Percentiles to determine common medical entrance test merit

The decision was taken at a meeting of Medical Council of India's Board of Governors held this week, MCI sources said.

This is the first time that a merit list will be prepared on the basis of percentile scores of candidates in medical entrance test, unlike in the past when percentage scores were taken into account to prepare the merit list.

The Medical Council of India (MCI), which will hold the all-India medical entrance test next year in collaboration with the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), has also decided to keep a cut-off of percentile scores of all applicants to determine the eligible candidates for admission to medical colleges in the country.

The Council is of the opinion that having a cut-off percentile of eligible applicants in the exam for admission to undergraduate medical courses in India would be necessary in view of the huge number of applicants taking the entrance examination.

Sources said the MCI was keen to fix the cut-off of 50 per cent for general and 40 per cent for reserved candidates, as without such a cut-off the percentile score of candidates given admission to MBBS would come down drastically going by the previous year's scores.

"We may further keep a clause for relaxing this cut-off percentile in such states where all the MBBS seats are not filled. Our purpose is to ensure that no seat goes vacant. Also, we have clarified the misconception some states had about them losing their seats. Their seats will remain with them and different states will do their own counselling," Chairman of MCI’s Board of Governors K K Talwar told PTI.

The examination is also proposed to have two sections – 90 per cent dedicated to testing subject knowledge and 10 per cent to test aptitude of the candidate.
As per the current proposal, the subject section will have 180 marks out of which 90 marks will be set aside for Biology and 45 each for Physics and Chemistry.

Sources said that as MCI works out modalities for holding the test, discussions were also continuing on whether to have negative marking in the NEET to be held in 2012. A decision to this effect will be soon be taken, it is learnt.

The National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) will be conducted from the next year to fill up 40,335 MBBS seats in 330 medical colleges across the country.
About 10 lakh candidates are likely to sit for the examination next year, which is being conducted by the CBSE.

The CBSE plans to hold the examination in two languages -- English and Hindi, as in the case of all all-India exams.

The MCI is also yet to take a call on the issue of holding the exam in different vernacular languages, as desired by some states like Gujarat, West Bengal and Karnataka, who have expressed their reservations on the joint all-India exam on this count.

While Goa voiced objections to the syllabi finalised for NEET by MCI, some North-Eastern states had reservations on the eligibility criterion for the exam for admission to MBBS courses, it is learnt.