Four students from Maharashtra made it to the list of top 50 students in the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET), results of which were announced by the National Testing Agency on Wednesday.
Of the 7,97,042 students, who cleared the exam, 81,171 are from Maharashtra. The State is second to Uttar Pradesh, where 84,982 students have qualified for the undergraduate medical studies. The national qualifying percentage among those appeared for the exam increased to 56.50% this year, as compared to 56.27% in 2018. However, the qualifying percentage in the State recorded a dip. While 39.26% students qualified this year, 39.57% students had cleared the NEET-UG exam last year.
Securing sixth position nationally, Sarthak Bhat (17) from Nashik stood first in Maharashtra with a score of 695 and 99.99 percentile. Sairaj Mane (18) from Sangli, who stood second in the State, secured 34th all-India rank at a score of 686 and 99.99 percentile, while Siddhant Date (18) from Pune district, who came third, secured 685 marks and 99.99 percentile.
Disha Agrawal (18) from Akola, on the other hand, made it to the top 20 toppers from the nation, with 685 marks and 52nd all-India rank. Sarthak Bhat, who aspires to be a cardiac surgeon, said he had started preparing since the time he was in Class X. “He would study 15 to 16 hours every day and gave up on his sports and music-related ambitions to prepare for his exam. Preparing a year in advance gave him an upper hand when it came to revising the syllabus as the exam neared,” Dr. Raghavendra Bhat, his father, said.
While Ms. Agarwal, the only female national topper from the State, is aiming at cardiology or medical research following MBBS, Mr. Mane and Mr. Date are curious about exploring their best interest during the four years of under-graduation that the two aspire to finish at KEM Hospital in Mumbai.
“Seth Gordhandas Sunderdas Medical College attached to KEM has always been my dream and I studied every day with that goal in mind. I am finally very close to my dream and cannot wait to dive deeper into medicine,” Mr. Mane said. While students from the city have done well, experts said the city has not yielded a very good all-India result. With papers being simpler than last year, the cut-offs are expected to rise. “While cut-offs are expected to soar this year in colleges across the State, medical colleges in Mumbai may have a cut-off of 575 of 720 marks,” Dr. Keyur Cholera, president of Mindsetters, said. No one from Mumbai made it to the list of State toppers.