After JEE, medical aspirants seek deferment of NEET-UG 2022

Medical aspirants applying for the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET-UG) in 2022 have sought postponement of the exam this year citing various reasons including lack of preparation time for the test

Medical aspirants applying for the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET-UG) in 2022 have sought postponement of the exam this year citing various reasons including lack of preparation time for the test. Scheduled to take place on July 17, students have highlighted how they will need more time to prepare for the exam as several other entrance exams will also be held around the same time.

Scheduled to take place on July 17, students have highlighted how they will need more time to prepare for the exam as several other entrance exams will also be held around the same time. (File)

"Admissions to the current academic year (2021-22) is still going on, and there isn’t enough time for some of us who are planning to wait until the end of this admissions process before applying for the entrance test again," said one of the students. Many have approached the National Testing Agency (NTA) to hear their plea and postpone the entrance test by at least one month to August.

Admissions to most undergraduate professional courses started after a delay in 2021 due to delay in conducting entrance tests--NEET-UG was conducted in September last year. This year, students feel they have been given less time to prepare for the entrance test.

"CBSE students will be busy with their board exams until mid-June. As a result, we will have less than one month to prepare for the exam. Similarly many students will appear for the Central University Entrance Test (CUET) that is also scheduled for first week of July. There’s going to be no time to prepare for the test," said Gayatri Das, a NEET-UG aspirant.

Recently, CBSE class 12 students aiming for the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE-Mains) requested for postponement of the test so as to accommodate their board exam schedule. After receiving a series of complaints and requests, NTA decided to reschedule the JEE-Mains session from April to July.

"Since they have already accommodated the request of JEE aspirants, we really hope our request is considered as well. Since there’s already too much anxiety among students about the exam, we need enough time to prepare for these entrance tests," said Priya Sharma, another student.

Repeated attempts for a response from NTA has gone unanswered.