Canacona girl Abhida tops Goa at NEET with 99.93 percentile

PANAJI: Canacona girl Abhida Barretto, a student of Loyola Higher Secondary School, Margao, topped Goa in the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET), results for which were declared on Monday. With a score of 680 out of 720, Abhida had a percentile of 99.93 and all-India rank of 905.
Hailing from the village of Muthal, Saldoxem, in Canacona, Abhida’s family moved to Margao for educational reasons. The teenager’s dream is to serve as a doctor in the armed forces.
“I now want to get admissions in the Armed Forces Medical College in Pune. From the beginning, I had an interest in working in the Army, while my father wanted me to answer NEET. Then I learnt of the Armed Forces Medical College and I realised I can get both opportunities I wanted in one place,” said Abhida, the daughter of writer Abel and Bena Barretto.
The oldest of three siblings, Abhida said her strategy for the test was to answer as many mock tests as possible to be able to perform well at NEET.
“I used to study for four to five hours a day as NEET got closer. But there was always a balance between studies and other activities, as I played sports like football. I want to thank my teachers at Loyola’s, Manovikas and Stellar Academy,” said Abhida.
Abhida’s father Abel, also a businessman, said he had expected his daughter to do well because of the tremendous hard work she had put in for two years.
“I believe there is no shortcut to success and she also believes in the same. She topped because of her hard work,” said Abel.