The National Testing Agency (NTA), responsible for conducting the exam, granted grace marks to 1,563 students in NEET-UG 2024. This act was justified on grounds such as issues including time constraints during the examination, ambiguity in a question with dual correct answers, an assessment deemed easier than usual, and alterations in prescribed textbooks, among other reasons.
However, the problem came to light when an astounding 67 students clinched the prestigious title of "topper" this year, attaining a perfect score of 720 out of 720 marks, against the hardly two or three toppers who got this score in the previous years. This unexpected turn of events astonished aspirants and stakeholders, breaking the norm of having just a couple of toppers in each examination in the previous years.
One of the major controversies was fueled by a particular physics question that purportedly had two valid answers. The situation got out of hand when 44 of the 67 toppers were among the grace marks beneficiaries due to incorrectly marking a specific physics question. The question pertained to nuclear composition, with statements bearing differing interpretations, leading to confusion among test-takers.
Here's the question:
Statement I: “Atoms are electrically neutral as they contain equal numbers of positive and negative charges.”
Statement II: “Atoms of each element are stable and emit their characteristic spectrum.”
Based on the two statements above, choose the correct option from the following:
(a) First is correct but second is incorrect;
(b) First is incorrect but second is correct;
(c) Both first and second statements are correct;
(d) both statements are incorrect.
The grace marking explanation
Now, when the answer key was released, the NEET website showed option (a) as the right answer. However, many students contested the answer key on the basis of the information given in an older version of NCERT, according to which both statements were right.
Hence, based on this argument, NTA offered grace marks to students who had marked option (c) as their answer. So, these 44 students, who ideally should have received 715 marks out of 720, ended up receiving a perfect score of 720.
Centre on grace marks
Today, the Centre declared its decision to retract the grace marks given to more than 1,500 candidates who appeared for the NEET-UG 2024 examination. This decision was communicated to the Supreme Court on Thursday, prompting a wave of unrest and concern among the students who were already satisfied with their results.
The move by the government comes after widespread protests raging nationwide over alleged irregularities surrounding the declaration of results for the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) 2024. NEET results serve as a foundational platform for securing entries into various medical courses throughout India. The court has announced the re-test will likely be on June 23.
Additional concerns regarding the examination, including alleged instances of paper leaks, have surfaced, though Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has vehemently denied these claims.