‘Tougher’ Physics section trumps many NEET aspirants; lower cut-off expected, they say

Candidates appearing for the NEET-UG re-examination reported a tougher paper dominated by a lengthy Physics section. Kota experts noted that conceptual questions in Physics and Chemistry are expected to heavily influence the final ranks and lower overall cut-offs

Kota: Candidates who appeared for the NEET-UG re-exam on Sunday reported that the paper was comparatively tougher than the previous exam, with Physics emerging as the most challenging section.

While Biology was generally described as easy and chemistry as moderate, many students said the Physics section was lengthy and time-consuming, and a lower cut-off may be expected.

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Meanwhile, experts in Kota rated the paper above average in overall difficulty. Vinod Kumawat, subject expert and president of Allen Career Institute in Kota, said both Physics and Chemistry were conceptual in nature, with several questions lengthy and tricky.

“In Physics, question number 26 of paper code 50, based on the topic of Unit Dimension, does not have the correct answer among the options provided. Therefore, there is a possibility that bonus marks may be awarded for this question,” Kumawat said.

“The questions were deep, calculative and conceptually demanding. Organic and Inorganic Chemistry were also tougher compared to the NEET exam conducted on May 3,” he said.

“The rank is expected to be decided largely based on performance in Physics and Chemistry,” he added.

In contrast, Biology was comparatively easier than the May 3 exam.

Yet, Kumawat pointed out that a question from Solanaceae in Plant Morphology was asked despite not being in the NTA syllabus. He also observed that the answer options for three Biology questions were highly confusing.

The Biology section featured a greater weightage from class 11 topics at 52 questions, against 38 from class 12.

Among Biology topics, Human Physiology accounted for the highest number of questions at 13, followed by Plant Physiology and Genetics & Biotechnology with 11 questions each. Cell Biology contributed nine questions to the paper.

Aspitant Gaurav Kumar Jha from Darbhanga, Bihar, said the overall paper was tougher than the previous one.

“Biology and Chemistry were easy, but Physics was tough as well as lengthy. The cut-off will probably drop if the paper was not leaked this time,” he said, tongue-in-cheek.

Sneha Kumari, also from Bihar, said Chemistry was largely manageable but had some difficult questions from Physical Chemistry. “Physics was tough, with questions based on NCERT concepts accompanied by some complicated graphs,” she said.

Charan from Karnataka described Biology as the easiest section of the paper.

“Biology was super easy, chemistry was moderate, but Physics was tough,” he said, expecting a cut-off of 610 marks.

Raushan Singh from West Bengal concurred, “Biology was easy, but there were complicated statement-based and lengthy questions in Physics. Since the paper was tough, the cut-off will probably drop this time.”

All the same, some students found Physics relatively manageable.

Pradeep Kumar from Bharatpur, Rajasthan, said, “Physics was easy to moderate and could be solved if sufficient time was provided. Biology was easier than in the previous examination. I expect the cut-off to fall to around 580.”

Tanuja Singh from Chitrakoot, Uttar Pradesh, highlighted the time-consuming nature of the science sections.

“Most questions in Physics and Chemistry required lengthy solutions and consumed considerable time, whereas Biology was easier,” she said.