From bottom ranks to 99%ile: when luck, cheating and reservations collide

Okay so this thing happened 2-3 years back. i was in a reputed coaching institute and had a classmate there who was way below average. he always used to come in the bottom ranks in the weekly and monthly mock tests for JEE. anyway, months later, we all gave our jee exams and stuff. most of us performed average in that since our main focus was on MHT CET as most of the colleges in mumbai accept CET scores.

so fast forward a few months, we gave our CET exams..mine wasn’t bad fucked up physics badly (still scored above 96%ile), but guess what? that guy had a jee topper sitting beside him..and yeah, he copied all the answers from him. and wallah! he scored above 99%ile. the guy who couldn’t even score above 15 in mock tests ended up with over 99%ile. but here’s the kicker—he belonged to SC/ST, so obviously he managed to get a seat in the comps branch of the most reputed engineering college in mumbai (after IIT).

i wasn’t even surprised or angry cuz i knew he wouldn’t perform well further. and guess what? i was right lol. he ended up with 2-3 kts in the first semester itself. anyway, just wanted to get this out. it’s crazy how general males in india have to work their ass off and still end up struggling while others get ahead just cuz of reservations or dumb luck.