No TN student in top 10 NEET-UG rankings this year; experts explain why

No candidate from Tamil Nadu made it to the top 10 list in the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) UG result released by National Testing Agency (NTA) on Saturday (June 14).

Every year the state at least has one candidate in the list of toppers. Soorya Narayanan S from Tamil Nadu stood at 27th rank and scored a percentile of 99.99.

Also read | Top score in NEET UG-2025 stands at 686, lowest in exam's history

A total of six students from Tamil Nadu made it to the top 100 and stood at 27, 50, 61, 63, 78, and 88 ranks. Significantly, 10 students from Tamil Nadu figured in the top 100 candidates in the country in the NEET UG 2024.

Change in pattern

Experts expressed shock that Tamil Nadu students did not make it to the top 25 while usually, the students from the state make it to the top 10. “The students are probably used to a set pattern of preparing for the examination and the numerical problems were more in Physics and Chemistry this year. The changed question paper syllabus coverage pattern is likely to have reduced the number of students in the list of toppers,” said P Naveen, a physics teacher from a private NEET coaching.

“The difficulty level of the examination was increased this year and there was a change in the pattern of the coverage of the syllabus in the questions asked by the NTA. Usually, the students practice based on the previous year’s question papers and at least 15-20 per cent of questions are taken from previous years,” said NEET coach Dr Nandhakumar.

“However, this year, there was no repetition from previous years. The questions were also asked from portions that were not deemed significant in the previous years. The drop in the top score marks and pass percentage was expected given the question paper difficulty level,” he added.

Declining numbers

The number of candidates who appeared for the NEET examination from Tamil Nadu also dipped this year. As many as 1,40,158 registered for the exam and about 1,35,715 candidates appeared in it. This year, a total of 76,181 Tamil Nadu students have cleared the NEET exam. As many as 26,580 students took the examination in Tamil this year.

In 2024, 1,58,449 students registered for the examination, of which 1,52,919 appeared and 89,198 cleared the exam. Of the 1,44,516 students who had appeared for the examination in NEET UG 2023, 78,693 had cleared the exam.

The overall pass percentage has dropped from 58.30 per cent in 2024 to 56.13 per cent in 2025. The pass percentage had improved last year from 54.45 per cent in 2023.

Need to increase focus

While the Tamil Nadu government has intensified the NEET coaching, the dip in the overall pass percentage indicates the need for increased focus to equip and train the students who are appearing for the examination.

Also read | NEET-UG 2024: If sanctity of exam is lost, re-test has to be ordered, says SC

Talking about the drop in overall registrations, he said that the irregularities in the NEET exam last year have discouraged the students from opting for the exam. “More than 10,000 students, who registered for the exam in Tamil Nadu, didn’t take it, as is the trend at the national level. The repeaters’ admissions also saw a decline in the coaching institutes. There is a clear lack of trust after the Supreme Court also denied a re-exam even though issues of malpractices, paper leaks and others surfaced. The students were discouraged as many who scored more than 600 last year, could not get a government medical college seat. Their belief in the system has been shaken,” added Dr Nandhakumar.

The NEET cut-off marks have been reduced across all categories. The NEET cut-off for the general category has reduced to 686-144 from 720-162 last year. For the Scheduled Caste (SC), Scheduled Tribe (ST) and Other Backward Classes (OBC) category, the cut-off is 143-113 from 161-127 in 2024. Accordingly, the cut-off marks for Tamil Nadu are also expected to reduce this year.