NEET Toppers List 2022: Why was Tanishka given NEET AIR 1 out of 4 Students with Same Score?

NEET Toppers List 2022: National Testing Agency (NTA) finally declared the National Eligibility Entrance Test (NEET-UG) result 2022 on Wednesday night (7th September). Along with the result, NTA also released the final answer key and toppers list at neet.nta.nic.in. This year, Tanishka, a girl from Rajasthan who scored 715 marks has been ranked AIR 1, despite four students scoring the same marks and percentile scores. 

NEET toppers list 2022 has been released this year based on tie-breaking criteria which included new rules. Tanishka is also the first OBC-NCL candidate to secure NEET AIR 1 in the past three years since the NTA started conducting the NEET exam. 

NEET UG Ranking Criteria 2022 

Vatsa Ashish Batra from Delhi, and Hrishikesh Nagbhushan Gangule, Rucha Pawashe from Karnataka secured rank 2, 3 and 4 respectively. These students also secured 715 marks or 99.9997733 points, the same as the AIR 1 Tanishka. So what is the new tie-breaker policy that NTA used and all four candidates were not given the same rank? This year, NTA had new factors to break a tie as opposed to three last year. 

NEET UG Tie-Breaking Criteria 2022 

The NTA released the NEET toppers list based on the tie-breaking criteria provided below for candidates securing equal marks/ percentile scores in the NEET 2022 - 

1. Candidates securing higher marks in Biology will be given first preference.
2. If the tie is not resolved, the candidate with higher marks in Chemistry will secure higher rank in the merit list.
3. In case, tie remains, the candidate with higher marks in Physics will be given preference.
4. If the marks in all subjects are also the same, the candidates with less proportion of incorrect questions attempted will be given a higher rank followed by less proportion of incorrect questions in Biology, Chemistry and Physics (in that order)
5. If all these marks also tally, candidates who are older (in age) will be given the higher rank
6. In case the candidates have the same date of birth, those who have applied for the NEET exam earlier will get higher rank (Application number in ascending order)

NEET Tie-Breaking Policy 

NTA’s tie-breaking criteria came to light in 2020, when Soyeb Aftab from Odisha and Akanksha Singh from Uttar Pradesh secured 720 out of 720 in NEET, however, Soyeb was given AIR 1 as he was older than Akanksha. This, however, changed in 2021. NTA had removed the age rule from the tie-breaking policy and as a result 3 students who scored 720/720 were named toppers.  

Also Read: NEET Toppers List 2022 (OUT): Tanishka Vatsa Bags AIR 1, Total 4 Students Secure 715 Marks, Check Names Here