NEET: Day after results, some examinees claim getting 2 different ranks

An NTA official said students who have got different ranks in their NEET results should download the scorecards from NTA website again and get in touch with the authority if the errors remain

A day after the National Testing Agency (NTA) announced results for the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET-UG), few students have raised an objection over receiving two different all-India ranks on the same scorecard. Many of them have sent their queries to NTA but are yet to receive a response.

Exam officials screen NEET aspirants at a centre in Delhi on the day of exam on September 12. The results were announced late on Monday night and three students had secured the first ranks. (HT FILE)

“On every scorecard, NTA has mentioned the all-India rank obtained— both overall rank and the rank for counselling — for every student. In my case, there two different ranks awarded to me are for the counselling process itself, which is confusing,” said a student on the condition of anonymity.

Unlike other NEET examinees who have been given a separate rank for admission, this particular student has received two ranks for the same and is now unsure of which one to use during admissions. “I’m not the only one facing this trouble as many others have also taken to Twitter to share their problem. We have already written to NTA for clarity,” he added.

This year, NTA released results without using the tie-breaker system—which means the top three students who scored 720 out of 720 shared the first rank, while the next rank given is directly the fourth one. Similarly, 12 candidates share the fifth rank as per this year. NTA, however, mentioned that a tie-breaking system will be used for admission purposes, wherein a student older in age will take the first rank, followed by those younger to him/her, and therefore shared a separate all-India rank to each student for admissions counselling purpose.

“The rule to consider age of a student in case of a tie and give the higher rank to someone older has been mentioned by the ministry of health education, and while we wanted to mention overall ranks keeping this rule aside, for counselling purpose, we had to use tie-breaker and release results,” said a senior official from NTA. He added that students who have got errors in their scorecards should download the same from NTA website again and get in touch with the authority if the errors remain despite downloading the scorecard.

“All students received a scorecard where percentile scores for each subject (physics, chemistry and biology) are mentioned along with the total score out of 720, total percentile score, and two separate ranks—one for overall rank and another for counselling. There are, however, a few students who have received two ranks for counselling only. Which one should they choose then?” asked Muzaffar Khan, a Thane-based medical education counsellor.