Inconsistencies in NEET answer sheets alleged

Inconsistencies in NEET answer sheets alleged

Candidate takes up the issue with NTA

19/10/2020

Staff Reporter COIMBATORE / CHENNAI

A medical aspirant from Coimbatore has alleged inconsistencies in the NEET Optical Mark Recognition (OMR) sheet downloaded by him. The candidate, K.S. Manoj from Karumathampatty, said the OMR sheet he downloaded before and after the announcement of NEET results were different.

“I have escalated this to the National Testing Agency through their helpdesk,” he said. A few other students from other parts also said that they encountered similar inconsistencies.

“I downloaded my OMR sheet first on October 11 and matched it with the answer key, based on advice from the coaching centre where I had taken up a NEET crash-course. I found that I had scored 594 and the same score was shown when I downloaded the OMR sheet again on October 15. The score was the same when I matched the OMR sheet with the final answer key around 5 p.m. on October 16. However, my score was 248 when the results were announced,” he said.

Mr. Manoj said that the OMR sheet he downloaded around 8.30 p.m. on October 16, after the announcement of the results, was different from the ones he had downloaded earlier.

He shared the two OMR sheets with mediapersons. According to G.B. Ramprakash, founder of Tech4All, who had taken up the case of poor translation of English scientific terms in NEET question papers in 2018, said such errors were reported in other States too.

He said errors could creep in the reading of bar codes due to glitches. “At present, it is only an allegation. If the candidate has downloaded the OMR sheets, he can send it as hard copies to the NTA and lodge a complaint. The NTA should take the complaint seriously and provide hard copies of the OMR sheets. This will ensure total transparency,” he said.