Lack of grace marks reels in medicos as 14% fail exam

Lack of grace marks reels in medicos as 14% fail exam

Mar 5, 2025, 23:56 IST

SLUG: PG MEDICAL 7.3.2025

Ahmedabad: As many as 14% postgraduate medical students out of 300 who had appeared in their exams in Dec 2024 failed to clear it. All had sought re-checking of the marks. However, as the Gujarat University (GU)'s digital assessment system did not show any scope for alteration, the students and members of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) on Wednesday demanded faculty-led re-evaluation. Sources said that the high failure rate was due to discontinuation of grace marks awarded to students.

The result for the MD, MS and DNB courses was declared on Feb 20. The students claimed that they had performed adequately well, but majority have failed in paper 2 and 3. They have submitted a formal request to the university authorities seeking physical re-verification of their answersheets.

In response to the student demonstration, GU authorities plan to petition the National Medical Commission (NMC) for a review. Subject to approval, physical rechecking would be undertaken. Students and ABVP members alleged that their request for manual rechecking remained unaddressed for over a week.

Experts associated with medical examinations stated that earlier practice of awarding minimal grace marks to students who marginally failed was discontinued following recent NMC regulations. "If the student was failing the exam for up to cumulative 5-7 marks, the examiners would often provide the grace marks. But this year, this practice is not followed, and is believed to be one of the reasons for relatively higher failure percentage," said an official associated with medical fraternity.