NEET UG 2023 Results: Why are there joint toppers again this year? Tweak in tie-breaking rules holds the answer

Last year, four candidates with the exact same percentile score were not tied at the top spot, but instead given unique ranks. So why do we have joint toppers this year? We asked NTA this question and here's what they told us..

This year, the testing agency excluded two factors from last year's formula. (Express photo)

Following a year’s break, we once again have two candidates — Prabhanjan J, hailing from Villupuram, Tamil Nadu, and Bora Varun Chakravarthi from Andhra Pradesh — tied at the top spot in the NEET-UG results released Tuesday night. Interestingly, last year, despite four candidates achieving the same percentile score of 99.9997733, they were all awarded unique ranks. So, what could be the reason behind the National Testing Agency (NTA) announcing joint toppers this year?

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The answer lies in the tie-breaking rule employed by the NTA. This year, the testing agency excluded two factors from last year’s formula. In 2022, it used the following nine factors to assign each candidate a unique rank in case two or more obtained equal marks/percentile scores:

a. Candidates achieving higher marks/percentiles in Biology (Botany and Zoology), followed by

b. The candidate with the highest mark/percentile in Chemistry, followed by

c. The candidate who achieved the highest marks/percentile score in Physics in the test, followed by

d. Candidates with fewer incorrect answers than correct answers in all subjects in the test, followed by

e. A candidate with the lowest proportion of incorrect responses to correct responses in Biology (Botany and Zoology) is the winner, followed by

f. Candidate with the lowest ratio of incorrect answers to correct answers in Chemistry, followed by

g. The candidate with a lower percentage of attempted incorrect answers and correct answers in Physics, followed by

h. Candidate older in age, followed by

i. NEET application number in ascending order

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This year, NTA omitted points (h) and (i), which pertained to the candidate’s age and application number, from the formula. In other words, a candidate’s age and application number were not factors in determining different ranks for candidates with equal or perfect scores. This meant that points (a) to (g) of the formula proved to be sufficient in breaking ties for all candidates, except two — Prabhanjan J and Bora Varun Chakravarthi.

“Since both have scored a perfect score of 720 marks and there were no incorrect answers, it was impossible to break the tie between them as points (a) to (g) of the formula did not yield any useful results,” said an NTA official. “Hence, only two candidates were tied in the entire rank list, and those happened to be Prabhanjan J and Bora Varun Chakravarthi, who had a perfect score,” he added.

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When asked why the NTA did not include the candidate’s age and application number, like last year, in its tie-breaking mechanism, the officer said, “The formula we used ensured we could give a unique rank to everyone except two. That would not have led to problems in admission. So, the result committee (with representatives from the health ministry) felt we should let the two be joint toppers.

NEET UG 2023 Toppers | AIR 1 | AIR 1| AIR 4| AIR 5 | AIR 8 | AIR 7 |AIR 10 | AIR 11 | Overall result | Tie-breaker | Analysis

Last year, NTA introduced a 9-point tie-breaking formula, to avoid repeating what happened in 2021. That year, the top three candidates were still tied despite the following formula given below and hence all were given Rank 1.

1. Candidate obtaining higher marks/percentile score in Biology (Botany & Zoology) in the test, followed by,

2. Candidate obtaining higher marks/percentile score in Chemistry in the test, followed by,

3. Candidate with less proportion of a number of attempted incorrect answers and correct answers in all the subjects in the test