to understand the dynamics of objective exams,” he says.

So abandoning all leisures and burying oneself in books must be taxing? “Namaz,” Ganai says, “is the best way to keep your concentration intact.”

Around 21000 students appeared in CET-2011 across the state on June 25 and 26. The students vied for over 3200 seats. There were 300 seats each in Medical and Agricultural Sciences while as 2500 seats were available for Engineering and 100 for BDS.

Abhinav Chetan son of Ashok Kumar Bhat from Jammu secured the first rank with 207 marks in the state while Firdous, with 205 marks, secured second rank in the state and first in Kashmir division.