New Delhi: Soyeb Aftab from Odisha and Akanksha Singh from Delhi have created a record by scoring a perfect 720 in the National Eligibility and Entrance Test (NEET) 2020, results of which were declared Friday.
Although both Aftab, 18, and Singh, 17, have scored the same marks, the former has been declared the topper and Singh the second rank-holder because the latter is younger to Aftab.
In a tie-breaker situation when two or more students score the same marks, the NTA looks at the number of incorrect answers, subject marks and finally age to assign a rank.
Aftab, who took his medical coaching from the Allen Coaching Institute in Kota, was already aware that he was going to score a perfect 720.
According to a post by the Allen institute on 9 October on Twitter, Aftab had tallied his OMR answer-sheet released by the NTA with the official answer key and found out that he has scored a perfect 720.
Proud to announce that our 2 Years Classroom Course Student #SoyebAftab is scoring 720/720 Marks in #NEET2020 as per his OMR & Recorded responses released by NTA. The History Once Again has been Made by One and Only ALLEN Student! #ALLENHaitohmumkinhai#ALLENkota #deshkicoaching pic.twitter.com/cw3hPT5Kts
— ALLEN Career Institute (@ALLENkota) October 9, 2020
Speaking to ThePrint over phone, Aftab said he was elated with his result and “confident about scoring well”.
Son of a businessman in Rourkela, Aftab said he will be the first one from his family to join a medical school.
Also read: Odisha’s Soyeb Aftab gets perfect score in NEET as 7.71 lakh candidates qualify
‘Want to join AIIMS’
Singh, meanwhile, said she has no regrets that she is the second rank-holder, but feels proud of the fact that she scored a perfect 720.
“Scoring 720 marks is a big achievement and I am just happy that I could do that,” she told ThePrint.
Singh wishes to join the premier All Indian Institute of Medical Sciences, which, she said, is the inspiration behind her decision to study medicine.
A native of Kushinagar in Uttar Pradesh, Singh came to Delhi for her medical studies two years ago. She has been staying in the national capital with her father, who took an early retirement from the Indian Air force to support his daughter’s dreams.
According to the data shared by NTA, 13,66,945 students had appeared for the exam this year, of which, 7,71,500 have qualified.
This year, the NEET exam was conducted on 13 September, and another exam was conducted on 14 October for those who missed the exam, keeping all the safety precautions in mind amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
Also read: Why UPSC is insisting on holding civil service exam on 4 October despite aspirants’ protests
Congratulations Akanksha and Soyeb. Being younger, Akanksha has performed exceedingly well. (Quoting her gender would be unbecoming). One would have appreciated if the headlines gave equal space to her too, instead of trivialising her achievement to a …’Meanwhile….’ sentence at the end of the article. The Print..needs to scrub its headlines and that being said, Akanksha’s photo on the page would have also been rightfully due.