NEET 2024: Latur pips Mumbai, Pune, has most students who got 500+ in Maharashtra

Mumbai: Latur has emerged as the district with the most candidates to score above 500 in NEET 2024. Compared to Latur's 7,538 students who achieved the feat, 5,281 from Mumbai and 5,330 from Pune scored above 500. Those scoring above 700 from Maharashtra total 205, with Pune being the district with the most candidates (41) to achieve the feat, followed by Mumbai (29) and Latur (25). The 650 mark was crossed by 2,585 candidates in the state, with Pune leading (386) followed by Latur (376) and Mumbai (317), according to data released by the National Testing Agency.

When the idea of NEET, an all-India centralised exam for admission to medical programmes, was introduced, Latur, known for its study model, felt the jitters. Experts felt the Latur model, which produced state toppers in the erstwhile CET (Common Entrance Test), conducted by the state, would fail NEET. Clearly, that was not to be.

"The reduced syllabus and easy-to-moderate level of questions in NEET seems to have taken overall scores a lot higher than previous years. The cutoff for admission to colleges will go through the roof. Students must be ready with a plan B from the very first round of admission," advised a parent representative, Sachin Bangad.

Echoing the same logic and working towards some solution to level the playing field to that of the historical admission processes, another group of parents has written to the state govt "to appeal to the National Medical Commission to give the requisite clearances for all the 14 new govt medical colleges and three new private colleges. Also, to get an additional 50 seats each in all existing medical colleges".

Sudha Shenoy, another parent representative, said, "The additional seats will bring some relief to students who cannot afford to pay the high fees of deemed universities or join colleges under the institutional quota seats."

In NEET 2024, 23.3 lakh students appeared nationwide; 2,321 scored 700 or more. These students were spread across 1,404 centres in the country and abroad. The centres were spread across 276 cities and 25 states/UTs. "Such a large spread shows that many candidates who were not from the traditional tuition hubs were also able to come on the toppers list in NEET 2024," said the NTA.

As reported by TOI, traditional tuition hubs like Sikar, Kota, and Kottayam saw many scoring 700 or more. Students appearing from other cities, too, were able to cross the threshold.