Two students from Karnataka made it to the top 50 in the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET), the results of which were announced on Wednesday.
Of the 1.02 lakh students from the State who appeared for the test, 63.25% qualified to take part in the counselling process, a marginal drop from last year (63.51%).
The all-India topper is Nalin Khandelwal of Rajasthan.
In Karnataka, D.R. Phaneendra, a student of Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya at Mavinakere in Holenarsipur taluk of Hassan, secured the All-India NEET rank 36 by scoring 686 out of 720 marks. The second topper from the State, P. Mahesh Anand, a student of Sri Chaitanya Techno School, Marathahalli in Bengaluru, secured rank 43 with 685 marks.
D.R. Phaneendra
Phaneendra, whose father is a government high school teacher and mother works as a junior engineer with KPTCL, had been selected for free coaching offered by the Dakshin Foundation after clearing an entrance test when he was in Class10. He secured 94% in the II PU exam.
“I spent two years in Pune with the Dakshin Foundation where I got coaching for NEET. The coaching helped me a lot, and I am happy with my rank. I am hoping to get a seat at the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences and want to pursue my post-graduation in surgery,” he said.
P. Mahesh Anand
Mahesh, who had also secured the first rank in the State in the Common Entrance Test (CET) in veterinary sciences and Bachelor of Naturopathy and Yogic Sciences, said he had been preparing for NEET from class 11. “We had very good teachers who explained concepts well. I paid good attention in class and only studied for two hours a day after school hours,” he said. However, three months before the examination, he decided to do a “digital detox” and not use his phone. Like Phaneendra, he too is hoping to get into AIIMs.
Bengaluru student among girl toppers
The National Testing Agency released the list of top 20 female and male candidates. While no boys from the State made it to the list, Bengaluru girl Pragya Mitra from Sri Kumaran’s Children Home found her name on top 20 list for female candidates with her All India NEET rank of 99. Only seven of the top 50 students are girls.
“I studied for 14 hours every day when I did not have classes, and around five to six hours on days when I had to go to school. I wanted to become a doctor since 2014 after my father suffered a stroke and a heart attack,” she said.