NEET UG, JEE Main Update 2021: NTA Removes Age Factor from Tie-Breaking Formula

NEET UG, JEE Main Update 2021: NTA Removes Age Factor from Tie-Breaking Formula

 A Major Update coming for JEE and NEET-UG aspirants!

This Thursday saw the National Testing Agency (NTA) come up with a major change in the national-level Engineering and Medical Entrance exams. As part of this, candidates older in age will no longer be given priority in the case where his/her rank is the same as another candidate. This change will apply to the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test-Undergraduate (NEET-UG) and Joint Entrance Exam Main (JEE Main).

How Things Were Earlier

Earlier, the NTA employed a tie-breaking policy while preparing the rank lists of the JEE Main Exam and NEET Exam, to ensure that multiple candidates don’t end up getting the same rank. 

In the case of ties in the NEET Exam, primacy was given to the candidate having a higher score in Biology (Zoology + Botany), followed by those in Chemistry. If the tie still wasn’t resolved, the candidate with a lesser number of incorrect answers was preferred. Preference to the more aged candidate was the last resort.

In the case of the JEE Main exam, the marks in Mathematics were given the highest priority, followed by those in Physics and Chemistry after that. The number of incorrect answers will be considered if the tie is still isn’t resolved. Here too, the age criterion came last.

Why This Change?

In the recent inter-se-merit of candidates for tie-breaking released by NTA, the criteria which primacy to the older candidates was absent. In NEET 2020, Odisha’s Soyeb Aftab and U.P’s Akanksha Singh scored 720/720 however, the former was declared the all-India topper due to his old age. UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had reportedly sought to write to the NTA regarding the same and this step can possibly be a result of the above.

Though there hasn’t been any official statement by the NTA, the possible reason for this change could be to give a fair chance to the students by judging their results solely on merit and not any other factor.

Final Words

This decision by the NTA will have a huge impact on the merit lists of both these prestigious exams. The removal of the age criterion will result in several candidates having the same rank. 

The Agency hasn’t specified as of yet how it aims to tackle this potential issue. Thus, a statement can be expected soon. Keep following Affinity Education for the latest updates in the education sector.