Many candidates in Chennai and its surroundings, who wrote the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test for medical admission on Sunday, said they found chemistry questions tougher than physics and biology.

A total of 1.47 lakh students had registered for the test held across 31 cities in the State.  

“Compared to last year’s paper, I feel the exam this year was more challenging. The chemistry portion had a few surprises,” said Radhika B., who opted for self-study. 

Roshni Kadiravan of Chromepet prepared for NEET with help from a medical student. Her father Kadiravan said her school did conduct classes. For S.K. Priyadarshini, a State Board student from Chintadripet, a family friend taught her physics.

Many candidates said they attended in-person classes at private coaching centres — ranging from month-long crash courses to year-long or integrated classes. 

S. Vijay, a repeater, said physics and biology questions were mostly direct but the assertion and reasoning type questions in chemistry were more challenging.

Some of the government schoolchildren from Cheyyur were disappointed that coaching was not conducted in their school. A student from Vennangupet in Chengalpattu said three boys from his class had been attending weekend coaching in a government girls’ high school but after the Class 12 exams, classes were not conducted. Although they were promised mock tests, they were not held, he said.  

Wasted opportunity

A government school physics teacher, however, said many average students stayed away from classes. “Teachers have travelled 35 km to conduct classes. If a teacher had to conduct evaluation, we sent another to take up coaching. Disinterest among average students was upsetting the teachers,” he said.

Sourav Monday, who heads coaching institution FIITJEE Tamil Nadu and Kerala, said the difficulty level may not impact the cut-off marks at the higher end. “Overall, the paper was mostly like last year and the extension of time by 20 minutes helped students complete the paper.” he said.