NEET medical now subject to negative marking, students caught unaware

Students scheduled to take the NEET (National Eligibility *** Entrance Test) are in for an unpleasant surprise. The Medical Council of India will be including the negative marking system hence forth. Allegedly, MCI was to eradicate the negative marking system, because of which most of the coaching centers had prepared their students accordingly.

The Council’s decision to announce the news mere six months before the exam has irked many of the students who will now approach the exam with a lot more caution.

Students are protesting as this information has been released with very little warning– contrary to the popular belief that NEET would not have negative marking. News like this is bound to be disheartening for many students who are scheduled to take the test next year.

However, a few coaching centers, taking a different approach, had assumed that the NEET’s model would be based on AIPMT, which also has negative marking. Hence, they prepared their students accordingly. The MCI’s decision has proved them right.

Not all the reactions are negative. Many claim that the MCI’s decision will help in selecting the best candidates and will discourage practices like random guessing. These students have prepared for the exam, keeping negative marking in mind. However, the opinion across the board is that an early announcement would definitely have helped.

The CBSE will conduct the test under the guidelines specified by the MCI. The NEET exam date - May, 5,2013,  has been out as early as September.  

Source: The Times of India