The National Eligibility cum Entrance Test for MBBS/BDS was tough for State board students. While many of them had opted for coaching classes, some had chosen to prepare on their own.
Praneet, a CBSE student from Coimbatore, said that the question paper was easy. A few students said that the physics section was tough compared to other subjects.
Students who trained in coaching centres found questions relatively easy but students who studied under the Samacheer Kalvi syllabus in government schools found the paper tough.
Quite a few students had enrolled in coaching centres in neighbouring Kerala. Banu of Tiruvannamalai, whose daughter was assigned a centre in Coimbatore said, the girl underwent a month’s training at a coaching centre in Thrissur.
“Though we were given option to write in Tamil, questions were tough,” said R. Shalni of Thittakudi. But, E. Mersiya Mary of Pudukottai, who studied in a private school, said that questions were not really tough. However, she took time to understand the questions before answering them. The girls took the test at a centre in Tiruchi.
Government school students who took the test felt that with an in-depth knowledge of the subjects they would have done better. S. Sridevi, a Tamil medium student from Palani in Dindigul district, said though the questions were predominantly from syllabus covered in State board, answering them required in-depth understanding of the concepts.
“Most of these concepts are covered in a shallow manner in the State board syllabus. However, the questions required a detailed understanding, which might be an advantage for those from CBSE syllabus,” she said.
N. Selvaraj, whose daughter S. Anitha, took the test in a centre in Chennai, said he got her a book on NEET as he could not afford to send her to a coaching class. The student of Government Higher Secondary School in Arumbakkam, a topper in class X, said, “My father is an auto rickshaw driver and mother, a domestic help. All the questions in the test were based on CBSE syllabus. I answered from whatever I could recollect of the subjects I studied. Biology was easier than Physics and Chemistry, which are math-oriented,” she said.
Ramesh, also a government school student from Kirumambakkam village in Puducherry, could not comprehend the questions. “We studied what was taught in school. In the government schools, even the State board syllabus is not taught extensively. We must have have a deeper understanding of the subject which we are not exposed to,” he rued.
Archana Ram, MD, Smart Training Resources, said students found physics tough as it requireed application of concepts. “It needs sufficient practice and fundamental knowledge of the concepts. Biology is more direct so students were able to attempt it better if they had studied their Class XI and XII lessons,” she said.
