Most IITians will remember their exact JEE ranks till they die. When they meet after retirement, almost everyone is aware of other’s JEE ranks – thanks to the depatment and IIT division based of JEE ranks. If I tell you 1978 batch electrical from IIT Bombay, most of you with small research will be able to tell me – oh, below AIR 100. Well my AIR was around 250. That will surprise a lot especially my batchmates.
It is because I was a transfer from Kharagpur IIT. I wanted electrical which everybody at one first day wanted, I didn’t know why, it got filled just because my turn came, and I had the choice of electrical from either Kanpur or Bombay. Bombay seemed more glamorous – its movie industry, sea beaches etc. It was simple.
Why not remember your JEE rank exactly? Some superstition? Numerology problems? No, I saw my rank before the interview date to check that my interview was on which date. It was on the first date, yeah. Later I lost it. Nowadays, I would have taken a photo and stored in Google drive. I remembered 251, used 256 to sound more digital savvy. Finally gave up. I still don’t exactly my JEE rank.
In contrast I still remember my GMAT, GRE scores very clearly. Also have a small photocopy of them on my original website Kamal Sinha
Now, what is difference between JEE ranks and GRE ranks, which nobody tells about? Very soon – today or tomorrow.
I will tell you one thing that has saved me enough time. When I see an article, long, and cannot find what the author is trying to tell – within the first hundred words or so – I don’t read it. It will have 3,000 or so filler words to fill the editor’s order, or so. That’s all.
In contrast I read Seymour Hersh’s article on Osama Bin Laden’s assassination – more than 10,000 words, complete and with full attention, because it said Obama and the entire press of America was lying. That got my attention. That article proved to be more correct than the official versions for me.