Candidates enter the test centre at DAV, Unit-VIII, in Bhubaneswar on Sunday. Picture by Ashwinee Pati

Bhubaneswar, May 5: Around 25,000 medical aspirants from the state, who appeared for the first ever National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) today, gave the thumbs up to the common pre-medical test for admission to MBBS and BDS courses across the country.

Administered by the Central Board of Secondary Education on behalf of the Medical Council of India, the test replaces state-level entrance exams and the All-India Pre Medical Test.

“My apprehensions about the exams were erased as soon as I saw the questions, especially the ones in the biology section. The physics and chemistry questions were moderately difficult. Overall, it went well,” said Mona Mohanty, an aspirant.

NEET was held from 10am to 1pm at 30 centres across the state, including 25 in Bhubaneswar, where 19,000 students appeared. Rourkela and Jeypore were the other two venues. The exam consisted of 180 objective type questions. Each correct answer will fetch four marks, while one mark will be deducted for every wrong answer.

Many other candidates echoed Mona. “All the questions were easy. A common exam has saved us both time and money. It is also a relief that our counselling will be held separately,” said Sarthak, another candidate.

The state will conduct counselling for 85 per cent of its total seats for domicile candidates. The rest will be reserved for all-India candidates to be selected through centralised counselling.

Each of the three government medical colleges in the state – SCB at Cuttack, MKCG at Berhampur and VSS at Burla – has 150 seats. The privately-run medical colleges – Hi-Tech, Institute of Medical Sciences (IMS) and Sum Hospital and Kalinga Institute of Medical Sciences (Kims) - all in Bhubaneswar, have an intake capacity of 100 each. Hi-Tech has another medical college in Rourkela too.

The Gandhi Dental College, Bhubaneswar, and SCB Dental College, Cuttack, have 50 BDS seats each. However, KIIT University (Kims) and Siksha ‘O’ Anusandhan University (IMS and Sum Hospital) are yet to confirm if they will take students through NEET. Both varsities have moved court to admit students through their own entrance tests for MBBS and BDS courses. The 50 seats at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Bhubaneswar, would be filled up through a separate entrance test. AIIMS and two other institutes — Armed Forces Medical College, Pune and Postgraduate Institute for Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh — are not included under NEET as they were created by separate laws.

DET held

The Diploma Entrance Test (DET) was also held today with nearly 70,000 students taking the exam at 170 centres within and outside the state. Conducted by the employment, technical education and training department, the test was held in two sittings — from 10am to 12.30pm and 2pm to 4pm (lateral entry). For the first time, 30 per cent seats will be reserved for girls in the government and private diploma tech institutes of the state.