Medical aspirants find 2019 NEET easier

The students who appeared for the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) stated that the overall exam was easy to moderate. The offline mode exam was conducted for the first time by National Testing Agency (NTA) in a single slot of 2 pm to 5 pm. There were 31 exam centres allocated for the exam in the city.

Students said that though the Biology paper was slightly lengthy, it was easier than expected. Anish S, who wrote the exam at Sathyabhama University, said that he felt the paper to be overall easy. “All the sections were pretty easy. Most of the questions came from the NCERT syllabus. Moreover, I went to an institute for training to attend NEET exam and they gave me additional study material, so I was well-prepared,” he said. Of all the subjects, he felt that Biology was the easiest followed by Chemistry.

S Vinoth, who appeared for NEET second time this year, said that NEET 2019 question paper was easier than 2018 question paper and questions were translated properly this year. Thus, Tamil medium students did not have problems in understanding the questions due to translations like last year when the questions were wrongly translated.

Students said that with more than 95 percent of questions were from NCERT syllabus, about 50 percent of the questions were easy while 35 percent of them were moderate and 15 percent were difficult.

Pooja S, who appeared first time for NEET said, “The questions were both from Class 11 and 12 syllabuses, with more questions from Class 12.”

As for the facilities at the examination centre, Anish said that the classroom was comfortable. “It took me two hours to finish and I went through the answers for the remaining times. However, they should have conducted the exam in the morning as it was hot in the afternoon,” he added.

A good two years have whizzed past since the death of Dalit medical aspirant Anitha of Ariyalur, but the netas of the state are yet to secure relief for the students of the state. 

On Sunday, another set of students, numbering 1.36 lakh this time, took NEET. In the interim, NEET had transformed more in to an issue of state rights than student’s interest. The Opposition and ruling fronts have engaged in a slanging war on the issue in the campaign trail even a few days ago. DMK president M K Stalin and his allies who have been firing broadsides at the BJP-AIADMK front on the issue since the year before last and most recently a few days ago after the organizers messed up in finalizing the venue at the nick of time in Madurai. 

However, NEET had done enough political damage already. Till the Parliamentary elections got over, the BJP-AIADMK did not have answers to the DMK-Congress promise of exempting the state from NEET and even retaining school education in the state list. That NEET was a potent poll issue was evident from the fact that it was a talking point in campaign even a week before the polls. So much so that the ruling AIADMK had to work overtime to manage the bad press fueled by Union Minister Piyush Goyal a week before April 18 LS polls. Goyal had caught the AIADMK off guard by claiming then that they would convince the AIADMK in to accepting the test, just about the time Congress president Rahul Gandhi had obliged DMK and promised to allow states to decide on NEET.  All credits for NEET getting a political colour and pushing the ruling front in the state should go to the BJP, which had sufficiently snubbed its ally AIADMK on the issue months before the electoral understanding was reached between them. Irrespective of the political outcome on May 23, both the DMK and AIADMK would have to fulfil their poll promise of getting exemption (or scrapping) for TN from NEET. 

When NEET prep turned Insta-friendly

Little had anyone expected that Instagram, a photo-sharing social networking site, would come to the rescue of students preparing for NEET pre-medical entrance test. Right from organic chemistry to complicated biology terms and definitions, those preparing for the exam and seniors pursuing medicine used hashtags such as #neet, #neetexam and #neet2019 to share notes and hacks to remember complicated formulae. “I was really nervous a week before the exam and didn’t know how to revise what I had learnt. Thankfully, seniors posted links to sample papers through their Instagram bios and that really helped,” said Peter Rohan, who wrote the exam from a centre at Kilpauk. “A coach from Uttar Pradesh had shared a model question paper to indicate the kind of questions we could expect. The answer key and solutions were posted separately,” he added. Some others had shared images of their notes, diagrams and titles of books that one could refer to. Students also thanked meme creators for lifting the weight off the intense preparations. “It was fun to read motivational messages like, ‘I am eagerly waiting for the day when a stethoscope takes the place of headphones.’ When I saw such posts, it felt good to know that I was not alone,” shared Artharva, another student.

The National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) was conducted for admission to undergraduate medical and dental courses on Sunday across 560 exam centres throughout Tamil Nadu without any major glitches this year. The increased number of exam centres were an added advantage.

Except for traffic congestion at a few exam centres, students said they did not face difficulties accessing the venue or in the conduct of the examination. The students and parents were satisfied with the arrangements, except, perhaps, for the sweltering heat. About 1.36 lakh students, including 19,000, from government and government-aided schools appeared for the three-hour exam in 14 districts across TN.

The students said that most questions were from the NCERT text books, with the Biology paper being the easiest, followed by Chemistry and Physics. Students said the Bio paper consisted of logical questions, while Physics had more conceptual and application-based questions. The question paper consisted of 180 questions with 90 from Biology and 45 each from Physics and Chemistry. Students who appeared for the exam for the second time said the paper were easier than last year.

Though exam centres were changed in TN due to the LS polls and other reasons, , students were still able to find their centres without a hitch. As the number of exam centres were inadequate last year, students had to travel to other States to take the exam. The official release of the answer key will be released soon, while results will be declared on June 5.

Timely intervention from a police constable helped a student appear for NEET after the latter arrived at the examination hall without his photograph. P Saravanakumar, on security duty at the National Model School, noticed a student wandering about aimlessly. On inquiry, he told the constable he had forgotten to bring his photograph. Hearing this, Saravankumar gave the student Rs 40 to enable him to take a photograph which he eventually took and could appear for the exam.