News

NEET to have Similar Set of Questions in Regional Papers- NEET 2018

by IBNS 01 Jan 2018, 01:16 am

The Supreme Court, on December 12 ordered that National Eligibility Cum Entrance Test (NEET) will have similar papers across all languages, meaning that the papers in languages such as Bengali, Tamil, Assamese, among others will just be a translation of the paper made in English Language.

A petition was filed against CBSE and the bench slammed it for having different question papers in English, Hindi and other languages of the exam and wondered how the evaluation would have been possible. 

The bench said,” we want a commonality in exam and identical question papers across all languages. We want you to consult experts and file an affidavit stating how you (CBSE) are going to implement uniformity in standards.”

However, Additional Solicitor General Maninder Singh, in defense of CBSE argued that the question papers were evaluated by experts and were of similar difficulty level for Hindi, English and other languages. He also said that CBSE requested states to provide translators for respective languages. But as there was no co-operation from states, it went on preparing different question papers.

Speaking on the matter, Union HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar said,” The vernacular question papers for NEET – the all India entrance examination for medical colleges – will just be a translation of the question paper in English.”

Dr Sanyam Bhardwaj, Joint Secretary, NEET informed the bench that the recommendations have been sent to Principal of Board and Advisory Committee of NEET to introduce further uniformity in the exam.

The whole matter arose when question papers of NEET 2017 in vernacular languages were found to be of higher difficulty level than the English language paper. This caused dissatisfaction amongst students appearing for the exam.

How will it benefit students?

Having a similar set of papers will prove to be very helpful to students. NEET is currently conducted in 10 different languages and thus 10 different question papers are made.

Even if CBSE tries to make all the question papers of similar difficulty level, there will still be some scope for variations which is proved by the fact that the difficulty level of NEET 2017 differed for students based on their choice of language.

Having a similar set of question paper will make evaluation process easier and ensure uniformity. This is a brilliant step for bettering NEET and bringing about transparency.

About NEET

National Eligibility cum Entrance Test is conducted to grant admissions to MBBS and BDS courses. The exam covers all the medical colleges of the country, except AIIMS and JIPMER Puducherry.

Around 11.4 lakh candidates registered for NEET in 2017. From these, around 10.4 lakh candidates took the exam in English language and rest in other languages and 6 lakh candidates passed the exam to be eligible for securing seats in various colleges across the country.

Expected date

NEET 2017 was conducted on May 7, 2017. NEET 2018 is expected to be conducted on May 10, 2018. The registration process is going to begin in January, 2018. However, no official announcement regarding the schedule has been made yet.

Candidates above 25 years of age allowed for exam

Earlier this year, Supreme Court had allowed candidates above the age of 25 years to apply for NEET, citing the lack of doctors in the country.

No major changes expected in examination pattern

Since no notice has been issued regarding any changes in examination pattern, it is expected that the examination pattern will remain the same.