Chennai
This year 10,572 more students have qualified the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) 2022 in the state.
Though more students qualified this year, the pass percentage has dropped to 51% as compared to last year’s 57%. While last year 99,610 candidates appeared and 57,215 passed, in 2022 only 67,787 out of 1,32,167 passed.
The number of students registering for the exam in Tamil has been increasing steadily since 2019, when 1,017 candidates took the exam; In 2020, this number increased to 17,101 and the following year saw a slight increase to 19,868. In 2022, 31,965 had opted to take the Tamil version of NEET.
National Testing Agency (NTA) has declared the cut-off of 117 for General Category (UR) and 93 for OBC, SC and ST categories. The cut-off is quite less as compared to last year (138 for UR and 108 for reserved category). For people with disabilities, it is 105, down from 122 last year.
Theoretically, a candidate with 117 marks in UR can be admitted to a medical college. Similarly, a candidate belonging to the reserved category can score 93 marks. But given the limited number of seats and the high fees charged by deemed universities and self-financed colleges for management seats, many with good scores may find it difficult to get a seat.
S Satheeshkumar, a medical seat aspirant under 7.5% preferential reservation for government school children, has scored 280 marks. Last time in a government medical college, an SC candidate missed out on a seat by just eight marks. Though he had the option of doing BDS, he decided to take the re-exam hoping to get into MBBS. His parents, who are agricultural labourers, have spent Rs 50,000 to send him to a coaching centre. If he gets a seat, he will be the first person in his family to get admission in the college.
Laya Girlfriend A, a student of Theni, who has cleared NEET in her first attempt, said she and her friends were surprised by the difficulty of the biology section. “For the students who had prepared using previous years exam papers, this section was completely new and filled with statement-type questions. It was time consuming due to which many people could not score 720 marks. The CBSE student said that the textbooks helped her prepare better. With a score of 656, Ms. Laya is hoping to get a seat in a college in Chennai or Madurai.
Last year, there were a handful of students with perfect scores. NEET is for 720 marks and is divided into Physics, Chemistry and Biology, which include Zoology and Botany.
The counseling will begin with the Medical Counseling Committee conducting online counseling for 15% All India Quota seats from medical colleges across the country in addition to 100% seats in All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Jawaharlal Postgraduate Medical Institute. Education and Research (Puducherry and Karaikal) and Aligarh Muslim University.