Lost In The Rat Race: How NEET Exam Controversy Shatters Dreams Of Medical Aspirants

Raunak* was in the 2nd standard when he scribbled on the back of his report card, “I want to be a doctor.” Now he is 20 years old. It was his third attempt in the National Eligibility-cum Entrance Test (NEET), and he scored 663—usually good enough to get admission to any of the topmost medical colleges in Delhi. However, NEET 2024 is neither a usual case nor an aberration. Raunak’s dreams are shattered, as are those of many others.

On June 4, when millions in the country were glued to their TVs to find out the outcome of the Lok Sabha elections, a notification was issued: ‘NEET-UG results declared’. Eighteen-year-old Ayesha was comfortably sitting with her parents closely watching the political scorecard. “Suddenly we got to know that the NEET results are out. I immediately opened the site and found that I ranked 41,000. It was impossible,” she says.

When the NEET Answer Key PDF was released, Ayesha compared it with her responses and found that she had scored 636 out of 720—good enough to get into a good government college, if one considers the earlier cut-offs. Last year, the cut-off was 610, and if you consider Ayesha’s marks, the rank should have been something around 8,000-9,000, says her mother.

“However, when I saw the result and found my rank, I was literally shocked and then I got to know that 67 students had got full marks!” says Ayesha. In the last two years, usually 2-3 students used to achieve the feat.

Though the NEET results were supposed to come out on June 14, the National Testing Agency (NTA), the body that conducts NEET, decided to release it 10 days earlier. Within minutes of the declaration of the results, various controversies cropped up, especially on social media.

While the NTA said that “moderate” questions were responsible for such high scores, which consequently pulled up the cut-off marks, there are two other factors that worked behind the rank inflation—a condition where the expected ranks of the students as per the scorecard of the previous years is amplified multiple times.

Firstly, the number of students who got the same rank this time is un- precedented. This is the first time in the history of NEET that 67 students scored full marks—720 out of 720. Similarly, for the fourth rank with a 99.996614 percentile, there are 10 students and for the fifth rank with a 99.987314 percentile, there are 21 students. This apparently holds true across the ranks that led to the unusual crowding in each position.

Secondly, what made it more confusing are the marks of students who scored 719 or 718 and got ranked second and third, respectively. In a NEET paper, one has to solve 180 questions. For each correct answer, one gets four marks, and for each wrong answer, one mark is deducted. So mathematically, it is impossible for anyone to get 718 or 719. Against this back- drop, when the integrity of the NTA was questioned, the agency explained that grace marks were given to 1,563 students whose papers were delayed either due to the negligence of NTA staff or invigilators. Later, it cancelled the grace marks given to these students, but this too contributed to the rank inflation.

Notably, the NTA had decided to give grace marks to the students following a Supreme Court judgement on the Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) where the body conducting the examination had been asked to give grace marks to students who unduly lost time. Though the NTA says that the grace marks were decided keeping several factors in mind, including the competence and frequency of the students to mark the right answer, well-known NEET teachers like Physics Wallah Chief Executive Alakh Pandey moved the Supreme Court (SC), saying that the grace marks had been given randomly to the students.

Earlier, the SC, during its hearing in another case pertaining to the controversy, had said that the “sanctity of the exam had been affected”. Though the apex court hasn’t stalled admission counselling for eligible candidates, it has sought answers from the NTA. The NTA formed a four-member body to check whether the students with grace marks could be re-examined. On June 13, the committee said that the 1,563 students would be given two options—either to accept the scorecard without grace marks, or to reappear in the exam to be conducted on June 23.

However, this is not the only controversy that has marred the NEET results. From accusations of paper leaks to allegations that eight students from the same examination centre secured ranks in the top 100, this medical entrance exam was one of the most contentious in the recent past.

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The NTA has been conducting NEET since 2019. The NTA was formed by the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) for “conducting efficient, transparent and international standards tests in order to assess the competency of candidates for admissions to premier higher education institutions”.

However, ever since the NTA started conducting NEET, it has faced severe criticism from at least one the southern state. When the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) came to power in Tamil Nadu in 2021, Chief Minister M K Stalin formed a committee headed by Justice A K Rajan to find out the feasibility of a singular test across the state. Contending that the Union government imposing exams on states was against the essence of federalism, he wrote on X, “The Committee’s report, based on extensive data analysis and inputs from students, parents, and the public, has been published and shared with various State Governments to expose NEET’s anti-poor and anti-social justice nature.”

Interestingly, in 2018, before the NTA took up NEET, the cut-off of the exam was 541, but in 2019, it shot up to 583. And since then, every year, the cut-off has increased significantly, making the competition more difficult.

The NEET controversy has widened the north-south divide. DMK leader Dayanidhi Maran gave a political twist to the debate when he said, “In north India, students are helped by their parents itself to copy. The students are also getting higher marks. We are honest. But today, NEET has become a national issue. People across the country are speaking against NEET now.”

