Chennai: Medical aspirants, in less than two months, have to turn up for the second time to right their NEET exam on Sunday, June 21, after the first exam was cancelled following a question paper leak. A total of 1,42,489 candidates are expected to appear for the re-exam in TN — the sixth-highest number of candidates throughout the country.Some candidates said regathering the focus to prepare with high intensity was the biggest challenge for them. “The biggest challenge was tuning myself mentally from relax mode to exam mode again,” said Nidhi Nagarajan, a medical aspirant from the city.Others are stressed over expectations of a tough question paper. National Testing Agency has allotted 15 minutes extra to the students. But students said it has given way to rumours that the re-test will be tougher. “We are also worried about falling behind as other courses have closed admissions before the medical admissions,” Nidhi added.Avani Tripathi, another aspirant, said the expectations are higher for the re-exam. “We expect the physics paper to be tough. The ban on Telegram is a measure which boosts the confidence of students,” she said. Some students said they are using the re-exam to focus on subjects such as physics and chemistry.Many schools said the number of students preparing for the re-exam has also came down compared to the first exam. “In our school, there were 50 students preparing for NEET. Now the number of students attending the coaching has come down to 15 as many enrolled themselves in other courses,” said V Ezhilarasi, a teacher from Government Girls Higher Secondary School at Ashok Nagar.At MCC Higher Secondary School at Chetpet, too, the number of students preparing for NEET came down from 58 to 42. “Many students who did not perform well chose other streams such as arts and science courses or engineering courses. We are revising the subjects with revision tests to prepare students,” said G Jebadoss Thinakaran, headmaster of the school.
