Mumbai: A total of 26 students achieved a perfect 100 percentile in the MHT-CET for the physics-chemistry-mathematics (PCM) cohort. The results for the first attempt were announced on Monday evening.Among the top scorers are three students from Mumbai, Adarsh Raj, Ashutoshkumar Chaubey and Reyan Kumar. Of the 26 students who secured 100 percentile, four are girls. Last year, 22 students bagged the perfect score.Around 4.5 lakh candidates appeared for the test, making it one of the largest examinations conducted by the Maharashtra State CET Cell. Nearly 40% of the test-takers are girls. The scores are used for admissions to engineering colleges in the state. Three of the toppers, Darshil Kunte, Shaurya Singh and Ved Talele, are from Thane. With four toppers, Nagpur has the highest representation among the 100-percentile scorers.Of the 26 perfect scorers, 24 are from Maharashtra, while two are from outside the state, one each from Kolkata and Jabalpur. There was also a notable increase in the number of test-takers this year, from last year’s 4.2 lakh. The percentile distribution by the CET Cell shows that over 10% of the test-takers, 46,911, crossed the 90th percentile in the exam, a modest increase from last year’s 43,299 (in terms of absolute numbers).This is the first time that the state has allowed students two attempts, giving them an additional opportunity to improve their scores. The results of the second attempt are awaited. For students who appeared in both attempts, the higher percentile score obtained in either of the two exams will be considered valid for the admission process.With an increase in the number of students scoring above the 90th percentile, the cut-offs in leading engineering colleges could go up during the centralised admission process.The highest numbers of test-takers for the PCM test are from Pune (50,572), followed by Thane (27,898). Mumbai, along with the city and suburbs, makes up the third largest cohort, with 27,147 students. Nearly 12,000 students from outside Maharashtra also appeared for the test. The CET Cell, however, did not hold the exam outside the state.
