Letters to The Editor — May 21, 2025

NEET-UG and conduct

I write this letter as a former Director of Entrance Exams and Admission, Anna University, Chennai. The NEET-UG 2025 has had fewer “irregularities” this time when compared to its earlier editions, especially last year. Question paper leaks, impersonation and outsourcing of the key from outside an exam hall are some of the malpractices.

Anna University Chennai, which admitted students to all of its programmes after an entrance test, eliminated all such malpractices. The question papers were objective type, with four answers for each question (one correct answer and three distractors). The so-called jumbling of questions was done most effectively.

The jumbling (changing the order of occurrence) of questions in NEET-UG is of two stages: jumbling the sections of the paper, and jumbling the questions within each section. In total, four versions of the question paper are used.

During my tenure at Anna University, there were at least five versions of question papers. The candidate was not told which version he/she was using. Electronically, the version would be captured from the serial number of the question booklet and the OMR sheet. When it comes to the jumbling of questions, not only were the questions jumbled but even the answers were too. The National Testing Agency (NTA) can consider the jumbling of answers in the next NEET-UG.

P.V. Navaneethakrishnan,

Chennai