Gaurav Singh, the son of an Indian Army personnel and an AIR 9 rank holder, said the NEET re-test was “more stringent”.
The National Testing Agency (NTA) on Thursday announced the results of the National Eligibility Test for Admission (Undergraduate) 2026. Gaurav Singh, who secured ninth rank in All India (AIR) in the exam, said the original test was “relatively easier”. Singh was referring to the May 3 exam that was canceled after a paper leak was confirmed, necessitating a retake of the exam conducted on June 21.
Gaurav Singh, the son of an Indian Army personnel, said the NEET retake test was “more stringent”. He added that his grades remained about the same, but because the paper was more difficult, his rank improved.
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“The previous NEET paper was comparatively easier. Re-NEET was more stringent. My marks remained almost the same, but since the paper was more difficult, my rank improved significantly. So, for me, re-NEET turned out to be beneficial,” Gaurav Singh said.
He added: “I was constantly studying for seven to eight hours every day. I am a morning person, so I would wake up early and study. Biology and physics were relatively easy for me. Chemistry, especially organic and inorganic, was more difficult because there was a lot to memorize, so I had to constantly revise them.”
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What other students said about NEET-UG 2026 exam
Hadiya Nisar, Jammu and Kashmir University NEET UG 2026 topper, said it was not easy to return to this routine for preparations, after the May 3 exam was cancelled, but she made an effort.
“My All India Ranking (AIR) is 99, and my state rating is 1, so naturally, there is an atmosphere of great joy everywhere. Everyone is excited – the coaching institute, my family, everyone. There is excitement everywhere, and I am equally happy,” she said.
“When the news of Re-NEET arrived, I resumed the same routine from day one. Obviously, getting back into that routine wasn’t easy – it took effort – but I put in the effort, and the results are here,” she added.
Vaishnavi Das, who scored AIR 20 in NEET UG 2026, said that when she was in class XI, she deactivated my Instagram account.
“I had gone with my parents to watch the Rath Yatra; we were in the car. At that very moment, we checked the results, and tears of joy started flowing from my eyes. When I was in 11th standard, I deactivated my Instagram account. It is just a distraction. One should not lose hope. It is a long journey; staying positive is essential.”
Ariman Singh Solanki from Jabalpur became the state topper, securing AIR score of 46. His father Dr Vanendra Solanki said a more rigorous paper would benefit students who had “prepared seriously”.
“My wife and I are doctors, and Ariman’s elder sister, Tanya Solanki, is also a doctor. She completed her MBBS. Armaan saw her preparing for medical entrance exams. During the Covid period, when she was home-schooling, Ariman was in seventh or eighth grade, and watching her made him realize what he wanted to do,” he said.
“In fact, when reports of the paper leak started to emerge, we started to feel that Aryaman’s score of 710 in this exam might not fetch him the rank he really deserves as the leak would allow many unknown candidates to move forward in the rankings. As Aryaman mentioned, from May 6 onwards, we started mentally preparing him for the possibility that he might have to study again… We also knew that the next paper was likely to be more difficult because whenever NEET retakes were conducted, the paper would be beneficial to the students who had prepared hard, Where they can achieve good results.
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NTA on NEET-UG results 2026
“11.21 lakh qualified candidates; results declared in time for counseling and admission to medical college; toppers from almost all states and union territories; more than 58 per cent of eligible candidates are women; examination conducted in 13 languages,” NTA said in a statement on Thursday.
According to the agency, a total of around 20 lakh candidates have appeared for NEET-UG 2026 at 5,440 centers in 551 cities in India and 14 cities abroad.
She added that 138 candidates scored more than 690 marks out of 720, with more than 93 per cent of them appearing in NEET (UG) for the first time.
The highest score of 715 out of 720 was jointly obtained by Aryan Gupta (Punjab) and Panchul Bansal (Haryana), the agency said in the statement.