While the question of whether a single multiple choice question (MCQ) test comprising 180 questions to be finished in 200 minutes can actually judge the competence of future doctors has been there since NEET was made compulsory in 2017, this time questions have been raised even over its credibility. “How can 67 people get full marks? Doesn’t it question the foundational principle of the NTA that was supposed to conduct entrance exams according to international standards? Their objective was to achieve excellence in assessment. Now even after securing a full score, one has to pass through a lottery system to get a seat at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi,” says Kapil Gupta, founder of NEET Prep, one of the very few coaching institutes that—unlike the market biggies—stood by its students. When Outlook reached out to Allen, a popular coaching institute, for a comment, it declined citing “policy constraints”.

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The decision of the NTA to conduct re-examination only for those students who got grace marks has satisfied neither the students nor the parents. Shikha, a student belonging to the Other Backward Class (OBC) community, says that the exams should be re-conducted for everyone. “I scored 617 and in normal times, as per my category’s cut-off, I would have definitely got into a government college. But now I hardly see any chance,” says the daughter of a shopkeeper. Last year, the cut-off for the OBC community was 605.

Another student Arfa says that her only ambition since childhood was to be a doctor. In her second attempt, she scored 624 and was ranked 51,000. “Last year, with this score, students got a rank of around 16,500 and got into a government college,” she says. Arfa’s father used to work in a company, but after the COVID-19 pandemic, her family has been dependent on a tiffin service business. “I will never be able to afford a private college and would have to prepare for another year,” says Arfa. However, she will not be able to join coaching classes like she did last year. The average fees of big coaching centres ranges from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 2 lakh per annum, depending on the ‘discounts’, says the mother of a student.

“When people invest everything they have to secure a seat in a government medical college, they look for social mobility. The people from villages and poor families consider it as one of the major ways to climb the social and economic ladder,” says Gupta.

To get into a government college is also a matter of social status, says Shikha. “There is social stigma, apart from the affordability factor, that bars one from joining private medical colleges. But if there is no option, how can one take a risk with their career?” asks Shikha. At present, there are 108,940 MBBS seats offered by 700 colleges across the country—around half of which are in government colleges.

Appearing for exams year after year also takes a mental toll on the students. “After this year, I thought of never touching the NEET books again. You just don’t feel like opening the same thing,” says Ayesha, who took a year off only to prepare for NEET. Moreover, there was confusion about the syllabus throughout the year. Though the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) introduced new books in the beginning of the session, there was no clarity from the NTA. “It was only in December 2023, five months before the scheduled exam, that the NTA issued a notification saying that the new books had to be followed. Till then, we were preparing from the old books,” says Arfa.

A teacher from a renowned coaching centre, on condition of anonymity, says, “They mixed the old and new books while preparing the syllabus. It increased the burden of the students instead of reducing it.”

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NEET has been marred by controversy from the very beginning this year. Soon after the exams were conducted, there were allegations of a paper leak in Bihar. Though the Bihar police arrested 13 people and transferred the investigation to the Economic Offences Wing (EoW), the NTA has denied any leak. But the students think that it was one of the major reasons for such rank inflation.

Ayesha’s mother Nabila recalls how it has become the norm to deny justice to the meritorious students. “In 1995, when I appeared for the Pre-Medical Test (PMT) in Bihar, the papers got leaked and I couldn’t secure a rank for a few marks. After almost 30 years, my daughter is facing the same fate. I tried my best to not leave any gap in her preparations. But in the end, you cannot control the system,” she sighs.

The layers of problems don’t seem to end. There are allegations that eight students among the top 100 are from the same centre located in Haryana’s Jhajhar. Outlook independently looked into the list published by the NTA and found that eight students from serial numbers 62 to 69 had the same centre code, 230701. Six of them have scored full marks. Interestingly, two of these students opted to appear from Haryana despite being residents of Rajasthan and Delhi. Opposition parties, including the Congress and the Samajwadi Party (SP), have already questioned the integrity of the NTA, citing this instance. The NTA is yet to respond to this.

Are these controversies going to discourage future medical aspirants? Senior doctor Ajit Kumar Thakur says, “This is considered a noble profession and if it is dragged into such controversies from the very beginning, it is not good for our health sector. Whichever agency conducts these exams should listen to the grievances of the students.” The NTA has also promised a grievance redressal cell to listen to the complaints of the students and their parents.

However, a few students have complained that the NTA officials are telling them that they are unnecessarily harassing their parents. From the rush to these government colleges to exorbitant fees charged by the coaching institutes, the medical aspirants are already in despair. “If such controversies crop up, it will affect their aspirations,” says Thakur.

Hope, nonetheless, never dies. Arfa is getting ready to open the same books again. Shikha is silent. Ayesha is contemplating joining a private college, but with a question: “Do we deserve it?” 

(* Name has been changed to protect identity)

(This appeared in the print as 'Lost In The Rat Race')