Already under pressure with the allegations of medical paper leakage in the State, several students in the city were turned away from National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test-II (NEET-II) for arriving late by a minute.

Students pleaded with the officials to permit them but their pleas went in vain. Some students taking the exam at Sarathi School in Habsiguda complained that they were not allowed in despite arriving on time as the officials were more interested in stopping them rather than helping students.

Four students were denied entry there. In DAV School at Neredmet, five students were denied entry for arriving one minute late for the exam.

Officials were also strict about students even wearing chains and ear rings and students entered into argument with them. However, they had to take them off before entering the premises. The exam was held at 29 centres in Hyderabad city and around 23,000 students had applied for the exam. These marks would be used for admissions into 50 per cent medical seats of private colleges. The NEET-II was held for those who did not appear for NEET-I on May 1 after the Supreme Court ruled that only NEET scores would be allowed for medical admissions in the country. However, with the intervention of the Central Government the court allowed state-level entrance tests for this year for the seats to be filled by the Government. However, NEET-II scores were made mandatory for seats in private colleges.

Students said Biology and Physics papers were normal but Chemistry was a bit tough, particularly the questions related to organic chemistry. “Between 8 and 10 questions were tough for students, but quality of the paper on the whole was good,” said Kumar of Sri Chaitanya Medical Academy.