Chennai: Tamil Nadu has recorded a drop in the number of students qualifying in NEET this year compared with the previous year, even as higher scores at the top end are expected to push medical admission cut-offs upward.
NEET, the national entrance test for MBBS, BDS and other medical courses, was held on May 3 for the current academic year. Following allegations of question paper leakage, the exam was cancelled and a re-test was conducted on June 21. Results were released late the day before yesterday.
A total of 19,99,895 candidates appeared for the re-test nationwide, of whom 11,21,185 qualified. The qualified list includes 4,67,134 boys, 6,54,049 girls and two candidates from the third gender category.
In the national ranking, Aryan Gupta from Punjab secured the first position. Nine students from Tamil Nadu featured in the national top 100. In the women’s list, Sreenika from Tamil Nadu ranked seventh nationally.
At the state level, Venkadapathi Velayudham—son of a well-known orthopaedic doctor from Villupuram, Anjan Ramachandran—topped Tamil Nadu with 705 out of 720. Educationist Jayaprakash Gandhi said cut-offs could rise by 30–40 marks, noting 85 students scored above 690 this year, compared with none last time, and 9,865 students scored above 600 versus 1,663 last year. Education consultant Ashwin estimated that in Tamil Nadu’s 37 government medical colleges, the general-category cut-off could rise from 533 last year to around 576 this year—an increase of 43 marks.
