NEET 2022: The National Testing Agency (NTA)‘s decision to remove the upper age limit for the medical entrance exam — National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) — could make the competition to get a seat in medical colleges a bit harder, claim experts. Every year, around 15 lakh students appear for NEET and compete for nearly 80,000 undergraduate courses across medical colleges. With the exemption of the upper age limit, the already competitive exam could have more aspirants hence leading to even tougher competition.
In this competition, it is the fresh school graduates who are expected to be at a loss. Experts believe that candidates who had appeared for NEET before or are paramedics and have a know-how of the field could apply for the course. Those who will be studying for years might know more than those who have just passed class 12, and have better chances at the exam, fear experts.
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“It’s surely a step back from the earlier progress made by the government where they limited attempts in premium exams. It will be a big blow to freshers as people who prepare for multiple years will have a better chance, because of their high score,” believes Himanshu Gautam, CEO and Co-founder of Safalta – an app which caters to teaching tier-2, tier-3 students for competitive entrance.
On the other hand, it could be a boon for those who are unable to clear the exams at one go. According to experts, the war in Ukraine has exposed the medical college admission system in this country. Students who were unable to clear NEET would go abroad to take up medical studies. Thus, the medical entrance is being made low-key and offering more options to those who could not crack it in the first go.
“With the elimination of the age bar, students in our country can appear for the exam multiple times till they get through the exam. Besides, this way the quality of education in India will also remain high. This means the NTA can select on the basis of merit and those who do not make the cut can sit for the next time, says Saurabh Kumar, Director Academics, Vidyamandir Classes.
Students will now have unlimited chance to become a doctor. “Since medical studies is related to human life, people need to understand why the selection in NEET in so low. Not everybody can become a doctor. But now they will get other chances to become a doctor,” adds Kumar.
Earlier, the upper age limit to apply to become a doctor was 25 years for the unreserved category, and for students belonging to the reserved categories — SC, ST, OBC-NCL and PwBD, it was relaxed further by five years, that is, 30 years. Now, irrespective of the category, students who have completed their class 12 with physics, chemistry, and biology as core subjects will be eligible to apply for the medical entrance exam.
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NEET 2022 exam pattern is also likely to change. Like NEET 2021, NEET 2022 will have two sections — the first section will consist of 35 questions and the second section will have 15 questions. In the second section, out of the 15 questions, students can choose to attempt any 10 questions. All the questions will be in a multiple-choice question (MCQ) format.
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