NEW DELHI: The May NEET-UG paper tested what they knew. Its cancellation tested whether they could go again. And they restarted – reacquiring given-away books in Ludhiana, extending a break from mobile phone in Baramati, preparing in Hindi in Hanumangarh and studying through power cuts in Srinagar. The scrapping of the May exam over a paper leak handed nearly 20 lakh medical aspirants an unwanted second attempt in June. For Aryan Gupta, it meant asking for his books and notes back after he had given them away, convinced that his medical dream had slipped beyond reach. For Kudale Shravani Krishna, it meant returning to meditation and another stretch without a personal phone. For Hadiya Nisar, it meant pushing through another uncertain summer in Kashmir. On Thursday, their names appeared at different points on the same merit list – a record not just of marks, but of how they recovered after being forced to fight the exam twice.Aryan’s second attempt ended with 715 out of 720, the highest score in the country and AIR 1. “This time, I decided not to overthink anything,” he said. The son of an anaesthetist and a gynaecologist, the Ludhiana teenager wants to study oncology – a resolve shaped by losing his grandmother to cancer.Sharing the top score, though placed AIR 2 under the tie-breaking rules, is Faridabad’s Panshul Bansal, the first medical aspirant in a family of a businessman and a company secretary. His father recalled finding him in tears when the cancellation was announced. Panshul’s recovery took two hours. He then returned to his routine of piano, badminton, Rubik’s Cubes and disciplined study blocks.Only 19 of the nearly 20 lakh candidates who appeared crossed the 700-mark threshold. Daily meditation helped keep the pressure off for the top-ranked woman, Baramati’s Shravani, who secured AIR 5.The merit list carried quieter breakthroughs. Nawada’s Ayush Bhalotia, AIR 4, is set to become the first doctor from his Bihar village. Hanumangarh’s Abhilash, AIR 11, topped among candidates who wrote the examination in an Indian language, choosing Hindi.Srinagar’s Hadiya Nisar, AIR 99, who studied through power cuts, dedicated her rank to “every girl in Kashmir” dreaming of medicine.