Why NEET is more prone to paper leaks than JEE

The Joint Entrance Examination (Main), meanwhile, is for admission to Centrally Funded Technical Institutes. Students who clear JEE (Main) are then eligible to sit for JEE (Advanced), for admission to IITs.

While JEE (Main) is conducted by the NTA, with some involvement of the IITs, JEE (Advanced) is handled completely by the IITs.

What is the difference in how NEET and JEE are held?

The two main differences in how the exams are held is that more students take NEET than JEE, and JEE is a computer-based exam instead of pen and paper.

An online test removes several vulnerabilities from the examination process, like the possibility of question paper leak during transport and distribution to the centres. It also reduces the involvement of outside agencies, such as a printing press or a transport company.

Then why can’t NEET also be computer-based?

There are two main hurdles to implementing a computer-based NEET-UG examination.

First, a very small number of centres are equipped to conduct computer-based tests. With NEET-UG being one of the biggest competitive examinations in India in term of the number of applications — around 23 lakh students appear every year — there aren’t enough centres to accommodate them. To compare, around 14 lakh students appear for the JEE.

The NTA can conduct computer-based tests for only about 1.5 lakh students in a single shift. This would mean the NEET-UG would have to be conducted over at least 15 shifts and a period of weeks.

Second, if the testing is conducted over several shifts, the process of normalisation would be a challenge. “While there exists a process to normalise question papers across several shifts, as is done with examinations such as JEE, it will be very difficult to do so across multiple shifts and will lead to litigations and delay the admission process,” said an official from the health ministry.

To ensure fairness across shifts, questions for an examination are divided into different levels of difficulty, with a statistical process determining that each paper contains a certain percentage of questions from these different levels. The official added: “When it comes to engineering, many seats go vacant every year. The stakes are not as high as medicine.”

Another official from the health ministry said that this was also in line with the indication given by the Supreme Court. After irregularities in NEET-UG 2024, there were also “rumours” of NEET-PG paper leak, which led to its postponement. The National Board of Examinations under the health ministry, which conducts the NEET-PG test, decided to conduct it only in the most trusted testing centres across two shifts. Litigations, however, led to the Supreme Court directing that the examination be conducted in a single shift and it proceeded as it used to.

Are computer-based tests secure?

While there have been irregularities in computer-based tests, they are generally more secure.

The question papers for these tests are not prepared by a single person. A bank of questions of varying difficulty is prepared by several experts and the system chooses the questions on its own, based on a blueprint of what type of questions and how many of them are needed. And, the question paper opens at the designated time across examination centres together, removing the likelihood of it being leaked from one centre to others.

There is no physical transportation of these papers. The second official quoted above said: “When the papers are being transported physically across the country, there are multiple points of leak no matter how much security is put in place. It can leak from the printing agencies or simply a vehicle that is transporting it.” They added: “NEET is an extremely high-stakes examination, meaning there are always people who are willing to pay to get the paper.”

Why is NEET so prone to leaks?

The NEET-UG examination, which is the only way for students to get admission to a medical course, remains extremely competitive. Nearly 23 lakh students appear for around 1 lakh medical seats across the country. The competition is fierce, considering students strive to get into government colleges that account for around half the medical seats. These colleges have a much lower fee structure than private medical colleges, where the fee may run into crores.

Another aspect, experts pointed out, was the coaching industry. With the coaching industry mushrooming across the country, there is an incentive for classes to pay to get question papers. “After all, the admissions for their next batch would depend on how many of their students get through the admission process,” said an expert, on condition of anonymity.

After the 2024 NEET-UG irregularities, admission of 14 students was cancelled, candidature of 215 was put on hold, 26 students already enrolled in medical courses who participated in the malpractice were suspended, and several were debarred from taking the test for two to three years.