HYDERABAD: No student from the Telugu states made it to the top 10 ranks of the National Eligibility Entrance Test, but there were 22 students from the state between the 11th and 100th ranks. This means every fourth student between the 11th and 100th ranks is from the two states.
This is the first year that Neet is applicable in TS and AP for admission to medical and dental colleges.
Experts said the Telugu states couldn’t crack the top 10 ranks because of changes to the answer key, and because of one or two ambiguous questions. Candidates were used to the Eamcet format and were appearing for the first time for the NEET. The top 10 national rankers scored between 697 and 686 marks.
Eight questions had mistakes
The top 10 state rankers scored between 697 and 686 marks; the marks of the next 15 ranged between 681 and 685, showing the intense competition.
Among the top 25 all-India rankers, three were from each of the following states —Punjab, Madhya Pradesh and Kerala — two each from Haryana, Delhi, Telangana and Uttar Pradesh and one candidate each from Karnataka, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, and West Bengal.
Of a total of 11,38,890 candidates who registered for Neet, 10,90,085 gave the exam. Of these, 6,11,539 passed. About 1 lakh students appeared from the two Telugu states.
Mr Kumar Veeramallu, dean of Chaithanya College, said, “The 10th ranker scored 686 marks whereas the TS topper who was 12th all-India secured 685 marks. It’s quite a good result given that our students wrote the Neet for the first time.”
He said eight questions had mistakes but this was not considered by the board. If this had been considered, Telugu students would have definitely figured in the top 10.
He said the CBSE should have mentioned the state level ranks and not just the all-India results so that state students get some clarity on their state level ranking. Mr Varsha Reddy from Hyderabad, who secured the 54th rank, said that this being the first time Telugu students were facing Neet, combined with key corrections in the question paper, was the reason no one from the state came in the top 10, but this will not be the case next year. Educationist P.V.R.K. Murthy of Hyderabad said, “Our students got less marks relatively in physics, which is another reason for not being in the top 10 ranks this time.”
