CHANDIGARH: Navadeep Singh from Muktsar in Punjab has secured the first rank in the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET), the result of which was declared on Friday.
The son of a government school principal Gopal Singh in Muktsar’s Charewan village, he has scored 697 marks out of 720 in the exam.
He completed his Class 12 from Shivalik Public Senior Secondary School in Mukstar with 88 per cent marks and later took coaching for the NEET at a private institute here.
About his interests, the 18-year-old said, “I have just two passions, studies and cricket.”
“Since, I am a teacher of Physics, my son too developed an interest in the subject. Its the hard work you put that matters and not the place from where you do your Class 12,” Gopal said.
Navdeep has a younger brother, who is studying in class10, and his mother Simarjeet Kaur works at the Life Insurance Corporation of India.
With a percentile score of 99.99, the Punjab boy is followed by Madhya Pradesh’s Archit Gupta and Manish Mulchandani at second and third rank respectively.
“I was expecting a good rank in the NEET, but never thought I would top the entrance exam,” said Navdeep.
In Punjab and Haryana, five students have bagged spots among the top 25.
A total of 11,38,890 students had appeared for the NEET, out of which 6,11,539 have passed the medical entrance examination which was held on May 7.