North West outsmarts rest of India with most students scoring above 600 in NEET

North West India scores better

The proportion of students clearing the all-India pre-medical test with flying colours - scoring 600 and above - in the the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) was the highest in North West part of the country, a Moneycontrol analysis of data released by the National Testing Agency shows.

While 3.5 percent of the nearly 2.4 million students who appeared for the exam this year scored 600 and above, the proportion was 4.6 percent in the nine states and Union Territories of Northwest India. South India was a distant second with 3.3 percent clearing the exam with 600-plus marks, followed by the East and the North East each hosting 2.9 percent in the bracket.

Central India, which includes states like Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh, was the worst performer with only 2.6 percent students securing more than 600.

But further analysis shows that if one discounts for coaching haven Rajasthan, then the difference was not much between Northwest and South.

Discounting Rajasthan, the pass percentage of North and Northwest India was just 3.4 percent, only 0.1 percentage point higher than the Southern peninsula.

Among the states, Rajasthan had the highest percentage of students securing 600 plus, with nearly 8 percent among the total appearing candidates scoring well.

Haryana ranked second with 6 percent, followed by Delhi and Kerala at 5 percent.

Among cities and districts, Sikar was the top destination, with one in seven people appearing in the exam scoring 600 plus. Tamil Nadu’s Namakkal and Andhra Pradesh’s Tanuku had around 12 percent of candidates securing 600-plus marks.

Delhi also figured among the top 100 areas. The city was ranked 59 with a 5 percent clearing rate for high scorers.

The prime minister’s constituency and one of India’s prominent university towns Varanasi also had a clearing percentage of nearly 4 percent, higher than the national average.