The National Testing Agency (NTA) declared the NEET UG 2026 results on July 16, 2026, with more than 11.21 lakh candidates qualifying for the country’s largest medical entrance exam. As students across India checked their mark sheets, one of the candidates who emerged among the top rankers was Gaurav Singh, who secured All India Rank (AIR) 9 in Re-NEET UG 2026.Soon after the results were announced, Gaurav spoke about the preparation strategy that helped him secure a place among the top medical aspirants in the country. He spoke about his preparation in an interview to ANI.
“I mainly focused on consistency and discipline”
Unlike many students who believe that long hours of study guarantee success, Gaurav said his approach was based on maintaining a consistent routine every day.Speaking to ANI, he said, “… While preparing for NEET, I mainly focused on consistency and discipline.”He explained that he never believed in studying excessively on a particular day. Instead, he focused on following the same routine consistently throughout his preparation.“Instead of studying hard one day, reading consistently every day, writing papers every day and listening to teachers and continuous revision, that was my strategy…” he told ANI.According to Gaurav, solving question papers regularly and revising concepts repeatedly helped him strengthen his understanding and improve his performance over time.
He cleared NEET in his first attempt after two years of preparation
The AIR 9 holder also revealed that he spent two years preparing for the exam and managed to crack it in his first attempt. “I prepared for 2 years and cleared NEET in the first attempt,” Gaurav said while talking to ANI.He emphasized that revision should remain a priority throughout the preparation path. “You have to do the review as much as possible and work as much as possible,” he said.Gaurav also acknowledged that setbacks are a part of every student’s journey and advised the aspirants not to lose confidence when faced with difficulties. “You have to be motivated enough so that if there are some setbacks, we overcome them and improve more,” he added.
Message from AIR 9 topper for future NEET aspirants
Sharing a message for students preparing for the upcoming NEET exams, Gaurav again emphasized the importance of discipline.Giving advice to aspirants, he told ANI, “Discipline is very important. Prepare with discipline, all subjects will clear and marks will improve…”.His message comes as thousands of students begin preparing for next year’s exam, hoping to gain admission to medical schools across the country.
More than 11.21 lakh candidates qualify NEET UG 2026
The NTA conducted the rre-NEET UG 2026 on June 21 in 5,440 examination centers across 551 cities in India and 14 cities abroad. Nearly 20 lakh candidates appeared for the exam and over 11.21 lakh qualified for admission to medical, dental, AYUSH and allied degree courses.This year, Punjab’s Aryan Gupta and Haryana’s Panshul Bansal jointly topped the exam with 715 marks out of 720. The NTA said 19 candidates scored above 700, while 138 candidates scored more than 690 marks.After the declaration of results, the Medical Counseling Committee (MCC) will conduct counseling for the 15% All India Quota seats, while the respective state authorities will monitor the counseling for the state quota admissions.