The last-minute frenzy of NEET-UG aspirants: Scared and sleepless, but hopeful

At 4.30 am, a warm June morning, Shruthi was already at her study table in Rajasthan's Sikar. The city, often called India's NEET coaching capital, was still asleep. But for thousands of medical aspirants preparing for the NEET-UG re-examination on June 21, the day had begun long before sunrise. In fact, there was little gap between when the last day ended and the new one began.

Like many students here, the 20-year-old had stretched her study hours, sacrificed sleep, and battled exhaustion to prepare for an examination she never expected to write twice.

"Every day, waking up early in the morning, I felt that for the last examination (NEET-UG 2026), I had gained the pace due to one year of practice. Suddenly, after the paper leak, the re-test was announced within a month, and now I have only two days left. It has been a hard path to transit, and today is the mock test in my coaching centre," Shruthi told India Today Digital.

Friday is significant in Sikar's academic calendar. Across the city's giant coaching campuses, students appeared for their final mock tests before the re-NEET examination. It was the last rehearsal before the real test for these students.

The NEET-UG is the all-India entrance test that is used to select students for graduation-level medical and dental courses. While Sikar emerged as a younger cousin of Kota, the hub of coaching in India, it has stolen a march when it comes to the medical entrance exam.

From the stretches of Piprali Road to the lanes around major coaching institutes, students carrying notebooks and water bottles streamed towards their centres under the scorching afternoon sun. Some revised formulae while walking. Others sat on roadside benches, hostel staircases, and coaching reception halls, trying to revise in a few more chapters before the test began at 2 pm.

Sikar appeared to be caught in a familiar yet unusual frenzied mode of preparation by students sitting for the NEET-UG re-examination.

WHY IT'S DIFFICULT FOR STUDENTS TO SIT FOR NEET-UG AGAIN

The National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test-Undergraduate (NEET-UG), conducted on May 3 and attended by over 22 lakh candidates across India, was cancelled on May 12 after chemistry teacher Shashikant Suthar from Sikar exposed that the NEET question papers had been circulated in the guise of "guess papers" weeks before the examination. The National Testing Agency (NTA), the body that conducts the NEET exams, decided to hold a re-examination on June 21.

For many students, the real challenge is not preparing for the re-exam, but rather being prepared again after giving their everything in the last examination.

Students preparing for such entrance exams plan their schedule for months with study hours peaking towards the day of the exam. It is a gruelling task where they give up on socialising, entertainment and even sleep. It is difficult to repeat such intensive exercise in such a brief period.

The NEET paper leak in May controversy shattered months — and in some cases years — of preparation for students.

Aspirants who believed their journey was over suddenly found themselves reopening books, restarting routines, and rebuilding momentum.

For Kaushal, who is from Haryana, the re-examination required starting from scratch in an unexpected way. Confident of scoring over 650 marks in the examination held on May 3, he sold his study materials after NEET-UG 2026 and left for Qatar, where his father works, on a holiday.

A score of 650 and above can ensure admission to a good government medical college.

The NEET-UG re-test was announced on the day Kaushal landed in Qatar. He flew back the following day, collected books and notes and started all over again.

"There is no use sitting and sulking about what has happened. This system won't change, and I don't blame anyone. We have to be positive in mindset and prepare well for the examination," the 20-year-old told India Today Digital.

"Sikar has helped me build a competitive mindset, and the ecosystem here keeps me motivated," he said.

NEET-UG RE-EXAM A SECOND CHANCE FOR SOME ASPIRANTS

Sikar reveals that not everyone is unhappy about the re-test. Pardeep Jakhar, a 20-year-old student from Punjab, sees the re-examination as a second chance.

"I had very little hope last time of getting good marks, and this time I'm treating this re-test as a second opportunity. I'm preparing to the full extent of my strength to achieve good numbers and make my father's dream of me becoming a doctor true," he told India Today Digital.

For the last two years, Jakhar has stayed away from smartphones to avoid distractions. When news of the paper leak emerged and the possibility of a re-examination became clear, he packed his bags and returned to Sikar.

"I felt I hadn't scored as per my expectations, so I motivated myself, and returned here," he said.

As the examination date neared, Jakhar said that the pressure on him was intensifying.

"Today (Friday), I woke up at 4 am despite sleeping very late yesterday. This is not the daily pattern that I follow, but the last-minute preparation has pushed me to do so," Jakhar added.

Across hostels and paying guest accommodations in Sikar, similar stories are unfolding. Students who once studied for 10 hours a day have extended their schedules to 12 or even 14 hours. Sleep cycles have shifted. Meal breaks have become shorter. Conversations increasingly revolve around ranks, mock test scores, and the countdown to June 21.

PAPER-LEAK NIGHTMARE STILL HAUNTS NEET-UG ASPIRANTS

Yet, despite the relentless preparation, uncertainty continues to haunt many aspirants at the NEET coaching hub in Rajasthan.

Prashant, a 19-year-old student from Jaipur, admitted that his biggest challenge was not physics, chemistry, or biology, but the fear of having a level playing field.

"I don't have full confidence in the NTA. I still fear a potential leak, and what is the guarantee that this examination would be a foolproof one?" he asked. "There is no clear level playing field, and every time I study, this is what comes to my mind. But still, to achieve my goal, I have to study hard even if the odds are not in my favour."

As he prepares for the re-NEET, on the last day of his mock test in Sikar, Prashant's study schedule now stretches to nearly 14 hours a day.

The government has taken strict measures, including keeping the NEET-UG paper-setters in isolation to transporting the question papers in Air Force planes and helicopters. It has also banned Telegram, the instant-messaging app on which question papers are reportedly leaked.

Just like Prashant, Shruthi from Punjab is also apprehensive about the question papers being leaked. She says the last paper leak continues to haunt her.

Shruthi says that while back-to-back mock tests have helped, the anxiety has not completely disappeared.

"This is the last phase of my preparation, and even as I feel I have lost momentum in studying, the preparations have gone well," she said.

THOUSANDS ARE TAKING NEET-UG MOCK TESTS ONLINE

Not all students appearing for the NEET-UG re-examination have returned to Sikar. Many have chosen to remain in their hometowns and continue with their preparation through the online classes and test series offered by their Sikar-based coaching institutes.

These students, too, are taking the final mock tests remotely, logging in from across the country as part of the final preparations ahead of the examination.

But thousands others chose to return to Sikar because of the discipline it would bring for the entrance exam.

As students walked into their final mock tests on Friday, Kaushal reflected on the moment. "The last test we are giving will be the one to remember because this could be our last memory from Sikar."

With the sun setting over Rajasthan's NEET coaching capital, thousands of students will return to their hostels after one final mock test. Some will revise late into the night. Others will try to catch up on sleep before the examination.

For now, Sikar's streets remain crowded with students carrying books, hopes, and anxieties in equal measure.

In two days, they will enter examination halls once again. Many are hoping that this time, the only thing that determines the outcome is their preparation and not any foul play.

- Ends