By Asmita Kundu
Following the honourable Supreme Court’s order, the National Testing Agency (NTA) has successfully conducted the NEET re-exam 2020 on October 14, 2020 (Wednesday). The exam was centre-based and conducted in pen-paper mode from 2 pm to 5 pm. NTA will declare the NEET UG result (results of both September 13 and October 14 exams) on October 16 along with the NEET cut-off and merit list on the official website.
Also Read - NEET Results 2020: All You Need To Know
NTA has re-conducted the NEET UG exam for those who could not appear on the exam on September 13 due to reasons related to coronavirus pandemic as some candidates were infected with COVID -19 and some were struck in the containment zone. As per the advisory issued by Union ministry, such candidates were barred from attending the exam at that time.
On the September 13 exam, out of 15.97 lakh registered candidates, 14.37 lakh candidates appeared. It is assumed that the remaining 1.6 lakh candidates appeared in NEET re-exam on October 14. However, the official data has not been released by NTA yet.
Since several NEET candidates failed to appear on the medical entrance test this year due to reasons related to COVID-19, NTA has appealed to the Supreme court on October 12 that they want to conduct the exam for such candidates on October 14, 2020. Subsequently, the court also gave its consent, which is why the consolidated NEET result publication date was pushed to October 16, 2020.
Upon the NEET 2020 result announcement, all the details regarding the counselling for 15% All India Quota (AIQ) seats and 85% state quota seats will be released online. The Directorate General of Health Sciences (DGHS) will conduct the NEET counselling for AIQ seats on behalf of Medical Counselling Committee (MCC). However, candidates must note that the 15% AIQ seats do not include the government medical colleges in Jammu and Kashmir. AIQ include seats at government colleges across the country, central and deemed universities, seats reserved for children of Insured Persons (IP quota) in Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) medical colleges and seats available at the Pune Armed Forces Medical College.
Candidates who seek admission in the various prestigious medical and dental courses/ colleges in India appear on the NEET UG exam every year. Apart from that, candidates can also take admission in various AYUSH and veterinary courses across the country with the help of NEET score. According to NTA, there are a total of 542 medical and 313 dental colleges offering admission to the NEET 2020 candidates. A total of 80,055 MBBS and 26,949 BDS seats are vacant this year for admission through NEET scorecard.
This year the NEET UG exam was scheduled to be held on May 3 but was deferred a few times due to the rapid spread of the COVID-19 pandemic across the country which also led to the nationwide lockdown. following a lot of hullabaloos, the exam finally took place on September 13.
Adding, NTA has released the answer sheet and OMR sheet online earlier this month so that the candidates can also assess their performance and calculate the probable score that they might achieve in this year’s NEET UG exam.
