The original NEET-UG toppers, who went behind by a few ranks on account of the testing agency’s marking scheme this year, said they were more than “relieved” after the apex court’s verdict of not holding a re-test and the assurance that they will not lose out on admission to their dream medical college.
The revised results announced by the National Testing Agency (NTA) on July 27 showed who had actually answered each question correctly to get the perfect score, they said.
News18 spoke to two such perfect scorers about their journey from prepping at the coaching hub Kota, to writing the exam, announcement of results, fears of re-test and finally revised results, to this day when they are just awaiting the counseling (a system through which seats are allotted in colleges) to begin from August 14.
NTA conducts the high-stakes entrance exam for admission to undergraduate medical courses. Results to the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET-UG) 2024 were announced on June 4. Soon after allegations of inflated marks, an unprecedented number of toppers and paper leaks turned into an uproar that reached the courts. The SC, in an interim order on July 23, held no re-test was required for the exam. The revised merit list put out by the NTA on July 27 cut down the toppers’ tally from 61 to 17.
MAZIN MANSOOR, 18 (BIHAR)
Having scored a perfect 720/720 in his first attempt to NEET-UG, Mazin and his family were elated the day the results were out. With an All India Rank (AIR)1, his counseling rank was on number five. He was just a step away from his dream to get into All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Delhi. But soon after, the allegations of irregularities in the conduct of the exam turned their hopes into uncertainty.
“When the allegations came in, I felt that I had lost my seat and three years of hard work. It was hard to accept that such a thing has happened and it can affect all of our futures. It was too stressful for us and there was no clarity as to what will happen next. We heard that the test may be scrapped altogether and that students may lose a year. We were frantically calling up our batchmates and faculty members from our coaching centres to ease out the stress. My parents and I watched every court hearing that was telecast live on YouTube,” said Mazin, who hails from Darbhanga, Bihar.
Teachers at the coaching told students to go through their notes to prepare and stay connected in case a re-test were to be conducted. But Mazin didn’t feel quite like it. “I did bring my study material out and referred to the notes once, but didn’t feel like preparing again. It was taxing, both mentally and physically. I told my parents I had worked really hard to get this score and if a re-test were to be conducted, I would start preparing again,” he said.
The topper who also cleared the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE-Mains) this year with a 98.06 percentile chose NEET. He will be a third generation doctor in his family, and said it was his dream to join AIIMS, Delhi. “His father and grandfather are doctors and so it was his dream to become one. The controversy around the conduct of the exam was extremely stressful for us as a family. A new allegation came up every other day, which became quite frustrating. Despite this, we told him to prepare and be ready for a re-test. Even though he didn’t feel like studying, we were glad that Mazin kept his cool and remained positive till the verdict came,” said his mother, Shahla Qauser, a homemaker.
“The results surprised me as I had scored perfectly, which was not the case even when I took the mock tests at the coaching institute. I had always scored a maximum of 715 in the mock tests. To repeat such a performance is not exactly possible as a host of factors are at play when you are writing an exam, including one’s luck, difficulty level of the test, the facilities at the exam centre and the overall momentum in case a re-test were ordered,” said the NEET topper who prepared at coaching hub, Kota, Rajasthan since he was in class 11.
The revised results have pushed his rank up to number three, which has brought him even closer to his dream. What is it that he would advise fellow students to get a perfect score? “Most students focus on hours of study put in a day, but I’d tell them to instead place their focus on studying quality content. Getting hands on with the NCERT textbooks and test modules would be enough to get a good score,” said Mazin.
DIVYANSH, 18 (HARYANA)
“Being asked to study again didn’t feel fair enough,” said Divyansh (name as per the result document), who went back to his coaching institute in Kota, after the results were announced and the controversy struck in.
Not just this, he said, it also felt unfair that 44 students who had wrongly answered the physics question were allotted four marks just because the exam conducting agency did not have clarity on the answer, while those who answered correctly were pushed behind them. This despite the question being simple. This had resulted in an unusually high number of toppers. Those in the right could have lost a chance to secure their seat at AIIMS, Delhi, as only top 50 candidates are eligible at the premier medical institute.
A prefect scorer with an AIR 1, Divyansh’s counseling rank climbed up to six from 14. “When the controversy around the exam started, it felt like our effort was been wasted. My parents told me to keep calm, but it was difficult. I went back to my coaching institute to prepare again and most of us were putting in three-four hours to it each day, but it couldn’t last long. It was just tiring without any real hope till the verdict came,” said Divyansh, who belongs to Dagroli, a village in Haryana’s Bhiwani. His father is in the armed forces while his mother is a homemaker.
Initially, many of his friends, said Divyansh, who had scored upwards of 670, but less than 700 marks were left hopeless of getting a seat in a good government college as their counselling ranks got pushed even behind. “The exam conducting agency has a more crucial role to play as it concerns the hard work of lakhs of students and even if one honest student is left behind due to their decision-making, it’s a big loss,” said Divyansh, who had initially thought of joining the National Defence Academy (NDA), but later changed his choice at his father’s behest.
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