Parents raise concerns over anomalies in NEET results

LUCKNOW: Aspirants of the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test for undergraduate courses (NEET UG) and their parents have raised concerns about the recently released results.
They question the unexpected timing which coincided with the result of general elections and also awarding of grace marks. Concerns have also been raised because 67 students, including five from a centre in Haryana, have achieved a perfect score of 720.This, along with the unusually high cut-off marks, has caused suspicion and concern.
Rani Mishra, a resident of South City, said her daughter took the NEET UG exam this year. Raising concern over several students of a centre getting the perfect 750 score, she said that authorities concerned should order a probe into it.
Despite scoring 651 marks, her daughter’s rank is above 26,000, making it hard for her to get seat in any govt college, whereas last year, students with 615 marks had got govt colleges. Many candidates have raised this issue on social media.
Abhishek Shukla, who appreared in the test from Lucknow, said that after scoring 645 he was anticipating a rank around 12,000. However, his rank is now 35,000, jeopardizing his chances of getting a govt college. Suyash Gupta of Mahanagar said that he, too, was expecting a rank of 5,000 after scoring 670. But he got rank of over 25,000 due to the unexpected grace marks.
Lucknow resident Kavya Kumari, whose son appeared in the exam at the Gomtinagar test centre, questioned the scorecard for aspirants with scores of 718 and 719 that are making the rounds on social media. “It is impossible because in NEET every question is of four marks and one mark is cut for every wrong answer,” she added. Prof Sameer Mishra from KGMU has also pointed out inconsistencies in scoring, while directors of several coaching institutes, including Manish Singh of SKD Coaching, has questioned the perfect scores awarded to some students.
With over a lakh MBBS seats nationwide, a lower rank due to grace marks reduces a candidate’s chance of securing a coveted govt medical college, said another senior faculty member of KGMU.