In 2022, four NEET-UG exam candidates tied for first place with exact percentile scores of 99.9997733. However, unlike 2021, the National Testing Agency (NTA) did not jointly award them first place.
Instead, the testing agency used its new tie-breaker policy to award the first rank to Tanishka from Rajasthan, the second rank to Vatsa Ashish Batra from Delhi, the third position to Hrishikesh Nagbhushan Gangule, and AIR 4 to Rucha Pawashe from Karnataka. Tanishka is the first candidate from the OBC category to top the NEET since the test was introduced in 2017.
NTA had six new factors to break a tie
So, what is the new tie-breaker policy that NTA used to ensure that none of the four candidates received the same rank? NTA had six new factors to break a tie in 2022, up from three 2021. “It is critical for counselling purposes that each candidate receive a unique rank.” This is why we updated our tie-breaker rule. As a result, no two candidates this year have been tied at the same rank,” a senior NTA official told
The Indian Express.
Until 2021, NTA used the following three formulas in order of preference to avoid a tie between two applicants:
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
In 2021, despite the above formula, the top three candidates were still tied and hence all were given Rank 1. Mrinal Kutteri from Telangana, Tanmay Gupta from Delhi and Karthika Nair from Maharashtra had scored 99.9998057 percentile. “Joint rank holders is not an ideal situation, especially for medical colleges where seats are limited,” the NTA official added.
Hence, in 2022, the NTA used the following nine factors to determine who was awarded Rank 1, Rank 2, Rank 3 and Rank 4:
1. Candidates achieving higher marks/percentiles in Biology (Botany and Zoology), followed by
2. The candidate with the highest mark/percentile in Chemistry, followed by
3. The candidate who achieved the highest marks/percentile score in Physics in the test followed by
4. Candidates with fewer incorrect answers than correct answers in all the subjects in the test, followed by
5. A candidate with the lowest proportion of incorrect responses to correct responses in Biology (Botany and Zoology) is the winner, followed by
6. Candidate with the lowest ratio of incorrect answers to correct answers in Chemistry, followed by
7. The candidate with a lesser percentage of attempted incorrect answers and correct answers in Physics, followed by
8. Candidate older in age, followed by
9. NEET application number in ascending order
