Another NEET Controversy? Students' Ranks Soar On Second Attempt From Obscure Centers

When Ashalata (name changed) first took the NEET in 2022, her rank was in the six-digit range. However, in her second attempt the following year, her rank improved significantly from over 2 lakhs to 8,000. Now, at 20 years old, she is a student at LTMG Sion Hospital in Mumbai.

Another aspirant who ranked over 10 lakhs in NEET 2022 improved her rank to around 13,000 in her second attempt in 2023. She now studies at a government hospital in Mumbai.

Academics in medical circles are puzzled by the "second-time lucky" trend, where students achieve "unbelievable" ranks after taking a year off to prepare for their second attempt. A common factor is that these students took the exam at obscure centers. Some chose a tiny village in Belagavi, while others opted for a small town near Patna and other places not known as coaching hubs.

Government sources said they are compiling a list of students who scored well in their second attempt at obscure centers and are now studying MBBS in government medical colleges. This year, a similar situation occurred when students from various states took the exam at a school in Godhra, Gujarat. The Gujarat police uncovered the scam, revealing that students were instructed to answer only the questions they knew and leave the rest blank.

"The center's deputy superintendent was supposed to fill in the empty answer sheets during the half-hour gap the supervisors have to pack the papers. Coaching institutes would provide the answer key online after the exam," said Himanshu Solanki, superintendent of police in Godhra. A counsellor suggested that police should investigate how students were assigned to these "compromised" centers.

When candidates fill out their NEET (UG) application, they are asked to choose two cities as options for exam centers. Parent representative and counselor Sudha Shenoy said, "Before filling out the form in February, parents told me about agents who offered to fill out the forms for the candidates, saying the exam centers would be far from cities."

Parent representative and counselor Sudha Shenoy said, "The agents assured parents that their child would get a 'high' rank and demanded Rs 1 lakh in advance and Rs 9 lakh after the results. I advised them not to fall into such a trap."

The National Testing Agency (NTA) claims that a computer randomly assigns exam centers based on the cities each candidate selects. "If centers are computer-generated, how are students who paid ending up at compromised exam centers?" asked Shenoy.

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