Paper leaks, 100s of centum, multiple toppers from same centre - how NEET-UG 2024 marred exam's credibility

CHENNAI: The Dravidian south which is opposed to the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) since its inception has found new reasons to claim the examination for medical courses is flawed. The NEET UG 2024 exam, for which more than 24 lakh candidates appeared at 4,750 different centres located in 571 cities, is marred this time for many reasons: alleged paper leaks, multiple toppers from a particular same exam centre, and too many people scoring full marks.

The high costs incurred for preparing for the entrance exams coupled with the new-found flaws have led to people label NEET a scam.

Many in Tamil Nadu were insisting on an exemption for NEET and have now questioned the way the National Testing Agency (NTA) has conducted the exam.

On the same day that NTA conducted the NEET UG exam this year, May 05 2024, social media was flooded with messages and posts of paper leaks from one particular examination centre. Six of those candidates from the examination centre in Haryana, whose sequence number seems to be the same, scored All India Rank 1, scoring 720 marks out of 720.

Even NTA had acknowledged one of the incidents and issued a clarification stating that there was a wrong distribution of question papers by the Superintendent of an examination centre in Sawai Madhopur, Rajasthan. Due to this some candidates, despite being stopped by the invigilators, forcibly came out of the examination centre with question papers.

Meanwhile, the agency has refuted the allegations. “Social media posts pointing towards any paper leak are completely baseless and without any ground.” To put rumours to rest, it is also stated that every single question paper has been accounted for. “After the gates of the examination centres are closed, no one from outside is permitted access inside the halls which are under CCTV surveillance,” the testing agency said.

NTA claimed that all other photographs of question papers circulating on social media have no relation to the actual examination question papers.

Despite assurances, the record number of 67 toppers this year has baffled the medical fraternity as a group of candidates have moved the Supreme Court raising the issues of paper leaks and award of grace marks. In the past, the toppers have not been able to score the highest (720) in huge numbers but the story is different this year, and Tamil Nadu also has eight toppers. This is unusual as Tamil Nadu hasn’t contributed more than a single candidate to the topper list in the past.

One of the candidates, on condition of anonymity, said that though the students have scored the first rank, they will still not be able to get a seat in Delhi AIIMS as the cut-off is 720 and the institution has only 50 seats and 67 students have scored the maximum marks. So even the topper would find it tough to get a seat in Delhi AIIMS. Though NTA follows the tie-breaking criteria, the mark criteria are difficult to implement as 67 of them have received full marks, experts point out.

The students getting 719 and 718 marks have also been seen as odd. Experts have raised questions about the credibility of the exam based on such scores as they point out that the students can’t score 719 or 718 based on the current marking system since the only possible score after 720 is 716 (if the candidate answers 179 questions correctly and doesn’t attempt one).

There seems to be a method to the madness. As many as 44 of the 67 toppers were lucky to have answered a question wrongly. They answered a Physics question incorrectly and received ‘grace marks’ for it since the question was based on an erroneous reference in the old class 12th NCERT science textbook, and thus, they were awarded grace marks.

After a few students moved to the apex court, another clarification was issued by the testing agency. “NTA received few representations and court cases from the candidates of NEET (UG) 2024 raising concerns of loss of time during the conduct of the examination on 05.05.2024. Such cases/representations were considered by NTA and the normalisation formula, which has been devised and adopted by the apex court, vide its judgment dated 13.06.2018, was implemented to address the loss of time faced by the candidates of NEET (UG) 2024,” the clarification read.

With multiple irregularities and discrepancies surfacing, the students question the transparency and system of the examination. Though the examination was expected that the universal examination would bring an end to all the discrepancies, moving away from class 12 scores, it has now become another challenge for medical aspirants.

Follow SC verdict in full, probe irregularities: Experts

The National Council Coordinator of the Indian Medical Association-Junior Doctors’ Network, Dr Dhruv Chauhan throws more light on the issues at hand.

He refers to the Supreme Court’s verdict about compensating the students who scored marks on their own without grace marks. This provides solace as such candidates got equal marks to the ones who were awarded grace marks, leading to issues of seat loss or rank inequality.

The expert points out that additional seats need to be created on an ad hoc basis to ensure that no heartburn is caused to the ones who had already ensured their place in the rank list. He laments that only one aspect of judgment is being used and not the others.

“The judgment referred here was for an exam conducted in a computer-based testing mode where actual time loss can be traced. But how can the same formula be applied for a pen-and-paper mode examination? All NEET candidates lose 10-15 mins due to attendance filling, signatures and photo-pasting requirements,” Dr Dhruv Chauhan points out.

Meanwhile, the secretary of the Doctor’s Association for Social Equality Dr GR Ravindranath says that there needs to be a thorough investigation into the issues of paper leaks and the grace marks given to the candidates due to less time available to complete the exam.

“We cannot cancel the entire examination risking the lives of 23 lakh candidates, due to the discrepancies that impact a particular section of people. An investigation should also be done in the case of seven students scoring full marks from the same centre, as it is highly impossible,” he said.

Responding to the irregularities reported in the NEET UG 2024, Health Minister Ma Subramanian told DT Next that such irregularities strengthen the stance of the Tamil Nadu Government on NEET exemption.