Education

The Psychological Toll of NEET Cancellation and Re-attempts

Friday, June 12, 2026
5 min read
The Psychological Toll of NEET Cancellation and Re-attempts

The mood among those prepping for NEET right now is pretty messed up. A lot of aspirants are feeling this intense anxiety, routines totally shot, confidence gone, and a deep distrust of the whole system after that earlier test got cancelled. Months or even years spent grinding just got hit by this shock. It pushed them back into some kind of frantic studying phase.

Ridhima Bansal, who went through both board exams and NEET this year, is feeling completely drained. She said she was expecting a good score, something solid to get her into a medical college. Then the news dropped. The exam cancelled. That hit hard.

“I felt happy,” Bansal told PTI. “I thought I’d get into a medical seat.” But then it just vanished.

When she tried to dive back into books? Nothing. Uncertainty wrecked her whole routine, messed with her head. Sleep got awful. All those all-nighters are back on. Before the exam, she slept fine. Now? She’s hitting the pillow at three in the morning, waking up at seven. Classes, mocks, studying again. Mental health is just shot. She doesn't even feel like eating anymore.

She also said the whole controversy just broke her faith in everything. It felt like a joke, really. Why would they leak even a few questions? If a few got out, that’s still a leak. That made her distrust the system completely.

Another kid, Vaibhavi, was on vacation when she found out about the cancellation and the plan to re-conduct it. Panic set in immediately. She just worried, what happens now? It totally killed her focus and motivation.

She felt like studying endlessly wouldn't matter. Like it’s all pointless. There’s this gap between that May 3 exam and then having to start over. That break in continuity it kills the rhythm you build up.

Vaibhavi was also scared about the next attempt. Her goal had been around 550 or 530 marks for a government college slot. But now everyone is whispering that the re-NEET is going to be brutal. She thinks the paper itself will be impossibly hard. That fear is real.

Madhuri Sudhir Shelar spent two years preparing, and she was devastated when it got cancelled. It hurt so much. After all that effort, hearing that news was just painful.

Shelar had walked out of the center feeling like she’d finally won. The paper felt easy. Biology? Seriously easy. When she left, she was happy. She thought, ‘This time I’ll nail it.’ But what came next? Demoralization. Confidence dropped fast. It plummeted since then.

Shelar admitted her confidence is gone. She doesn't feel like studying at all. Everything feels wrong now. But she keeps going. Because the future depends on it. She has to tell herself she has goals, a future waiting to be built. That’s the only fuel left.

The NEET-UG for medical admissions happened May 3rd. NTA cancelled it May 12th because of those leak allegations. And now they’re setting up another test for June 21st. The CBI is looking into all of this, naturally.

Written by Gree News Team — Senior Editorial Board

Gree News Team covers international news and global affairs at Gree News. Our collective of senior editors is dedicated to providing independent, accurate, and responsible journalism for a global audience.

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