The results of the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) for PG courses were officially announced on January 31. While interpreting the results itself may be a bit confusing, students also find it difficult to understand the counselling process. What should you know before you go in to a counselling session and what can you do if you don’t necessarily land the seat you wanted? TNM brings you a handy guide.
Following the results, the National Board of Education (NBE) released the score cards for candidates on February 6. The score cards tell the individual what score they obtained in the exam and their overall rank or merit position, among all the candidates who appeared for the exam throughout the country. The score card also details the number of correct and wrong answers a candidate has marked.
Cut off rates and percentiles
The cut offs for NEET PG 2019 have been made available along with the announcement of results. To qualify for counselling, a candidate has to obtain the minimum qualifying percentile. Individuals come to know of their percentile, when results are declared.
Cut-off rates are 340 for General category candidates and 295 for SC/ST/OBC category candidates. In order to be eligible for NEET PG admissions, a general category candidate must fall in the 30th percentile of candidates. SC/ST/OBC students require a position in the 40th percentile of seats. This year, the exam administrators increased the cut-off scores for General category by 19 marks and for those students falling under SC/ST/OBC categories by 14 marks.
The NBE will announce merit seats for the All India quota (which comprises 50% medical/dental) in the country. Following this, another similar list will be released for the state quota.
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Counselling
While official dates are yet to be announced for the NEET PG counselling for 2019, it is speculated that they will start around the third week of March. At this time, candidates who have qualified and met the cut-off can register themselves for the counselling session online.
Individuals can fill in their choices based on their marks and preferences.
Through the online portal, candidates can sign up for online registration and select their preferred subject. Following this, a ‘mock’ result is published to give people a general idea of where they stand.
Counselling generally takes place in three rounds. The first takes in people with a higher rank, while during the second, candidates are given fresh choices. The third is considered a ‘mop-up’ round where individuals are generally scrambling for limited number of seats.
The first set of counselling is for seats allocated for the All-India Quota. Statewise allocation of seats under the State Quota starts a few weeks after the All India Quota has been filled.
Post the counselling process, most courses will start around the last week of May.
What happens if you don’t get a seat of your choice?
“If a student doesn’t get a seat of their choice in the first round of counselling, then they go through the second and third rounds. Those who fail to get a seat of their choice in these as well, can go through the state quota and management quota,” explains Jayaprakash Gandhi, Chennai-based education activist. “Over the years, several seats are becoming more popular and in demand. Courses such as radiology, for example are more in demand than others.”
So what should you do when you don’t get your preferred choice of seat? Jayaprakash explains that students have one of two choices should this occur. The first is to apply for counselling in the state quota, for your respective state. Some students, who have the means to do so, look into obtaining a seat via the management quota.
“The other thing that some students choose to do is to wait and take the exam again the following year,” he adds.