TIRUPUR: SHE scored 1,191 on 1,200 in Plus Two State board exams with 200 in physics, 199 in chemistry and 199 in biology, the three subjects that mattered for medical cut-off had National Eligibility Cum Entrance Test (NEET) not kicked in this year. And by the way, Sharmila scored a centum in mathematics as well. Incidentally, she was a State Class X board topper in 2015 with 499 marks on 500.
Despite her current PCB average standing at 199.25, which would otherwise have easily fetched her a medical seat, Sharmila fears she might not make it as she expects only about 50 per cent marks in the NEET exam she took recently.
“In the NEET exam, I answered all questions that were part of the syllabus I studied at the higher secondary level. But questions from out of syllabus were difficult,” she rues, unable to celebrate her good academic performance.
If she fails to get an MBBS seat, she would rather opt for a course in pharmacy or veterinary science than engineering, she says.
Daughter of farmer P Senthil Kumar of Nagappalayam village near Vellakoil, one of the rural pockets of Tirupur district, Sharmila is a student of Vivekananda Vidyalaya Matriculation Higher Secondary School in Muthur.
Sharmila’s father had dropped out of school after Class VIII and her mother Muthulakshmi did elementary schooling. The family has 3.5 acre land, which is barren now because of drought. Their source of income is agriculture on the two acres leased by them. Sharmila has a younger brother who has just been promoted to Class X.