NEET PG results 2024 raise questions on transparency: here’s why aspirants moved Supreme Court

NEW DELHI: As many as 2,185 candidates have scored above 99 percentile in the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test postgraduate (NEET PG 2024) this year. The increase in marks and ranks has stoked suspicion among students who are demanding greater transparency in the exam postgraduate medical entrance exam’s marking scheme and normalisation method. As a last resort, 19 candidates moved the Supreme Court against the NBEMS, demanding clarity on several factors of the exam and the publication of raw scores of individual candidates.

The NEET PG exam dates 2024 were revised and the exam postponed multiple times amid allegations of paper leak and, malpractices in the national-level competitive exams conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA). These NTA exams included the single-largest medical entrance exam, NEET UG 2024, and University Grants Commission- National Eligibility Test (UGC NET 2024). The NEET PG, however, is conducted by the National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences (NBEMS).

The NBE administered the PG medical entrance exam for a total of 2,28,540 registered candidates on August 11 at 416 exam centres across the country. It was held in two shifts – both on the same day. Last-minute change in exam pattern, marking scheme, results and delay in announcing updates have put NBE in the spotlight this year. Controversy on NEET PG continues as the result date raises more questions.

Also, this is not the first time the aspirants moved the Supreme Court. They had filed petitions in August seeking postponement which the top court refused, stating that “careers of more than 2 lakh candidates will be at risk”.

The math question in medical exam

The NBE declared the NEET PG results 2024 on August 23 for a total of 2,16,094 candidates who sat for the exam. Vaibhav Garg and Anjali Shekawat obtained a perfect 100 percentile and bagged first and second ranks respectively. For over 2 lakh candidates, there are only 1,400 unique percentiles. Careers360 analysed the result data; about 2,000 scored zero percentile. As per last year's result, Aarushi Narwani bagged first rank by obtaining 725 marks out of 800, ie. 90.625%.

As per the AIIMS normalisation method adopted by the NBEMS: “The percentile of the total shall not be an aggregate or average of the percentile of individual subjects” and percentile score indicates how many candidates have a score equal to or less than a candidate. This is why, aspirants have been demanding the raw scores to get clarity.

Out of the 2,185 candidates who obtained 99 percentile, a significant number of 228 aspirants secured 99.9+ percentiles and 247 candidates have marks in the range 99.59… to 99.51… percentile. Overall, the result graph looks flat with the percentile ranges having more or less the same number of candidates. Several candidates who wrote the exam in the second shift expressed their disappointment over “unexpected low score” and questioned the transparency of the exam. The result data available could not be parsed by the exam shift.

Notably, the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras, which had analysed the NEET UG results on the request of the union ministry of education, said a mark distribution graph generally shows a bell-shaped curve in any large-scale examination indicating “no abnormalities”.

NEET PG 2024: Number of candidates in a percentile range. (Source: Careers360/Anu Parthiban)

NEET UG 2024 mark distribution graph prepared by IIT Madras. (Source: IIT-M report)

Careers360 contacted senior doctors at ESIC Hospital Delhi and Safdarjung Hospital for more clarity on percentile distribution. They pointed out the increase in number of candidates in the top percentile range, but said there is “no major shift” in NEET PG results.

NEET PG exam dates

The Union health ministry and the NBE board postponed the exam which was scheduled to take place on June 23 to August 11 as a “precautionary measure” in the wake of alleged irregularities in NEET UG, NTA NET and other competitive exams. However, the NEET PG exam date was revised several times before.

Although the board announced the tentative exam calendar well in advance for this academic year 2024-25, it did not go as per the plan. The exam was initially slated to be held on March 3 but was later postponed to July 7 after receiving several representations from aspirants, and later advanced to June 23 and again deferred to August 11.