NEET UG: Summary of IIT Madras' investigation of exam results & why it says there was no mass malpractice

Late on July 10, Wednesday, the Centre submitted an affidavit in the Supreme Court of India, through which, it established that no mass malpractice occurred during the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test - Undergraduate (NEET-UG) exams.

The Centre had engaged the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras who conducted a thorough technical investigation of the exam results.

The summary of IIT Madras' report, is as follows:

1) The marks distribution follows the bell-shaped curve that is witnessed in any large-scale examination indicating no abnormality.

2) City-wise and center-wise analysis was done for two years (2023 and 2024) to find out if there are any abnormal indications. The analysis was carried out for the top 1.4 lakh ranks given that the total number of seats across the country is around 1.1 lakhs.

3) This analysis is granular enough to indicate any abnormality, had a large number of students gotten into high ranks (top 5%), due to malpractice or if students from a particular exam centre or city were benefitted.

4) The analysis shows that there is neither any indication of mass malpractice nor a localised set of candidates being benefitted leading to abnormal scores.

5) There is an overall increase in the marks obtained by students, specifically in the range of 550 to 720. This increase is seen across the cities and centres. This is attributed to a 25% reduction in syllabus. In addition, candidates obtaining such high marks are spread across multiple cities and multiple centres, indicating a very low likelihood of malpractice.

The case is up for hearing in the apex court today, Thursday, July 11. It is listed as item number 43