National Testing Agency (NTA) recently concluded the National Eligibility Entrance Examination (NEET) 2021 exam across 3,855 centres in the country. While the exam was conducted on September 12, 2021, results are expected to come out by October 15-16, 2021 (as per past year records). This year, a record-breaking 16 lakh registered candidates appeared for the exam, making it a heated competition to score a good rank. While waiting for the NEET 2021 results to come out, candidates can calculate their tentative scores and tally them with previous-year ranks to understand where they stand. To provide a sense of how the ranking system works in case of NEET 2021, here’s a rank vs. marks analysis for candidates’ reference.
NEET 2021: Factors influencing Marks vs. Rank system
Before getting into the intricacies of the NEET 2021 ranks, here are some factors that influence the ranking system –
# Difficulty-level of the NEET 2021 question paper – as per popular opinion, Physics was difficult while Chemistry and Biology were easier to solve. This is in contrast to last year’s paper when all three subjects were easy to solve. Thus, the competition this year, is expected to reduce marginally compared to last year.
# Overall preparation-level of candidates – this factor is variable and difficult to predict. However, since candidates received an extra four months of study time, it can be safe to assume that this year’s preparation-level is higher.
# Number of candidates appearing for the entrance exam – a record-breaking 16.14 lakh candidates had registered for NEET 2021 and so, the competition might be all the more intense.
NEET 2021: Expected Marks vs. Rank
Based on previous-year records, here is an estimation of the marks vs. rank comparison for NEET 2021. Candidates can refer to the table given below to get an understanding of their rank range –
| Marks Scored | Expected NEET Rank |
| 691-720 | 1 |
| 681-690 | 20-80 |
| 671-680 | 80-200 |
| 661-670 | 200-450 |
| 651-660 | 450-950 |
| 641-650 | 950-1,700 |
| 631-640 | 1,700-2,500 |
| 621-630 | 2,500-4,000 |
| 611-620 | 4,000-5,500 |
| 600-610 | 5,500-7,500 |
NEET 2021 Rank: key points to note
In 2020, an unprecedented event occurred when two individuals scored 720 marks in the NEET exam while the highest score in 2019 was calculated to be 701. Similarly, in 2018, the All India Rank (AIR) coincided with 691 marks while in 2017, the highest score was 697. Based on the increasing trend and difficulty-level of paper, AIR 1 is expected to score between 691-720 marks.
Speaking about cut-off marks, the unreserved category aspirants had to score at least 147 marks to get a NEET rank in 2020. The UR cut-off marks were 134, 119 and 131 in the previous three years, respectively. This increasing trend simply implies that the NEET 2021 UR category cut-off will range between 140-150 marks.
In 2019, the last candidate who qualified the exam had achieved the 13,74,142 rank. This was significantly higher in comparison to 2018 when the last qualifying candidate had a rank of 6,34,897 and 5,43,473 in 2017. Based on this increasing trend, at least 13 lakh candidates are expected to be qualify the NEET 2021 examination.
