Lagatar24 Desk
New Delhi: The National Testing Agency (NTA) released the final results of the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET-UG) 2024 on Friday, showing a significant drop in the number of toppers from 67 to 17. Each of the top-ranking students scored a perfect 720 marks, with a pass percentile of 99.9992714.
The reduction in the number of toppers follows a Supreme Court ruling that mandated the withdrawal of grace marks awarded for a controversial Physics question. Initially, 67 students had shared the All India Rank 1, but six lost their top rank after grace marks were rescinded and a retest was conducted for 1,563 students. Additional rankers lost their top positions following the Supreme Court’s decision.
This year, approximately 24,06,079 candidates registered for the NEET UG exam, with 23,33,297 appearing for the test, while 72,782 were absent.
Most of the toppers hail from Rajasthan and Maharashtra. The top four rank holders are from Rajasthan, followed by three from Maharashtra. Delhi and Uttar Pradesh each have two toppers, while Bihar, Punjab, West Bengal, Chandigarh, Tamil Nadu, and Kerala have one topper each.
In terms of scores, nearly 11,65,334 candidates scored between 720-162 marks. Of the total registrations, 10,29,198 were male students, 13,76,863 were female, and 18 belonged to the third gender. Of those who appeared for the exam, 9,98,205 were male, and 13,34,940 were female. About 5,46,566 male candidates and 7,69,277 female candidates qualified for the exam. Out of the 18 third-gender registrations, 17 appeared for the exam, and 10 qualified.
The majority of registrations were for the NEET UG exam in English, with 18,92,413 candidates, followed by 3,57,924 registrations in Hindi.
The results were declared following a directive from the Supreme Court, which took into account the marks of a Physics question that the NTA acknowledged had two correct answers.