NEW DELHI: Not a single candidate scored a perfect 720 in the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (Undergraduate) (NEET-UG 2025), a stark departure from last year when 17 students had achieved the maximum possible marks. The highest score this year was 686, secured by Mahesh Kumar from Rajasthan, indicating a tougher question paper and more stringent evaluation. The drop in scores is also reflected in the cut-offs, which have declined across all categories.Delhi’s Avika Aggarwal, ranked fifth overall, is the highest-scoring woman candidate this year and the only one in the top 10. Delhi also had the most candidates in the top 100 with 17, followed by Rajasthan (14), Maharashtra (11), Gujarat and Punjab (9 each), and Karnataka (7). Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, and others also had strong representation.“A few months before the exam, pressure increases automatically, and given last year’s NEET-UG entrance, a little bit of tension was normal. Then when we got the question paper, it was a different format…so keeping calm and solving it under pressure was a challenge. After the paper, I knew I wouldn’t get a score of 700 like I used to in practice papers, but later when I analysed the answers, I realised that I would get a decent rank, never thought that it would be AIR 1,” said Mahesh Kumar.Out of 22L who appeared for NEET-UG, over 12k qualified Having doctor parents didn’t pressure me-it prepared me. They warned me about how demanding this path is, but I still chose it for myself. I knew what I was walking into, and I worked hard to earn it,” said Avika Aggarwal.The National Testing Agency (NTA) released the results on Saturday. Out of 22.09 lakh candidates who appeared for the exam held on May 4, 12,36,531 have qualified. This is a drop from last year’s 13.15 lakh qualifiers though the number of test takers also was higher at 23.33 lakh. Among the successful candidates, 7.22 lakh are women and 5.14 lakh are men. Additionally, 529 foreign nationals, 405 NRIs, and 606 OCI cardholders qualified, reflecting the exam’s international reach.
Rounding out the top ranks are Utkarsh Awadhiya from Madhya Pradesh (Rank 2), Krishang Joshi from Maharashtra (Rank 3), and Mrinal Kishore Jha from Delhi (Rank 4). All top 10 candidates belong to the general category. In other categories, the highest-ranked OBC-NCL candidate, Tanay from Rajasthan, secured 13th position. Haryana’s Kavish led the EWS category with a 35th rank. Among SC candidates, Ayush Gautam from UP topped with a 53rd rank, while Rajasthan’s Nishant Kumar Meena topped the ST category at 197th position. Notably, 7 of the top 10 ST rankers are from Rajasthan.The qualifying cut-off range for the general and EWS categories dropped from 720-162 last year to 686-144 this year. For OBC, SC, and ST candidates, the cut-off fell from 161-127 to 143-113. A total of 5,64,611 OBC, 3,38,728 General, 1,68,873 SC, and 67,234 ST candidates have qualified.Only 73 candidates scored between 651 and 686 marks. Another 1,259 scored between 601 and 650. The majority of candidates fell in the 301-550 mark range, with more than 1.26 lakh scoring between 301 and 350, and over 3 lakh between 144 and 200-the minimum qualifying range.UP had the highest number of qualifying candidates at over 1.7 lakh, followed by Maharashtra (over 1.2 lakh) and Rajasthan (over 1.19 lakh). States like Karnataka, Bihar, Tamil Nadu, and Kerala also recorded over 70,000 qualifiers each, while Delhi saw over 40,000 students qualifyNEET-UG is the sole entrance examination for undergraduate medical and dental courses in India. It is also used for admission to courses in Ayurveda, Siddha, Unani and Homeopathy. Conducted in 13 languages across 5,468 centres in 552 cities-including 14 overseas locations-the exam remains one of India’s largest and most competitive entrance tests. This year’s exam was held in pen-and-paper mode, with 1.08 lakh MBBS seats on offer across govt and private institutions.