13-year old Satyam has cracked IIT JEE twice!

New Delhi: 13-year old Satyam Kumar is not just another teenager who idolizes Albert Einstein. He is another achiever from Bihar. Satyam has already cracked the Indian Institutes of Technology Joint Entrance Exam (IIT JEE) – one of the most competitive entrance exams in the world – twice.

Last year, he became the youngest IITian at the age of 12 breaking the record of Sahal Kaushik from Delhi who achieved the distinction at the age of 14. He received acclaim and recognition but he was not satisfied with his JEE rank at #8137. This year, he appeared again for JEE 2013 to improve his rank and proved that his success was no fluke by achieving a JEE rank of #679.

Born on July 20, 1999, the boy is a son of a poor farmer called Sidhnath Singh who is a resident of Bakhorapur village near Ara situated in the Bhojpur district of Bihar. He did not attend a formal school till Class 8 as his family was very poor and the village government school lacked basic teaching facilities.

He learnt his basics at home and had a sharp memory and grasping power. As an 8-year old in 2007, his uncle Ram Pukar Singh took him to Kota where he directly joined Class VIII at the Modern School. His Principal R K Verma bore all his study expenses which included coaching for the IIT entrance exam. Satyam cleared Class X at the age of 10 and Class XII at the age of 12 after seeking special permission from the Rajasthan Board.

Satyam studies for six hours a day. He wakes up at 5 am and goes to bed at 10 pm. He also loves to play football, watch movies and check out new features on mobile phone.

“I wish to pursue Computer Science Engineering from IIT Mumbai or IIT Kanpur. I will love to do something in the field of Information Technology along with my IIT course and develop something like the social networking site Facebook”, says the child prodigy.

Satyam also aims to crack the Civil Services Exam in future as well as teach children of his home district in his spare time.

This post was published by Nishant Sinha, co-founder of askIITians.