97 percent NEET 2020 questions were from Tamil Nadu board textbooks, says analysis

In a big boost, 97 percent of the questions asked in the NEET 2020 were covered from the updated Tamil Nadu State Board textbooks.

NEET 2020 answer key by NTA is expected to be out today but according to an analysis of the questions papers it is found that 97 percent of questions were covered from the revised Tamil Nadu State board text books. It has been recorded that out of 90 questions asked from the Biology section, 87 were covered while out of the 45 questions from Chemistry and Physics, 43 were covered from the Chemistry section and 44 from the Physics section.

It is noted that the State government has had revised the syllabus and had introduced updated textbooks for class 11 in the academic session 2018-19 and for class 12 in the academic session 2019-2020. Due to the CVID-19 outbreak the NEET 2020 exam was delayed by four months and was finally conducted on September 13, 2020. After the exam, an analysis of the question papers were made by a team of experts it has been found that the NEET 2020 question paper was referred to the Textbooks of the Tamil Nadu State board and have also provided the page numbers from the textbooks of physics, chemistry and biology to support their analysis.

If compared from the 2017 question paper when around 60 percent were covered from the old syllabus, this year 174 questions out of 180 were from the updated and revised State textbooks.

“Tamil Nadu state board students should not feel inferior to CBSE students. The new textbook has bridged the gap and both have a level-playing field,” said professor, Rita John, head, department of theoretical physics, University of Madras.

The analysis is a big boost in the confidence of the NEET 2020 candidates belonging to the Tamil Nadu state. S Shameem, deputy director, State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) has said that “An analysis of the question paper revealed that the state board biology textbooks have covered more questions than NCERT textbooks in NEET this year.” 

The new textbooks are vastly improved following the revision in syllabus. “These are interactive textbooks and can lead to other online resources for students who are interested to learn more,” Shameem added.