Neet effect: Students seeking plus-2 answer sheets down by 50 per cent

Chennai: Due to National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (Neet) based medical admissions, the number of students seeking answer sheets has come down by 50 per cent this year as only around 58,000 students have sought their answer sheets copy.

Last year, 1.07 lakh students applied for the copy of their answer sheets as there was an ambiguity in the mode of admission to MBBS and BDS courses.  

As per the earlier mode of admission to medical courses, each and every mark in plus-2 key subjects like physics, chemistry and biology would make a huge difference in getting MBBS seats. So, there was a huge interest among parents, students and teachers to see the answer scripts before applying for revaluation.  

Since, the plus-2 marks were taken into count only for admissions in a few professional courses including engineering and others, the interest to seek answer sheets copy has come down, sources said.

The number of applications seeking the copy of answer sheets was reduced to half. Around 14,000 applications (25 per cent) filed seeking the copy of chemistry answer sheets alone.

Around 8,000 students sought answer scripts in biology and maths subjects this year. In physics, 5,000 applications were filed to see the copy of answer sheets.

Among the four key subjects, the pass percentage of students was slightly down in chemistry subject (95.02 per cent). “This year the chemistry paper was challenging and nearly 10 per cent of questions in the exams on the tougher side which has resulted in lower marks for thousands of students in chemistry exam. It might have forced many students to check their answer scripts whether they wanted to apply for revaluation,” a chemistry teacher from Chennai said.

She further said due to the rote learning system, the students are not even able to get 30 marks required to clear the plus-2 exam. Many average students who did not read the chemistry chapters fully only got lesser marks.

“We don’t know whether our quality of teaching was bad or students did not prepare well for the exam. But, many students flunked in chemistry subject and a majority of students got the marks only in the range of 50-60 per cent," a school headmaster from the city said adding that teachers are eager to see the answer scripts to know how the students answered and the invigilators evaluated the answer scripts.

The Directorate of Government Examinations has already started to receive answer scripts from evaluation camps. “The scanning of answer sheets will begin very soon and the copy of the answer sheets likely to be uploaded in the website on the first week of June,” a source said. From the state over 1 lakh, students appeared for the Neet on May 5.

Due to Neet preparation and some tough questions, not a single student was able to score full marks in biology.

The Directorate of Government Examinati ons released the plus-2 results on May 16. The pass percentage has witnessed a slight dip as it declined to 91.1 per cent this year from 92.1 per cent last year.