NEET 2018 cut-offs drop; 17% enough to join MBBS

The National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) 2018 results for MBBS admissions were announced on Monday. The results showed even lower cut-offs compared to last year as the cut-off for the unreserved category is now 119 out of 720 marks and the one for the reserved categories has dropped from 107 to 96.

Out of the 13 lakh students who appeared for the exam, over seven lakh students have qualified to join medical college.

Before NEET, the minimum eligibility criteria for MBBS admission was 50% through various entrance exams. 

Over 4,300 students who scored 180 or less in NEET actually got admission to MBBS. A lower eligibility cut-off for NEET would allow students with an even lower percentage of marks be eligible to get admission for MBBS.

With this year’s cut-off being 119, a person scoring the mark could at best have got 33% of the answers right. There are 180 questions, 45 each in physics and chemistry and 90 in biology under the NEET scheme. Every correct answer gets four marks while a wrong one gets one negative mark. 

Incidentally, there are no cut-offs specified for individual subjects within NEET due to which several students qualified and got admission into medical colleges last year with scores of zero or even negative marks in chemistry or physics.

Now as this year’s NEET dropping the cut-offs even further in terms of percentage marks, the chances of the last year’s repeat are high.