E-Paper
Number Theory: Understanding why the 2024 NEET results have sparked controversy
The results of NEET 2024, published on June 4 first grabbed headlines when it was revealed that a staggering 67 students had scored a perfect 720 out of 720.
Published on: Jun 13, 2024, 07:31:55 IST
Share via
Copy link
The results of the 2024 National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET), published earlier this month by the National Testing Agency (NTA), are mired in controversy. The results for the exam, which is held once a year for students who want to pursue undergraduate medical (MBBS), dental (BDS) and AYUSH courses, saw a dramatic increase in the number of students scoring a perfect 720 amid allegations of paper leak and the improper awarding of grace marks. The Supreme Court, in a notice issued to NTA seeking a response on a petition asking for the cancellation of NEET 2024, said that the exam’s “sanctity has been affected”. The charts below explain why the NEET exam is so competitive, and why this year’s exam has become controversial.
Understanding why the 2024 NEET results have sparked controversy
Rising number of students, but low number of seatsA total of more than 2.4 million students registered for the NEET exam this year. Out of this, 1.32 million students became qualified to seek admission in MBBS courses in government and private medical colleges across the country. However, latest data from the National Medical Commission shows that there are only about 110,000 seats available in 706 medical colleges in the country. Furthermore, only 56,405 of these seats belong to medical colleges run by the government or educational societies supported by the government. The rest belong to colleges run by private entities that generally have much higher fees. This shows that the number of medical seats available in India is way lower than the demand, and there are even fewer of seats available that are affordable for an average student in the country.- The inflated scores in this year’s NEETThe results of NEET 2024, published on June 4 – 10 days before the originally scheduled date of June 14 – first grabbed headlines when it was revealed that a staggering 67 students had scored a perfect 720 out of 720. For context, only two students had achieved the perfect score in 2023, while none did in 2022. As the controversy grew, NTA clarified on June 6 that grace marks were given to 1,563 students for compensating for the loss of time during the conduct of exams in certain centres. This was also the reason given for why some candidates got 718 or 719 marks, which is otherwise not possible in NEET’s scoring scheme. And students who chose two different options for a particular question in physics were given marks because the old and new versions of NCERT textbooks gave two different answers. “Out of the 67 candidates who got 720/720 marks, 44 are on account of the revision in one Answer Key of Physics and 6 are on account of compensatory marks for loss of time,” NTA said, while adding that the high cut-off scores this year was due to rise in competition and the standard of candidates.
- Its impact on studentsThe overall inflation in scores mean that marks which would have helped students secure favourable ranks in previous years are no longer sufficient. A candidate who scored 715 would have got an all India rank of 4 in 2023. However, this year, the same score would mean a rank of 225, according to data from ed-tech portal Careers360. Similarly, a score around 600 would have fetched a rank of around 29,000 in 2023, and this year would only be good enough for a rank of about 80,000. These developments could severely impact the future prospects of students. The closing rank for cut-off in AIIMS, New Delhi, the top medical college in India according to NIRF, was 57 in 2023. This means that even a student who got a NEET score of 710 in 2023 could have got in if they applied. However, a student with the same score this year would only get a rank of 407, making them ineligible.
