Explained: NEET-UG Physics question with 2 answers that made SC task IIT-Delhi professors to resolve

IIT-Delhi has been directed by the Supreme Court to settle a controversial issue in the NEET-UG 2024 Physics question. The director of IIT-Delhi was ordered by the court to select three prominent academics to resolve the matter in a day. When decided, this ruling might have an effect on the scores of more than four lakh applicants, 44 of whom received the perfect score of 720/720, receiving grace marks for giving the second, perceived to be the right, answer to the question 

The controversy was fuelled by the particular physics question that purportedly had two valid answers. The question talked about a nuclear composition, with statements bearing differing interpretations, leading to confusion among the students.

Here's the question:

Statement I: “Atoms are electrically neutral as they contain equal numbers of positive and negative charges.” 

Statement II: “Atoms of each element are stable and emit their characteristic spectrum.”

Based on the two statements above, choose the correct option from the following: 

(a) First is correct but second is incorrect; 

(b) First is incorrect but second is correct; 

(c) Both first and second statements are correct;

(d) both statements are incorrect.

The grace marking explanation

Now, when the answer key was released, the NEET website showed option (a) as the right answer. However, many students contested the answer key on the basis of the information given in an older version of NCERT, according to which both statements were right.

Hence, based on this argument, NTA offered grace marks to students who had marked option (c) as their answer. So, these 44 students, who ideally should have received 715 marks out of 720, ended up receiving a perfect score of 720. 

How did the students answer?

Over 4.20 lakh students selected option (c) based on an older NCERT textbook edition, while 9.28 lakh students chose an answer aligned with the latest NCERT edition.

Petitioners argued that the National Testing Agency (NTA) cannot mark both answers as correct, given that NEET instructions specify adhering to the latest NCERT edition.

SC vs NEET

Following an extensive hearing on petitions seeking a reexamination owing to claims of irregularities and question paper leaks, the Supreme Court issued its decision. The future of nearly 23 lakh students who sat the test on May 5 is now uncertain due to these challenges.