A student from Ludhiana now sits at the very top of the NEET result 2026 merit list. Aryan Gupta scored 715 out of 720 marks in Re-NEET UG 2026, with Haryana’s Panshul Bansal matching the same score. Aryan was placed AIR 1, while Panshul was listed next on tie-breaker rules, according to reports citing NTA data.

The National Testing Agency declared the result on July 16, 2026. Close to 20 lakh candidates appeared for the June 21 re-exam, and 11.21 lakh qualified for MBBS, BDS, AYUSH and allied undergraduate medical courses. For that pool of qualifiers, Aryan’s path from a cancelled paper to the national top rank is worth a closer look before counselling begins.

A cancelled paper, a re-exam, and a 19-mark jump

This year’s NEET UG did not run in one clean sitting. The original exam, held on May 3, was cancelled after allegations that the question paper had been compromised. A fresh exam was conducted on June 21 at 5,440 centres across 551 Indian cities and 14 cities abroad.

Aryan had scored 696 out of 720 in the original attempt, he told Careers360. The re-exam took him 19 marks higher, straight to 715 and AIR 1. That jump between two versions of the same test is the detail most aspirants will recognise: a good score is not always the last word, and how a student uses a second chance can decide the rest.

Following his teachers instead of his own instincts

Aryan studied at Education Square in Dugri, Ludhiana, and comes from a medical family. His father, Dr Sachin Gupta, is an anaesthesiologist, and his mother, Dr Renu Gupta, is a gynaecologist. His elder brother Aditya had already been through the NEET journey, securing AIR 54 in NEET 2025 and later joining Maulana Azad Medical College, Delhi.

Aditya’s advice before the re-exam is what Aryan credits most. “The biggest advice he gave me was to blindly trust my teachers. He told me not to overthink or try to create my own study strategy,” Aryan told Careers360. He also told future aspirants to trust their teachers, avoid unnecessary stress and focus only on what is under their control.

Behind that advice sat a disciplined routine. Aryan said he revised classwork daily, used sticky notes for Biology, Chemistry and Physics formulas, and kept returning to NCERT, especially for Biology. He also made room for sleep and short breaks, which makes his story more useful than a simple “study all day” topper narrative.

Why AIIMS Delhi, and why oncology

Aryan now wants to study at AIIMS Delhi and become an oncologist. That goal comes from a personal loss. He told Careers360 that his grandmother died of cancer when he was in Class 3, and his grandfather also later died because of cancer. Despite coming from a family of doctors, his family could not save them.

That memory shaped his decision to become a doctor and, eventually, work in cancer care. Few NEET toppers name the emotional reason behind a future specialisation this early, and it gives Aryan’s AIR 1 story a purpose beyond the marksheet.

Where the other top ranks landed

Behind Aryan and Panshul, Uplakshya Goyal of Rajasthan secured AIR 3. Kudale Shravani Krishna of Maharashtra emerged among the highest-ranked women candidates, with reports placing her at AIR 5.

The numbers around the top brackets tell their own story. Nineteen candidates scored above 700 marks nationwide, and 138 candidates crossed 690 marks, according to the Free Press Journal. Among the top 17 rankers scoring above 705, candidates came from Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar, Tamil Nadu and Telangana.

Widen the lens to the full top-138 list and Maharashtra leads with 22 candidates, ahead of Rajasthan's 18 and Punjab's 11, per Newsx. Women also outnumbered men among qualifiers overall this year: more than 58% of everyone who cleared NEET UG 2026 is a woman, with a 56.8% pass rate for female candidates against 55.1% for male candidates, per News24.

What comes next for the 11.21 lakh qualifiers

With the NEET result 2026 out, all 11.21 lakh qualified candidates now move into counselling rounds for MBBS, BDS and AYUSH seats across government and private colleges. Aryan's own next stop is a seat at AIIMS Delhi, and, further down the road, the oncology path he decided on as a child.