After mark inflation in NEET UG 2024 result, medical aspirants flag irregularities, demand re-exams

The Indian Express had reported that of the 67 candidates who got a perfect score (720/720), as many as 44 made it to the top because they got an answer to a basic physics question wrong – and received “grace marks” for that.

Soon after the National Testing Agency (NTA) declared the NEET-UG 2024 result on Tuesday late evening, many aspirants posted comments, photos, and videos on the internet pointing out unlikely scores obtained by some of the toppers in the merit list.

One such video claimed, “Considering the marking system used for NEET; it is impossible to score 718/720 or 719/720 in NEET. Yet the list features few toppers with this score which raises doubts.”

But the NTA reasoned it with grace marks by issuing a statement. “NTA received few representations and court cases from candidates of NEET (UG) 2024 raising concerns of loss of time during the conduct of the examination on 05.05.2024,” read the statement. It added that considering such cases, a normalisation formula devised by the apex court was implemented, and candidates with loss of time in the examination were compensated with grace marks.

However, according to medical aspirants and their parents, no normalisation formula was defined in the information brochure for NEET 2024. “Grace marks policy has to be clearly defined in advance. Furthermore, all those who complained of loss of time are not compensated with grace marks,” said Sudha Shenoy, a parent and a guide for medical aspirants, adding that she is currently addressing multiple questions from candidates and parents who are in panic.

Shenoy said the inflation in marks has led to fear among medical aspirants and their parents about admissions. “Last year, a candidate with a score of 583/720 was able to bag a seat in government medical college which is considered tougher. But the anticipated cut-off this year is very high, which means, with the same score, a candidate may not even get into a private medical college,” she said.

Many states highlighted irregularities, including alleged paper leaks, in NEET, however, the NTA had not paid heed to these concerns, she added.

Another parent Brijesh Sutaria, who is also a guide for medical admissions, pointed out, “In 2023, only two students had scored 720/720. Whereas a year before that in 2022, nobody had a perfect score. In fact, the highest score was 715/720 in 2022. And this year, there are so many students with perfect scores.”

Sutaria also highlighted the inflation in marks and the increase in the number of candidates who appeared for NEET this year. “Students with 137 marks and above were eligible for medical admission in 2023. But this year, only those above 164 marks will be eligible for admissions.”

Some aspirants in online forums have also pointed out that the same sequence of roll numbers of some of the high-scoring candidates from the NTA declared merit list indicates that they all appeared for the test from the same exam centre.