BHUBANESWAR: The cancellation of the NEET-UG 2026 exam due to the alleged question paper leak has left students who had appeared for the test disappointed and worried about their future as they will now have to start their preparations all over again.
Aspirants who had spent months and years preparing for one of the country’s toughest medical exams said the news has brought back the stress and pressure at a time when they were finally starting to calm down after the exam.
For Swastik Pattnaik, the prospect of taking the test again has come as a huge shock. “He is very disappointed but has no choice but to re-appear for examination. We have to be very careful about his state of mind so that he can perform as he did in the original test,” his parents said. Echoing similar sentiments, another student from Sai Srijit Pattnaik International School said he was expecting a score around 660. “The problem now is that I will have to go through the same preparation, put in the same effort and get the same stress again,” he exclaimed.
Referring to previous NEET retests, Srijit said in 2016, students had two months to prepare, while in 2024 NEET was re-conducted for a limited number of candidates where they got more than a month to prepare. “This time too, students across the country will have to re-appear for the exam, so a preparation time of at least one month should be provided,” he urged.
