While a major chunk of top scorers in the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET-UG) 2024 were from traditional coaching hubs, many candidates appearing from other cities such as Lucknow, Indore, Kanpur, Agra and Aligarh, too, managed to score 700+, which is a “silver lining", the National Testing Agency (NTA) said in a note, a day after it published city- and centre-wise results of the medical entrance exam on its website.
ALSO READ | NEET-UG 2024 City-Wise, Centre-Wise Results Declared Two Days Ahead Of Supreme Court Hearing
The NTA announced the centre- and city-wise results for medical entrance exam NEET-UG, which is under the scanner over a paper leak and alleged irregularities. The results, which were initially announced on June 4, have been published in this format following an order of the Supreme Court (SC), which is hearing a batch of petitions about the alleged irregularities in the conduct of the exam. The SC, while hearing the case on July 18, had asked the NTA to publish the city/centre-wise results of all candidates (while masking their identity) on its official website by Saturday noon for transparency. The SC will resume hearing the pleas on July 22.
NEET-UG was conducted on May 5 at 4,750 centres in 571 cities, including 14 cities abroad, and was taken by a total of 23.33 lakh students. The test is of 720 marks and those scoring 700 and above are the top scorers who are eligible to get seats in top government medical colleges such as AIIMS, Delhi.
According to the NTA’s analysis of results, of the 23.33 lakh students who took the exam, 2,321 score 700 or more. These students were spread across 1,404 centres in the entire country and abroad. These 1,404 centres were again spread across 276 cities and 25 states/UTs. “Such a large spread shows that many candidates who were not from the traditional tuition hubs were also able to come in the toppers’ list in NEET 2024," it said.
The results tally published on Saturday showed that the top scorers were huddled at exam centres located in coaching hubs such as Rajkot (Gujarat), Sikar (Rajasthan), Malappuram (Kerala), Bengaluru Urban (Karnataka), Kottayam (Kerala), Surat (Gujarat), Ahmedabad (Gujarat), Howrah (West Bengal) and Kota (Rajasthan), among others.
RANGE OF MARKS AND CITY SPREAD
700 and above marks
“It is true that many students appearing from traditional tuition hubs like Sikar, Kota and Kottayam were able to score 700 or more marks. However, the silver lining is that many students appearing from other cities were also able to come within this bracket," the note read.
For example, the NTA analysis showed that 35 students appearing from Lucknow, 27 students appearing from Kolkata, 25 students appearing from Latur, 20 students appearing from Nagpur, 19 from Faridabad, 18 from Nanded, 17 from Indore, 16 each from Cuttack and Kanpur, 14 each from Kolhapur, Noida, Sahibzada and Ajit Singh Nagar, 13 each from Agra and Aligarh, 10 each from Akola and Patiala, 8 from Davangere, 7 from Banaskantha, etc. were able to score 700 or more marks.
“Given these numbers, it appears that aligning the syllabus of NEET with that of higher secondary has started to bear fruits," the note said.
The NTA has based the syllabus for the NEET exam on Class 12 NCERT textbooks. This year, the agency cut down the syllabus for the exam from 22-25%, including concept-based chapters from biology and another subject, which it told the court also had an impact on the improvement in the overall performance of students this year.
650-599 marks
Similar observations are available for other mark brackets as well. For example, candidates scoring between 650 and 699 are spread across 509 cities and 4,044 centres. Those scoring between 600 and 649 are spread across 540 cities and 4,484 centres. Candidates scoring between 550 and 599 are spread across 548 cities and 4,563 centres.
RANK-WISE SPREAD
Candidates between ranks 1 and 100 are spread across 56 cities and 95 centres. Those between ranks 101 and 1,000 are spread across 187 cities and 706 centres; between ranks 1,001 and 10,000 are spread across 431 cities and 2,959 centres; between ranks 10,001 to 50,000 are spread across 523 cities and 4,283 centres.
ALSO READ | NEET UG 2024 Supreme Court Hearing to Resume Tomorrow: Here’s a Timeline of Events So Far
Candidates between ranks 50,001 and 1,10,000 are spread across 546 cities and 4,542 centres and those between ranks 1,10,000 and 1,50,000 are spread across 539 cities and 4,470 centres.
NEET 2024 VS NEET 2023
While NEET 2024 saw over 24 lakh students registering for it, NEET 2023 had 20.87 lakh students registered for the exam. Hence, in NEET 2023, this spread of top scorers was somewhat smaller than what was seen this year. In the NEET-UG exam conducted in 2023, candidates scoring between 700 and 720 were spread across 116 cities and 310 centres, those scoring between 650 and 699 were spread across 381 cities and 2,431 centres and those scoring in the bracket of 600 to 649 were spread across 464 cities and 3,434 centres.
