58% Karnataka candidates crack NEET UG 2025, Mangaluru student emerges state topper

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A total of 83,582 NEET UG candidates out of 1.42 lakh who appeared from Karnataka qualified this year.

The National Testing Agency (NTA) on Saturday announced NEET UG 2025 results, wherein Karnataka registered a qualification rate of 58 per cent, a 5 per cent drop from last year. A total of 83,582 candidates out of 1.42 lakh who appeared from the state qualified this year, compared to 88,887 candidates out of 1.5 lakh last year (59 per cent), indicating a decrease of 5,305 qualified candidates. Nikhil Sonnad from Mangaluru topped the state with an All India Rank (AIR) 17 this year. He is followed by Ruchir Gupta (AIR 22), Tejas Shailesh Ghotgalkar (AIR 38), Pranshu Jahagirdar (AIR 42), Harini Sriram (AIR 72), Diganth S (AIR 80), and Nidhi KG (AIR 84).

A native of Vijayapura, Sonnad is a student of Expert PU College, Mangaluru. Positioning himself in the top 20 in India was a moment of "satisfaction and bearing fruit of hard work". "I loudly exclaimed - YES! after hearing my rank. It was just pure satisfaction and validation of my hard work," he told The Indian Express. He scored 670/720 with 99 percentile. He also secured an impressive rank of 8 in Karnataka Common Entrance Test (KCET) in BSc Agriculture and a rank of 8000 in JEE Mains.

Talking about his 'recipe for success', he said, "I dedicated the final two months in the run-up to the exam for mock tests. However, I believe mere mock tests will not fetch you success. It is important to get your basics right, concepts correct, and the foundation strong to face the examination. This mantra helped me crack even the trickiest of the questions, including those in Physics."

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"I feel it's the attitude towards life. When I entered college, my aim was not to crack NEET. It was about learning concepts and getting a good grasp of the basics. As for preparing for the examination, it is important to solve random questions from multiple sources to achieve a strong grip on the basics. In fact, this is the principle I imbibed from my father," he added.

Born into a family of doctors - his father is a neurosurgeon and his mother an ophthalmologist - medicine was Sonnad's natural calling. He aims to pursue his higher education at AIIMS, New Delhi.

Ruchir Gupta secured AIR 22, emerging as the second topper from Karnataka. A student of Alpine Public School in Bengaluru, Gupta stuck to consistency and revision. Speaking to The Indian Express, Gupta said, "I never believed in rote learning. I was more inclined to revisions and focused on NCERT textbooks, which is a bible for NEET."

"In fact, physics was the most challenging part. In the first few minutes of the examination... my thoughts were not in line. But, somehow, I managed to finish it," said Gupta, recalling his experience at the examination centre.

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Highlighting his preparation method, Gupta added, "I worked on at least 600 mock tests over the last two years and underwent rigorous practice. I never loaded myself with all the concepts in a single day. I used to stretch it out over the days. I ensured I gained conceptual clarity instead of mere textbook learning."

Gupta shared that he is eyeing a seat at AIIMS, New Delhi.

Meanwhile, Diganth S from Narayana College in Kempapura got AIR 80. He also secured a KCET engineering rank of 289 and a 10,000 rank in JEE Mains. "Besides textbooks, I used to solve question papers in education apps on my mobile phone. I used to solve 50-60 problems a day," he said.

Diganth's mother Nagarathna told The Indian Express, "He was jovial and was never tense about examinations. He used to come back from college, watch TV, mainly IPL matches, have his dinner, and start studying only from 9 pm. He used to study for four hours."

Sanath Prasad

Sanath Prasad is a senior sub-editor and reporter with the Bengaluru bureau of Indian Express. He covers education, transport, infrastructure and trends and issues integral to Bengaluru. He holds more than two years of reporting experience in Karnataka. His major works include the impact of Hijab ban on Muslim girls in Karnataka, tracing the lives of the victims of Kerala cannibalism, exploring the trends in dairy market of Karnataka in the aftermath of Amul-Nandini controversy, and Karnataka State Elections among others. If he is not writing, he keeps himself engaged with badminton, swimming, and loves exploring. ... Read More