NEET 2018: Official answer keys and OMR sheets released; No bonus marks awarded

NEW DELHI, May 25: The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has released the NEET 2018 Answer Keys, images of the OMR response sheets and test booklet codes of candidates on May 25, 2018. Contrary to the speculations of various coaching experts who had differed on the answers of multiple questions post the May 6 exam, there is no indication that any bonus marks will be awarded to candidates for any question this year.

The exam conducting authorities have provided a window of two days to challenge the answers given in the official key. The option to challenge the official answer key will be available till 5.00 PM on May 27, 2018.

With the official answer key carrying answers to all the questions, it can be assumed that bonus marks will not be part of the evaluation scheme for now. However, a possibility of bonus marks being awarded still exists if challenges to the answer key as initiated by candidates and coaching experts are accepted by the CBSE.

Why bonus marking is still a possibility?

Post the NEET exam, Careers360 had analysed NEET answer keys published by various coaching institutes. The coaching institutes had differed with each other on answers to multiple questions. Now with prominent coaching institutions differing with the NEET official answer keys for at least three questions, there is still a possibility of bonus marks being awarded for these questions.

Careers360 here compares the question number and answer keys as released by various coaching institutes including Aakash Tutorials, Brilliant Study Centre, Rao IIT Academy, Allen Kota, Resonance and Career Point with the answers provided by the CBSE. The common variations against the official answer key (in the case of Set GG) are as compiled in the table given below -

NEET 2018 Answer Key Variations for Set GG

In case the CBSE answer key is contested by candidates, an expert committee might be constituted to look into the answer key challenges. All candidates may be awarded bonus marks if the expert committee finds mistakes in a question or in case the committee members are unable to agree upon a final answer from among the available options. Before the release of the result, a revised answer key will be released which will clarify whether CBSE will award any bonus mark on the basis of the challenges it receives. NEET paper evaluation will be done on the basis the final answer key that CBSE is expected to release in a week.

Why is the NEET answer key important?

Candidates can check the responses they have marked with the help of their OMR answer sheet and compare them with the official answer key. By comparing the responses given in the OMR sheet and the answers declared correct by the CBSE, the candidates will be able to calculate their estimated score.

It must be noted that the answer keys and OMR answer sheets are only available in online mode and can accessed with the use of the candidate login credentials. Thus, the answers have also been made available to individual candidates for the NEET question paper code they had appeared in the test for, rather than being made available for download as a common PDF as was the case last year.

Additionally, the authorities have given an option to challenge the booklet code if aspirants believe there is a mismatch in the codes. Furthermore, the option to challenge the OMR sheet has also been made available along with the option to challenge the answer key.

How to challenge the NEET answer key?

• Visit the official CBSE NEET website and enter your registration number and password in the login window.

• On the candidate’s NEET login panel, three options on the left-hand side of the screen will be visible - OMR Challenge, Key Challenge and Booklet Code Challenge.

• To challenge the NEET answer key, you will be required to click on the ‘Apply for Key Challenge’ button under the section named ‘Key Challenge’.

• The list of questions will be displayed on the screen. Candidates can click on each question and the answer as deemed correct by the authorities will appear in the next column.

• Now, select the answer/answers which is correct according to the candidate for every question they chose to challenge. It will be mandatory to enter 'Remarks' for more details about why the answer given in NEET official answer key 2018 is wrong and why the candidate’s answer is correct.

• Click on ‘Submit’ button.

• On the next page, the challenged answers will be displayed and candidates can click on 'Final Submit' if they are certain. Once candidates click the 'Final Submit' button, no further changes can be made.

• Finally, click on the “Pay Processing Charges For Answer Key” button, select the option of 'Debit/Credit Card' on the payment page that is displayed. Make the payment of requisite answer key for successfully submitting the challenges. For every answer challenged, you will be required to pay INR 1,000.

• Print the confirmation slip for further use.

Last year, multiple questions were challenged by the candidates. CBSE had awarded 8 bonus marks for 2 wrong questions given the question paper for NEET 2017. This year, the same procedure will be followed. Unlike last year however, the CBSE will not refund the amount charged for challenging the answers even if the challenges are accepted and corrections are made.