The National Testing Agency (NTA) has reported that in the National-Eligibility-Cum-Entrance-Test Undergraduate (NEET-UG) exam 2024, just 175 candidates from 12 centers in Patna and eight candidates from two centers in Godhra were able to achieve 640 marks or above.
Only 35 students from the Patna centers and none of the candidates from the Godhra centers received a score of 680 or above, the investigation revealed.
There is no "systemic leak" and that the top 1000, 5000, and 10,000 students are spread over more than 800 centers and are not necessarily from the cohort of centers that are being investigated, an unnamed NTA official told a leading national daily.
According to the NTA, there isn't any evidence of a "larger leak" outside of Patna. Additionally, it claimed that the candidate whose exam booklet was examined received a mere 103 marks.
The official said: "Roshni, whose booklet was confiscated by Bihar Police, scored 103 marks out of 720."
The agency authorities claimed that data analysis of the top 11,000 ranks revealed a uniform distribution over more than 800 centers nationwide. After the purported leak, an official provided an explanation of the analysis, saying that NTA looked at scores outside of the top 100 as well.
"We examined the distribution of scores for each group of a thousand candidates. The top 1,000 candidates, for instance, are dispersed among 800 centers. The top 1 lakh applicants, who are most likely to get MBBS or dental seats, are divided across 4,500 of the 4,750 centers. If we examine even smaller groups, such as the top 5,000 candidates, they too are distributed across 780 centers," the official said.
Out of 23 lakh students who took the medical entrance exam on May 5, more than 13 lakh have qualified for the examination. The official contended that the qualifying averages for Patna and Godhra would have been far higher if there had been widespread irregularities and broad access to question papers, as claimed.
"The qualifying averages for Patna and Godhra are not only lower than the national average but also lower than their neighboring cities and centers," the official said.
The irregularities in the NEET UG 2024 examination sparked worldwide protests and petitions. 38 petitions have been filed across the country requesting a re-examination, alleging paper leakage and examination misconduct.
On the contrary, over 50 successful Gujarat-based candidates have filed a petition in the Supreme Court, seeking a restraining order against the Centre and the NTA from canceling the disputed exam.
In a statement made on July 8, the Supreme Court confirmed a paper leak in the NEET-UG 2024 examination while stating that cancellation of the exam is an “extreme last resort.”
The SC said: “It is an admitted fact that there is a leak. The nature of the leak is what we are considering. The leak cannot be disputed. The consequences of it are what we are considering.”
The apex court sought answers from the NTA on different queries, including the nature of the leak, the locations where it occurred, and the time between the leak and the exam.
The petitioners and the Supreme Court also expressed concern over a significant increase in the percentage of perfect scorers. As many as 67 individuals received a perfect score of 720 this year, up from just seven in the previous four years.
Six of the 67 candidates were later given the option of re-examination. Five of those who took the retest on June 23 scored less than 720 marks.
