The re-test of the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) UG 2026 was conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA) on Sunday for which 1.4 lakh students had registered across 307 centres, spread across more than 31 districts in Tamil Nadu. Many students were upset as the paper was lengthy, especially the physics portion.

The NEET-UG, originally held on May 3, was cancelled on May 12 after allegations of a question paper leak. According to officials, as many as 1,42,489 candidates had registered to write the exam. In Chennai, 22,128 students registered to write the exam at 43 centres. While many students found the paper to be moderate, some found it tough.

“Though I had taken up private coaching, the re-exam paper was tough. The little hope I had after taking up the first exam is lost now. I couldn’t even prepare the same way as the cancellation news was very frustrating and stressful,” said Pradeepa. A, who had attempted the NEET exam for the first time.

The stress and fear caused by the uncertainty of a tough paper compared to the May 3 exam, left many unable to study properly for the re-exam. “As a family we were stressed that my daughter would have to take up the exam. She couldn’t sleep because of the fear, which impacted her studies. She was happy with her first performance, the second one not so much,” said Manjula. J, mother of a NEET aspirant.

Devi (name changed) who had taken up the exam for the third time said that she had lost hope in becoming a doctor. “The exam I took on May 3 was good. I had immense hope of making the cut off. Now the paper was difficult, lot of stress and little time to process. I am not going to take up any exam organised by the National Testing Agency,” she said.

Meanwhile some students pointed out that the cut off might decrease. Ashish Matthew, who wrote NEET for the first time, said that the paper was difficult. “But this might result in a low cut-off which means more chances of selections, which could be beneficial,” he said.