Following the controversy surrounding the NEET UG Result, the National Testing Agency (NTA) announced on Saturday that the Education Ministry has formed a four-member committee, led by a former UPSC chairman, to investigate the grace marks issue. The committee will submit its report within a week.
NTA clarified that giving grace marks to students does not affect the results or qualifying criteria. They also dismissed allegations of paper leaks. The NTA Deputy Director-General, Subodh Kumar Singh, stated that this issue only affects around 1600 students out of over 23 lakh candidates who took the exam across 4750 centers.
The committee will investigate the cases of these approximately 1600 students who received grace marks and experienced time loss. If necessary, their results could be revised. However, this will not impact the admission process for various medical courses like MBBS and BDS after the NEET result. We will make decisions based on the recommendations of the committee.
Officials have stated regarding the allegations of paper leaks that the paper that surfaced on social media appeared after the exam had already begun. We will strengthen our protocols and standards in the future to prevent such mistakes from happening again.
During the press conference, Subodh Kumar Singh stated, “Regarding cases of time loss, our committee conducted a meeting and studied all the details of the centers and CCTV footage. It was found that there was a waste of time at some centers, and students should be compensated for it.
The committee thought they could address the complaints and compensate the students. Therefore, some students’ marks were increased by giving them grace marks. As a result, concerns were raised by some students because some candidates scored 718 and 719 marks, and 6 candidates became toppers. We have carefully analyzed all aspects and released the results. This issue was limited to only 6 centers out of 4750, and only 1600 students out of 23 lakh had to face this problem.
This happened due to the incorrect distribution of question papers at six centers
- Candidates alleged they were given less time. We have responded to the High Court that we have formed a Complaint Redressal Committee of Experts. This committee will scrutinize details including reports from examination centers and CCTV footage regarding time wastage. Transparency in this examination has not been compromised across the country. There was no paper leak. The entire examination process remained very transparent.”
- Students, parents, and coaching operators have asked how many students have been given grace marks by the NTA. They want to know how many marks each student has been awarded. The original merit list of NEET should be issued without grace marks.
- NTA did not provide any information about grace marks in the notification. So, on what basis was this policy suddenly applied in the result?
NEET: A mistake made 44 students NEET toppers, even with wrong answers, ranked 1.
- Grace marks were given to students who faced time loss at certain centers. The specific centers and the basis for awarding them grace marks have not been disclosed.
- NTA needs to clarify the normalization process, including its formula and the criteria used for implementation.
- It’s unclear how 67 students became toppers in NEET. NTA needs to explain the discrepancies behind this.
- Normalization was applied to students from multiple centers.
The scores of 718 and 719 seem improbable given NEET’s scoring system
Each question carries four marks, with one mark deducted for each incorrect answer. If a student answers all questions correctly, they would score 720 out of 720. If they leave one question unanswered, they would score 716. If they answer one question incorrectly, their score would be 715. Therefore, achieving scores of 718 and 719 is highly unlikely, as scores would typically fall between 715 and 716 after 720.
NTA responded to the allegations that scores of 718 and 719 are not possible in NEET.
Regarding the change in NEET’s tie-breaking policy during the result announcement, why was the 8th rule introduced when there was no mention of it in the notification, and only 7 parameters were listed? Why wasn’t it informed earlier that preference would be given to those who applied first on the merit list?
MBBS: Those who applied first in NEET will benefit from admission, NTA added a new rule during result time.
- It’s unclear how many grace marks were given based on the amount of time lost.
- 10. Why was the NEET result released on the day of the Lok Sabha election results when its expected date was 10 days later?
