Supreme Court to Address NEET PG 2024 Normalization process

The normalization and tie-breaking standards of the National Eligibility and Entrance Test, Postgraduate (NEET PG) 2024 test will be the subject of a petition that the Supreme Court will consider today. This afternoon, the case will be heard by a three-judge panel that includes Justice JB Pardiwala, Justice Manoj Misra, and Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud.

Candidates who took the NEET PG test have expressed concerns about the National Board of Examinations for Medical Science's normalization procedure and results transparency (NBEMS). Originally scheduled on September 13, the petition was filed on September 7. The petitioners have demanded that NBE should release the response sheets, raw and pre-normalized scores, normalized results for every shift, and the NEET PG answer key. In order to maintain transparency, they have also insisted that the distribution of the NEET PG question papers and answer keys be made routine. Additionally, petitioners have asked the court to halt the counseling process until all issues have been resolved.

This year, NEET PG was administered in two shifts as opposed to the customary one single shift. On August 11, the exam was given in two shifts: from 9:30 am to 12:30 pm and from 3:30 pm to 7 pm. The Board had to implement the normalization procedure when the new system was put in place. In order to prepare the results for NEET-PG 2024, "NBEMS adopted the process which is currently being used by AIIMS-New Delhi for its various examinations conducted in more than one shift, including but not limited to INI-CET." according to the official NBEMS notification.The normalization method will be announced by NBEMS, which stated that results for every shift will be prepared as raw scores and percentages. The percentiles for the overall score will be computed to seven decimal places. The examination plan that is given in the prospectus will be followed for the resolution of ties. In tie circumstances, those who are older by age will be given a better ranking if the prospectus does not state otherwise.