According to officials after much delay due to the second wave of COVID-19, over 95% of the registered candidates appeared for the medical entrance exam NEET (UG) on Sunday at over 3,800 centers across the country.
The exam was conducted in physical mode and the exam along with answer key, question paper and provisional answer key will be released soon on the website. neet.nta.nic.in.
A record 16.14 lakh candidates had registered for the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) this year.
Last year, more than 85% of the registered candidates appeared for the exam amid the COVID pandemic.
A senior official said, “Following all the COVID protocols, more than 95 per cent candidates appeared in the examination conducted today.”
The 13 languages in which the exam was conducted this year include Hindi, Punjabi, Assamese, Bengali, Oriya, Gujarati, Marathi, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Tamil, Urdu and English. Newly added languages in Punjabi and Malayalam.
For the first time, the exam was also conducted at one center each in Dubai and Kuwait.
The National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (Graduation), which was earlier scheduled on August 1, was postponed to September 12.
The number of cities where the exam is conducted was increased from 155 to 202. The number of exam centers was also increased from 3,862 used in 2020.
Last year, it was held on September 13 amid strict precautions in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. A total of 13.66 lakh candidates appeared for the exam, out of which 7,71,500 qualified.
There is a common entrance test for admission to MBBS, BDS, BAMS, BHMS and other undergraduate medical courses in recognized Medical, Dental, AYUSH and other institutions.
With inputs from PTI
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