More Tamil Nadu students ace NEET

CHENNAI: More number of TN MBBS-aspirants have cleared NEET this year, though the percentage of pass has seen a mild dip.
Of 1.08 lakh who wrote NEET this year, 58,922 have aced the qualifier-exam. While this constitutes 54.4% pass, it was 57.4% last year, when 57,216 students cleared the test. The number of high-scorers has increased this year, making the competition for MBBS seats tougher than last year.

Among the top 50,000 national rank-holders, the number of TN students has increased to 2,874 this year, as against 2,747 last year. Among the top 1 lakh rank-holders, the number of Tamil Nadu students increased to 6,144 this year from 6,086 last year. The number of state board students among the top 1 lakh marginally decreased this year -- to 3,447 from 3,500 last year. With the performance being more or less the same as last year, and Tamil Nadu having got 1,460 additional MBBS seats in 11 new government medical colleges, experts predict a slight decrease in cut-off for different categories this year.
SK Prasenjithan from Chennai, R Arvind from Thanjavur, Geethanjali S A and M Pravin of Namakkal have scored 710 out of 720 marks. While Geethanjali got 23rd all-India rank and Pravin got 30th rank, and Prasenjithan and Arvind secured all-India 43rd rank. Arvind prepared on his own. “I concentrated on solving the last two years’ NEET question papers, after completing the required syllabus. I took mock tests once a week and analysed the reason for the outcome of the test. This method helped me attain my target,” Arvind said.
Prasenjithan wants to join AIIMS in New Delhi. “I have decided to join AIIMS as I have secured a rank within top 50 at national-level,” he told TOI. He was trained at Aakash Institute.
Another topper from the city, Hayagrivas MB, who scored 705 out 720 marks and got all India 56th rank also wanted to join either AIIMS or JIPMER.
Sanjay Gandhi, deputy director, Aakash Institute in Chennai, said awareness about AIIMS and other institutes have increased among the toppers. “The performance of our students in NEET 2021 has increased twofold compared to previous year. As many as 91 students have scored above 650 marks from across the state and 201 students have scored above 600 marks from our institutes in the state,” he added.
(With inputs from Vincent Arockiaraj in Trichy)