NEET 2021 : Age factor, No more a tie-breaking factor by NTA
National Testing Agency (NTA) by introducing a major change in the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test 2021 (NEET 2021), has eliminated the factor of age as a tie-breaking criterion. Because of this, a candidate would not get any benefits or upper hand for being older in an age when NTA prepares the merit list. Formerly, NTA used to be considered the age factor for breaking ties between the candidates scoring the same marks in order to make sure that the same scoring candidates do not get assigned with the same ranks in the NEET exam.
According to the Information Bulletin released by NTA in 2020-
If two or more candidates have somehow obtained equal score/marks/percentile in the NEET (UG) - 2020, the inter-se-merit was to be decided as follows:
a) Candidate securing higher score/marks/percentile in Biology ( Zoology & Botany ) in the Test,
b) Candidate with higher marks/percentile score in Chemistry in the Test, followed by,
c) Candidate having attempted a less number of incorrect answers and correct answers in all the subjects in the Test, followed by,
d) Candidates that are older in age.
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Above all, the age factor was taken into action while announcing the names of the toppers of NEET 2020. Earlier reported was that the two candidates securing full marks in the medical entrance exam last year were Akanksha Singh from Uttar Pradesh and Shoyeb Aftab from Odisha.
Although, despite scoring the same scores, Akanksha was ranked 2nd in AIR because of the age factor in the tiebreaker policy as both the students had scored a perfect spot. She unknowingly lost the first of the top ranks to Soyeb Aftab of Odisha due to her younger age which was one of the factors that accounted for breaking a tie in scores for in the National Testing Agencies tie-breaking policy.
Last year, Yogi Adityanath, the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, had tweeted that he would be writing a letter to the NTA in the request to rank her first topper.
This age factor, nonetheless, had been eradicated by the NTA from this year onwards. The Information Bulletin 2021 clearly states that from now on there will be no advantages provided to older candidates in the merit list.
It states only three factors to break ties in NEET-UG 2021,
a) Candidate securing higher score/marks/percentile in Biology ( Zoology & Botany ) in the Test,
b) Candidate securing higher score/marks/percentile in Chemistry in the Test,
c) Candidate having attempted a lesser number of incorrect answers and correct answers in all the subjects in the Test, followed by,
Although the new 'no age factor' policy introduced by NTA would be evident the merit score would be the foremost priority while preparing the merit list, which in return means that from 2021 and onwards, the merit list of NEET Exam is likely to offer several candidates with the same rank.
