“Winner Winner Chicken Dinner” was an integral part of Vaibhav Golani’s life during the lockdown. Like millions of Indian kids, he spent his lockdown playing PUBG, Clash of Clans and other mobile games, often for 6-8 hours on a stretch! Vaibhav revealed that he had not studied anything during class 11th because of the lockdown situation. As he stands today at 59th NEET AIR with 710 marks out of 720, we can’t help but marvel at his incredible journey and commitment that led him to this rank within a year.
Vaibhav Golani is a small-town boy from Jaipur, Rajasthan. Living in a family of four comprising parents and a younger sister, Vaibhav was the school topper from childhood. He was an unconventional topper because he was not very studious. Instead, he revealed in the conversation with Alakh Pandey, he used to mug up things before the examination and get good marks by simply spitting them out during the exams.
Vaibhav used to take tuition apart from his regular schooling. This system of studying and attitude towards studies continued till his 10th class when the pandemic hit the world. During the pandemic, he spent his time playing mobile games after the online classes. His parents did not interfere much because they felt he had little to do.
When Vaibhav reached the end of class 11th with the PCB stream, he began to see academics in a more serious light. He became more aware of competitive exams such as NEET through friends and others. He also came to know the concept of dummy schools through a close friend and a PW student, Rishabh Jain, who was preparing for IIT-JEE.
After gaining more knowledge about the scope and the competition in the NEET examination, Vaibhav started looking for resources to study from. That was when he came across Physics Wallah's YouTube channel. He listened to Alakh Pandey’s advice and joined the ‘Raftaar’ batch around December 2021.
As Vaibhav’s seriousness towards the NEET examination grew, he joined the PW ‘Lakshya’ batch around April 2022 and started his 12th class. Along with the ‘Lakshya’ batch, he got the ‘Arjuna NEET’ batches (which taught class 11th concepts) for free as a part of an ongoing offer.
The school administration cooperated with Vaibhav, and he was allowed to do his NEET preparation from home without needing to go to school. During the entire year, he followed an extremely rigorous schedule, starting from 4 in the morning and going on till 8 in the night. He had roughly 16 hours of astonishing study time, out of which nearly 13-14 hours were productive.
This schedule continued for the entire year without making any exceptions. Whether it be Holi, Diwali or any friend’s birthday, Vaibhav made sure to study at least 10 hours every day. As a result, his performance kept improving, and his test scores kept getting better and better. Towards the end of the 12th class, his test scores were constantly hitting 650+.
Vaibhav was very confident about the exam because he knew he had put in the required effort. And the exam proved him right! He had more than half an hour of spare time in the examination after attempting all the questions. As the results stand declared, Vaibhav Golani has scored 710 marks out of 720 and secured the All India Rank 59.
Vaibhav Golani’s story is nothing short of a genuinely inspirational amalgamation of hard work, commitment, sincerity and self-control. He admits that there were many roadblocks in his journey, and he felt discouraged and overworked at times. His preparation time for a year was way too less compared to the mammoth syllabus of NEET. Yet, he proved that one can overcome any hurdle, given that he has enough inspiration and intention to do it.
There are significant takeaways from Vaibhav’s story for any student. Let us list them down for you:
Vaibhav Golani’s story will continue to inspire not only the students but the founders at Physics Wallah, the parents, the teachers and all other stakeholders to believe in their potential. Keep in mind that no goal is unachievable if you have enough grit. If you ever feel that doing something is beyond your individual capabilities, remember that a boy from Jaipur secured AIR 59 in the NEET exam with just one year’s preparation.
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