Manipur’s Erwin Khundrakpam's "worst exam of 2025" turns successful, tops NEET-UG

Erwin Khundrakpam, a student from Manipur, has secured the top rank in the state in the NEET-UG 2025 examination with a percentile of 99.82. Despite the outstanding performance, Khundrakpam described the exam as the worst he had attempted all year.

"I had no idea this would happen, as this was the worst exam I had all year," he told reporters. "I was not expecting this at all."

Khundrakpam initially aimed to become an engineer. However, after a conversation with his father, he decided to pursue medicine instead. He first attempted NEET in 2023, but said that his preparation was impacted due to the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic during his Class 11 studies.

"My Class 11 results weren't good because of COVID, so I wasn't well prepared back then," he added. "This year, I tried my best and worked hard."

In a notable performance from another region, Krishang Joshi secured the All India Rank 3 in the same examination. Originally from Uttarakhand, Joshi appeared for NEET-UG 2025 from Maharashtra.

“Since class ten, my ambition has been to become a doctor, because as my parents say, it is a very noble profession, you can work independently and serve society,” Joshi said while speaking to ANI.

The National Testing Agency (NTA) released the NEET-UG 2025 results on Saturday via its official ‘X’ (formerly Twitter) account. The exam was conducted on May 4 across 548 cities in India and 14 international locations. Over 20.8 lakh students participated this year, making it one of the largest competitive exams in the country.

Nationally, the top spot was claimed by Mahesh Kumar from Rajasthan, who achieved a percentile of 99.9999547. He was followed by Utkarsh Awadhiya from Madhya Pradesh with a percentile of 99.9990095.