Tathagat Awatar of Bihar's Madhubani has bagged All-India Rank 1 in the national-level medical entrance test, NEET UG 2024. The results were declared today, June 3. Tathagat scored 720 out of 720 marks.

He dropped two years to prepare for the exam. His father and mother work as government school teachers. He said, "While preparing for the NEET UG, I confined myself in one room and focussed only on the exam."

Also Read: NEET UG Topper List 2024

Dropped for two years, Cracked NEET in 3rd attempt

Talking about his journey, he said, “I was very good at studies till Class 11th. I don't know what happened after that, I could not focus in studies. I dropped for two years and finally I could crack the exam this time. While attempting the questions this year, I was about to leave the last four questions but then I tried to attempt those and luckily the answers were guessed right.” 

“In my first attempt I got 526 marks only. In my second attempt, I ran out of time due to which I could not attempt questions from Physics section. I then scored only 611 marks. I again took a year to prepare for the NEET UG 2024 and have cracked it this time,” he added. 

Cracked NEET by studying online only

“I only studied online. I took coaching from Physics Wallah and attempted around 100 online tests of other coaching centres as well. I believe, it is a myth that ”Kota jaane se hi Rank aata hai." My parents had asked me to go to Kota and enroll in a good coaching centre and stay in a hostel. But I refused and studied online. I attended only online classes and took mock tests online," he said.