‘Grace marks were just cover up for main blunder of paper leak’ — aspirants on revised NEET UG results

New Delhi: The National Testing Agency (NTA) announced the results for the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test, Undergraduate (NEET-UG 2024) retest with scorecards and ranks late Sunday night. The retest for 1,563 candidates was conducted on 23 June across seven centres, though only 52 percent of the aspirants showed up. These aspirants had been given grace marks by the NTA due to time lost at centres, mismanagement, and incorrect distribution of question papers.

On 13 June, the NTA had announced the retest, following widespread protests by students and parents across India over alleged irregularities in the medical entrance examination. The NTA had informed the Supreme Court that a high-powered committee had decided to cancel the scorecards of 1,563 candidates due to issues related to grace marks. These students were given the option to retake the exam. However, even then, aspirants had raised concerns about the conduct of the exam and said the issue of grace marks would not make much difference to the overall result.

Five out of six toppers, who had scored the highest score of 720, took the retest and, this time around, none of them have made it to the topper list. Thus, the final topper list is now limited to 61 toppers, as opposed to the 67 announced earlier. However, these five students still scored over 680.

The results of the retest did not make any significant difference in the final ranks and results.

“Grace marks were just a cover-up for hiding the main blunder. It did not solve the problem aspirants are facing. My rank improved by only 34 places, it doesn’t make any difference,” said Surbhi Singh, who originally scored 650 marks in the NEET UG 2024. Her rank was 29,487, which has been revised to 29,453.

Another student whose rank was 14,622 with 670 marks, saw it revised to 14,598.

“This was a waste of time. The main issue remains. The high-rank inflation happened due to the paper leak, but the government and NTA are not talking about it,” said the student, who wished to not be named.

Students and activists continue to demand that an exam for NEET UG be conducted again.

“After the re-test of 1,563 students, the new results and ranks didn’t show much difference. Some students’ ranks have shifted by 20 to 25 places, while others have seen minor improvements. Overall, the situation remains similar to before. I had previously mentioned that grace marks wouldn’t significantly affect ranks, and now it’s evident,” said Dr Vivek Pandey, a medical influencer and RTI activist. “The main issue still revolves around the NEET paper leak scam and corruption. Until action is taken against it, there won’t be any noticeable change. It’s due to this corruption that we have seen rank inflation five times this year.”

Meanwhile, parents have taken to social media to express their frustration.

#RENEET #NEET RESULTS REPUBLISHED WITH MINIMUN CHANGES IN RANK.

My daughters Rank improved by 45 when 813 appeared for Retest. IF #RENEET is conducted view paper leak it will improve by more than a lac. I don't know whether Modi and his team understand this !

— CAPT.JP (Rebirth of Vir Savarkar ji) (@eranchipookkat) July 1, 2024

For the retest, attendance at exam centres varied between different states. Gujarat witnessed the highest attendance at 100 percent, while Chandigarh saw none.

Two candidates were eligible for the exam in Chandigarh, but neither of them appeared. In Chhattisgarh, a total of 602 candidates were eligible, but 291 (48.34 percent) appeared for the exam.

In Haryana’s Jhajjar, the retest took place at two centers — DAV Police Public School and Kendriya Vidyalaya. In these centers, 287 out of 494 (58.09 percent) eligible candidates appeared.

(Edited by Zinnia Ray)