Staying away from television and social media helped some score high in the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET), results of which the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) announced on Friday.
Harsh Agarwal from Bihar stood 16th in all-India ranking, having secured 685 marks with a 99.998440 percentile score. He stood fifth in the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) entrance exam.
Nipun Chandra, another boy with roots in Patna, stood fourth in the AIIMS entrance test and secured 55th rank in NEET. His father Niten Chandra is a senior Odisha-cadre IAS officer and mother Shalini Chandra a lawyer.
"I am very happy with my son's success," an elated Shalini told The Telegraph from Bhubaneswar. "Studying was like his hobby. I have never seen Nipun getting bored of it. Whatever time he got, he utilised in studying in his room without disturbing others." Nipun has also cleared the Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education & Research (Jipmer) entrance test, scoring 99.9 percentile.
The studious boy also stayed away from social media. "My son has remained away from social media even in this age of technology. Neither does he have a cellphone nor does he watch television. In fact, we have packed up our television set. It lies unattended in a corner of the house." Nipun, a student from DAV Public School, Chandrasekharpur, in Bhubaneswar, secured 95 per cent in his CBSE Class XII exam.
Like Nipun, Rishab Raj toiled hard for two years to get an all India rank of 138 in NEET and standing sixth in AIIMS. He is expectedly happy with his AIIMS results while his NEET ranking was not as per his expectations.
He has also secured 15th position in the Jipmer entrance test and was the district (Jamui) topper in CBSE's Class XII exam. He has also cleared an engineering entrance test, securing 212 rank in the JEE Mains examination. But he plans to join AIIMS.
The son of a tobacconist dealer from Jhajha, Ajit Kumar Barnwal, Rishab said: "My father always motivated me to be a topper."
While Nipun accords his success to staying away from television and social media, Ayush Ranjan, who secured 139th rank in the country in NEET, finds motivation in his father and mother. Ayush, the son of Patna-based neurosurgeon Rajeev Ranjan and Nalanda Medical College and Hospital (NMCH) oncologist Anita Kumari, has always dreamt of becoming a doctor. "Both my parents being doctors, I had always dreamt of becoming a doctor." The boy did his Class X from DPS Patna and moved to New Delhi for better medical coaching, even passing Class XII with 94 per cent from Modern International School, Dwarka.
Nayan Utpal, who secured 382nd rank in NEET, is the son of Dilip Kumar Jha, a veterinary doctor, and Rekha Jha, a homemaker. "I am not very happy with the results as my rank is much below expectations," Nayan said.
The NEET results have brought cheer on the faces of many students.
But, sources said, many will have to settle for a private medical college.
Bipin Kumar Singh, director of Goal Medical Coaching Institute in Patna, said: "The NEET result is confusing for students as well as teachers. There are only 55,000 medical seats (both private and government) and just around 22,000 government seats. The CBSE, by declaring such huge number of qualified candidates, has given much bargaining power to private medical colleges having high fee structure."
Over 11 lakh MBBS and BDS aspirants on Sunday May 7, appeared for the NEET at over 1,900 centres across the country. Earlier, CBSE used to conduct NEET for only 15% of the all-India quota seats and for the rest was conducted by states. While last year it was conducted in two phases, this year the test was held on one day.
The NEET examination also ran in controversy with reports of question paper leak from Patna. Patna police had arrested five persons including two medical students in Patna for allegedly making an attempt to leak question papers.
