Breaking All the Records, NEET Toppers Soyeb and Akansha Score a Perfect 100%

NEET toppers, Soyeb Aftab and Akanksha Singh made history on 16th October 2020 by scoring 720/720 in the NEET Exam. Soyez Aftab belongs to Rourkela, Odisha whereas Akanksha Singh is from Kushinagar, Uttar Pradesh. 

Moving to Delhi especially to attend classes for medical entrance exams, Akanksha Singh wants to pursue education for AIIMS and aspire to specialise in Neurosurgery. Alongside, she is keen to contribute to the research to benefit the humankind. Soyab Aftab is also eager to become a part of AIIMS so that he can fulfil his dream of serving the nation as a Cardiologist. Even after securing the same marks, Soyeb has been awarded the AIR 1 by the National Testing Agency’s tie-breaking policy. 

NTA’s Tie Breaking Policy for NEET Toppers

The NTA officials have further clarified on this by stating, “ Soyeb Aftan of Odisha and Akanksha Singh of Delhi have both scored perfect 720/720 in the NEET examination. However, as Aftab is older, he has been ranked at the top in the national ranking. The ranking of the candidate is initially determined based on the scores obtained in Biology and Chemistry following these in cases where the candidates cannot be shortlisted using the score obtained in the examination, candidates are further shortlisted taking into consideration the number of answers that are incorrect following which they can be shortlisted depending upon their age. The elder one gets the preference.”

Also Read: How to Pursue MBBS From Abroad?

Educational Journey of Soyeb Aftab

Earlier in school Soyeb did not have an exceptional background rather, he was an average student. He completed his class 11th and 12th from Sarvodaya Paramount School. He moved to Kota, Rajasthan to seek the best guidance for cracking the medical entrance exam. Soyeb’s mother Sultana along with his sister moved to Kota with him. 

Creating history, Soyeb thanked his mother and teachers that empowered him towards achieving his goal. When asked upon the secret of his victory, Soyeb stated, “ There is no alternative to hard work. I just followed what my teachers told me to do but I had never thought of securing 100% marks. My aim was just to get selected in the exam.”

Soyeb took special classes in Allen’s Institute, Kota, where he learnt the right skills to crack the NEET exam. He was dedicated towards acquiring a decent rank so that he can get admission in a leading medical college of the country. To this he added, “Slowly as my marks increased, my expectations also increase and I could dream about achieving top 100 rank… But  when you start scoring above 700, there is a lot of pressure to maintain that score but I kept my focus intact.”

What came as a turning point in his preparatory journey was the COVID-19 lockdown period, in which instead of returning to Odisha, he stayed in Kota and utilised the time for self-study. Soyeb was unsatisfied with the 2-3 hours of self-studies he used to put in with managing school, so he aimed at judiciously utilising this period and devoted 12 to 13 hours of study. 

When asked in an interview about his expected score, Soyeb mentioned, “I had attempted all the questions and had expected to be amongst the top 100. But later when I checked my score with the answer key and saw I had scored full marks then I started thinking of getting rank 1. ” 

Also Read: NEET Not Necessary to Study MBBS Abroad, MCI Orders

Educational Journey of Akanksha Singh

Akanksha belongs to a small town in Uttar Pradesh called Kushinagar. She studied in her village’s school uptill class 10th. This NEET topper gives all the credits to her success to her parents. Her mother is a teacher at a primary school and her father is a retired sergeant from Indian Air Force. After completing class 10, she moved to Delhi to transform her dream of becoming a doctor into a reality. 

In a recent interview she said “Earlier, I wanted to be an IAS officer, but from Class 9 onwards, I wanted to be a doctor only. I liked that medicine is a job where you can interact with people. My dream was to make it to AIIMS.” She is also interested in contributing to the research and development sector. 

Leverage Edu wishes all the best to these NEET toppers! Stay tuned for the latest updates in the world of education!