CHENNAI: Over 1.5 lakh students appeared for the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) that was conducted across the state on Sunday. Candidates who attended the test stated that the physics questions were tough while those of chemistry and biology were relatively easier.
Notably, the number of state students taking NEET has been growing over the past three years: 1.42 lakh in 2022, 1.47 lakh in 2023 and 1.55 lakh in 2024. “This has been the case nationwide. This is due to an increase in public awareness regarding NEET, and also the high number of repeaters,” said a teacher from a prominent coaching centre.
The 1.55 lakh candidates this year include 12,370 government school students who were coached by the school education department. According to official data, in 2023, 12,997 government students took the test and 3,982 managed to pass. In 2022, 14,979 attended the exam and 4,118 cleared it.
As opposed to the overall number, there is no such increase in the number of government students taking NEET, as many of them come from economically disadvantaged backgrounds and cannot afford repeating the test, said department officials.
Huge crowds of parents waiting outside examination centres and heavy traffic in the vicinity were a common sight on Sunday. “My wife and I came all the way from Pursaivakkam to drop our daughter off here. Since the journey is about 20km, we have been waiting here for four hours. The heat is excessive, but we have no other option,” said K Ramanan, a parent who was waiting outside an exam centre in Pallikaranai.
While there were no untoward incidents during checking or exam hours, female students had to write the test with loose hair as they were not allowed to wear hair bands.
“I am attending NEET for the second time. I found last year’s paper much easier. This year, the physics paper was quite tough. We could not attend many of the physics questions due to negative marking,” said Aakam Priya, an aspirant. Another repeater, V M Hariharan from Coimbatore, told TNIE, “This year’s paper was easier compared to last year.”
Chennai saw 23,326 aspirants take NEET, with 999 absentees. In Coimbatore, the test was held across 14 centres, with 7,128 students in attendance and 319 absentees. 6,787 students appeared for the exam across 12 centres in the integrated Vellore district (including Ranipet and Tirupattur), while 255 were absent. About 5,005 students attended the examination in Villupuram.
In Tiruvannamalai, there were 3,847 students in attendance, while 255 were absent. 5,006 students took the test across eight centres in Krishnagiri, while 170 were absent. In Madurai, 9,312 candidates appeared at the 12 exam centres in the city. Ramanathapuram saw 2,154 students in attendance, with 75 absentees.
Natrampalli police to the rescue!
Akshitha, a NEET candidate from Vellore who was about to take her exam at the Marudhar Kesari Jain College for Women, Tirupattur, realised she had forgotten her Aadhaar copy. However, Natrampalli SI Ganesh came to her aid and provided her with a copy at the last moment, enabling Akshitha to write the examination.
(With inputs from Krishnagiri, Coimbatore, Madurai, Villupuram, Vellore and Tiruvannamalai)