The result of National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) was announced on Friday night, with Odisha's Soyeb Aftab and Delhi girl Akansha Singh attaining a perfect score in the examination.
However, Soyeb Aftab bagged the top rank and Akansha Singh secured the second rank due to the tie-breaking policy.
"Soyeb Aftab of Odisha and Akansha Singh of Delhi have both scored perfect 720 score in the NEET examination. However, as Aftab is older, he has been ranked at the top in the national ranking," an official told PTI.
"The ranking of the candidate is initially determined based on the scores obtained in Biology and Chemistry. Following these, in cases where the candidates cannot be shortlisted using the scores obtained in the examination, candidates are further shortlisted taking into consideration the number of answers that are incorrect, following which they are then shortlisted depending on their age. The elder one gets the preference," the official explained.
Eleven students from Kerala secured top ranks in the first 100 all-India rankings. Aysha S of Koyilandy from Kozhikode secured an all-India rank 12 and emerged the State topper with 710 marks. She also secured the second rank in the OBC category at the national level.
A total of 7,71,500 candidates have qualified the exam for which over 13.66 lakh candidates had appeared.
The highest number of qualifying candidates are from Tripura (88,889) followed by Maharashtra (79,974).
NEET rank list in two weeks
Once the details of NEET result of the students in Kerala are available with the Commissioner of Entrance Examinations, the applicants will have the opportunity to confirm the marks by giving the roll number online. It will take two weeks to give final shape to the rank list after completing the entire process. The authorities said thereafter options will be received and the process of allotment for medical courses will begin.
This is also the first time that premier institutions like All India Institutes of Medical Sciences, JIPMER Pondicherry/Karaikal came under the NEET umbrella.
A minimum of 50 percent score makes a candidate eligible for admission under NEET. For those belonging to the SC/ST category and OBC category the score is 40 percent and differently abled - 45 percent. The NEET rankings form the basis of admission to bachelor’s degree courses in medical, dental, ayush, veterinary at the national level.
In Kerala the same ranking is the basis for admission to ayurveda, homeo, siddha, unani, agriculture, veterinary fisheries and forestry.
The mark level for getting admission this time is as follows; General: From 720 to 147, OBC : 146-113, Scheduled Castes :146-113, Scheduled Tribes: 146-113, general , economically backward among forward communities, differently abled - 146-129, OBC differently abled : 128-113, Scheduled Castes differently abled : 128-113, Scheduled Tribes differently abled :128-113.
Originally scheduled for April and May this year, the NEET exam was finally conducted on September 13 after been postponed on several occasions on account of the coronavirus outbreak.
But after it came to light that many had missed the September 13's exam (it is estimated that about 1.5 lakh students may have missed it on account of COVID restrictions), the Supreme Court had intervened to facilitate another attempt on October 14.
The test was offered in 11 languages - English, Hindi, Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Marathi, Odia, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu - this year.