National Level Exam having 2 Different Papers: NEET PG Exam Analysis

The exam experience concerning the center and its arrangement was good. Everything was well organized but the only issue was the horrible traffic outside the center about which nobody could do anything. So overall experience was nice. But yes traveling was an issue as I had to change my district. NBE should have allotted our centers in our districts at least. I had to travel from Pune to Mumbai which took me around 4-4.5 hours taking into account the heavy traffic. I was in Shift 1 and I felt that the questions asked were slightly of a higher level. The topics were in and around the usual ones only but the way the questions were framed was really weird and lengthy. They were conceptual + fact-based. It was not so easy to pick up the buzz words as the classes people were showing in their recall videos. Questions were lengthy so there was hardly any time/ no time to go back to the questions we marked for review. I have even missed reading some 2-3 easy questions which I truly regret a lot. Being unwell was another reason why I felt sulkier but that’s a subjective thing. About the difficulty level: had the questions not been this lengthy, I would consider it 6.5/10. But for the lengthy questions, I started to panic and even the upcoming easy ones started to feel difficult so ended up making silly mistakes. So for that reason, I would consider it 7-7.5/10. Overall it was kind of moderate-difficult. Normalization will affect ranks. As our admissions are solely dependent on ranks, even 1 rank up or down is going to hamper us. Although both the sets were difficult, there’s always a chance that one is more difficult than the other. Everyone has biased opinions regarding which one was tougher/easier so it’s better to not comment on that. Both sets had different aspects which negatively impacted us so we can’t compare them just based on opinions. Normalization is the only way out to bring about equilibrium. We can’t predict for whom it will turn out to be beneficial or unfavorable. All that we can do now is wait for the results and hope for the best.

Dr. Sanjana Patil, MBBS, Maharashtra University of Health Sciences

My centre was 130kms away from my residence and 15km outside the city. Public transportation and autos were not available to and from the center at such an early morning. Location aside, the center itself was very good. There was plenty of space inside campus with lots of trees for parents to sit. I cannot complain about the center itself. All systems worked and staff and invigilators were cooperative. In the morning shift, the exam was of moderate difficulty. Several questions were from Previously tested topics across NEET as well as INICET. The majority were image-based questions. Many questions from pediatric surgery, retina, genetics, and syndromes. Nearly a quarter to a third of questions were factual. The majority were conceptual. Normalization might affect the morning batch badly just based on the fact that the evening batch was difficult as per what I've heard. But still no clarity.

Dr. Kaustubh Salokhe, MBBS, Maharashtra University of Health Sciences

In the NEET PG exam, there's a concern about how different groups of students are affected by the morning and evening sessions. My exam ended in the early night and it was really difficult for me to travel back to my hometown, which was four hours away from the exam center. The afternoon shift timing made it challenging to find transportation late at night Many of the exam questions were image-based, which is fine, but too many were focused on memorization and facts which is vomiting out what we memorize rather than analytical thinking and conceptual understanding. This approach doesn’t help in differentiating diagnoses in actual practice. Hope this pattern will be updated in future NEET exams. Another concern is the variability in question difficulty between morning and evening sessions. This variation in question difficulty, even within the same medical field like cardiology like easy questions of pericarditis compared with drugs for acute and chronic heart failure could make the normalization process challenging as it tries to balance these differences. Overall, normalization in medical exams like NEET PG is a new concept and it's important to consider both its benefits and drawbacks. Addressing concerns about session difficulty variations is crucial as this process evolves for the first time.

Dr. Rahul Chidurala, MBBS, Sri Ramachandra Institute of Higher Education and Research, Chennai

In my opinion, the afternoon time was more convenient for me. But as we have already made a habit of practicing it in the morning, it was a new experience. Personal circadian rhythms can affect performance. For some, cognitive performance might peak at different times of the day. An afternoon exam could benefit or cause a disadvantage to those whose mental acuity is better later in the day. According to me, the afternoon shift timing was more convenient for the students to reach at examination center on time and to get an adequate amount of sleep before the exam. Overall, an afternoon exam might change the dynamics of how candidates perform in the test. There were many conceptual-based questions and also image-based ones. It was made so tricky that the aspirant could rule out only 2 options and it was difficult to get a proper answer in the given time. Yeah, standard normalization is going to impact the rank/scores but in a positive way. It will help to ensure fairness by adjusting scores to account for differences in the difficulty of questions or test conditions. This can lead to a more equitable ranking of candidates. Standard normalization should improve the reliability of ranking.

Dr. Shivam Bhoir, MBBS, Maharashtra University of Health Sciences