Sikar, Namakkal, Kota: Select “coaching hubs” are host to many high scoring NEET-UG-2024 candidates

NEET-UG 2024 data reveals top cities for high-scoring candidates, crucial for government medical college admissions.

Data released by the National Testing Agency on NEET-UG for 2024 show that the cities with the highest share of students scoring 650 or more out of 720 in the exam were Sikar in Rajasthan, followed by Namakkal in Tamil Nadu, Kottayam in Kerala, Tanuku in Andhra Pradesh (AP), Jhunjhunu in Rajasthan, and Kurukshetra in Haryana.

A score of 650 and above gives candidates a high probability of securing admission in government medical colleges. Chart 1 plots the share of candidates who scored 650 and above in each city across centres. Sikar was on top of the list with 7.5% (2,037 candidates), followed by Namakkal (5.1%, 313), Kottayam (4.4%, 544), Tanuku (4.1%, 41), Jhunjhunu (3.96%, 196) and Kurukshetra (3.96%, 196). In Kota, the touted coaching hub in Rajasthan, 1,066 candidates scored 650 and above. This was the second highest absolute number after Sikar.

Chart 1 | The chart plots the percentage of candidates who scored 650 and above in each city across States

From Sikar, 149 candidates (0.55%) scored 700 or more — the highest in any city. Jaipur (131, 0.24%), Delhi (120, 0.18%), Kota (74, 0.27%), Bengaluru-Urban (74, 0.25%) Kottayam (61, 0.49%), Ahmedabad (53, 0.45%), Vijayawada (50, 0.34%), Pune (41, 0.18%), Chennai (41, 0.18%) rounded up the top 10 in absolute terms. In Namakkal, 31 candidates (0.52%) scored 700 or above. This was the second highest share after Sikar.

The fact that Namakkal hosts the highest share of candidates scoring 650 or more in Tamil Nadu is revealing given the significant opposition to NEET in the State. Prior to the implementation of NEET, Namakkal used to feature “super schools”, which generated “toppers” in the Class 12 Board exam. Now, the city is a hub for coaching institutes that train candidates for the NEET/JEE exams.

No other city/town in Tamil Nadu came close to Namakkal’s proportion of candidates (5.1%) who scored 650 or more — the second best, Chennai, registered only 1.61%. Tanuku in Andhra Pradesh also showed a similar pattern — Vijayawada with 2.4% had the second highest share in the State.

In terms of centres (Table 2), the share of candidates scoring 650 or more was the highest (12.64%) at Tagore P.G. College in Sikar. In fact, eight more centres from Sikar were in the top 10, and 37 of the top 50 centres are also from Sikar. Delhi Public School in Rewari, Haryana, registered the highest proportion of scores of 600 or more among all the centres (22.73%, 60 out of 264 candidates), while 25 candidates scored 650 or more (9.5%).