Hi.

I can understand that this might be a stressful time for you right now. The most important thing is that you can’t lose focus. There is always another way. I’ll try to list as many options as I can. But remember that these aren’t your only options, there’s always another way.

1. If IITs, NITs, or IIITs are all you can think about then you can drop a year. You will have to work extremely hard. Judging by your current performance, I think if you study about 13–14 hours a day apart from coaching( I mean 13–14 hours of self study) then you can drastically improve and get much better rank. Although I wouldn’t be sure about this option. I’ll tell you why. It might seem easy to work your ass off for another year. But trust me it’s not. I’m a dropper and I can personally tell you, it’s not at all easy. I won’t even talk about how hard physically it is to sit at a table for 13–14 hours a day and about 5–6 hours in a classroom. I’m talking about the mental pressure from parents, relatives, society, and peers. Your parents might be supportive of you. But the thought that dropping a year is going to cost them a lot of money can stress them and this is a poison for you in it’s own. You feel like you have disappointed them which is the worst thing ever. Also when all your friends are going to college and enjoying college life it’s not easy to ignore all the social media, Instagram, and whatsapp statuses. Also it’s difficult like hell to complete a syllabus of 2 years in less than 8–9 months. BUT, if you think you can keep a straight mind and focus on your studies without being discouraged, demotivated and sidetracked, then you can drop a year.
2. Try giving out other engineering exams. There are many state level exams that can get you an admission in engineering colleges if you can just clear the cut-off. If you work hard enough now, you might be able to clear these exams as well.
3. There are some colleges in India that give direct admission to students. Although they might be costlier(I’m not sure), they can be your best option right now. Some of the best colleges that give direct admission are
1. Sharda University
2. ITM University Gurgaon
3. Lovely Professional University
4. Amity School of Engineering and Technology.
   
   I have a friend in Lovely Professional University who didn’t even appear for JEE mains and got admission.
4. If you are going to drop a year, you have the wonderful option to appear for improvement exams for class 12th boards. You will have a shit-load of time to prepare much better and give your exams again and score perfect marks. If you use this time correctly you can even score extremely good marks like 90–95%. Some people argue that if you appear for improvement then when you sit in an interview for a job, you will not make a good impression as the interviewers will know you have appeared for improvements. But that is bullshit. A friend of mine who was 2 years senior to me dropped a year and appeared for improvement exams and when got to the interview the impression was of that he had better clarity on concepts as he had studied the entire syllabus twice. He got the job and with the same payment as the other people who were there for the job and had much better percentage than him in 12th.
5. Try giving a thought to careers other than engineering. I highly advise against taking admission in engineering unless this is what you enjoy and love doing. Don’t take admission in engineering colleges because this is what others are doing or your cousin is doing or your best friend is doing. The competition for Engineering is growing exponentially and the no. of candidates is far far more than the no. of jobs available. This is why thousands of engineers are sitting unemployed with their B. Techs in hand. Try giving a thought to other streams like law, teaching, sports, music, business, arts, performing arts, railways, banking, or other government jobs, etc. etc.
6. Try talking to your school teachers about career options. Go talk to you Physics or Maths or Chemistry teacher or any other teacher who you are close to. They know much better. They have taught thousands of students over the years and know you best. They can tell you what career might suit you best. Teachers often get very attached to 12th students because they get to spend so much time with them. In my school all the teachers who we were so afraid of when we were kids, became our best friends when we were in 12th. Many of my batch-mates who failed or got poor marks went to them for counselling and every one of them found out their best opportunities.
7. There are many careers that are gaining popularity these days. However to make a decent living out of these might a gigantic challenge. As these are not yet developed in our country as much as they should be. These include being a youtuber or twitch streamer or gamer. These are careers which don’t have a strong base as of right now but are growing very fast and in the next few years I’m sure are going to become a very large industry. However to make your mark in this industry you have to be Genuine, Hard-working, Persistent, Focused, Extremely hard-working, punctual, oh and did I mention, EXTREMELY VERY VERY HARD-WORKING. I have an old friend in this industry who might not be the biggest star of the industry but is making quite a big name for himself and although the pay is not much, It is increasing steadily and soon he might be well off.

These are just some of the options that are available as of right now to you. Don’t get disappointed in yourself. Everyone feels a little low in their life at some point. That makes you human. What’s important is how you handle yourself during this time and get back up. Keep your head up, walk straight and believe in yourself.