CHENNAI/TRICHY: As expected, National Testing Agency (NTA) set a tough question paper for the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) re-exam conducted on Sunday. Candidates found physics and chemistry questions tougher compared with the previous exam that was conducted on May 3.Officials said around 25% of 1.42 lakh did not turn up for the re-exam in the state. “Many districts in the state have registered only around 75% attendance,” an official said. In Trichy district, a total of 4,822 candidates appeared for the re-exam conducted at 12 centres, recording a turnout of 72%. This was significantly lower than in the May 4 examination, in which 6,467 students from the district appeared.Several student said the re-exam question paper had several questions from unexpected chapters. Aspirants said the extra 15 minutes was very useful in the re-exam.Experts said physics questions were lengthy and tricky. “The re-exam was tough only because of physics questions as they were lengthy and tricky. Some chemistry questions were also lengthy, and the scores will be similar to 2025,” said Santosh Singh, academic head, Allen Career Institute, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.P V Ramachandran, NEET head, Maharishi Global Education, Chennai said physics questions were theory-based, and students had to read the questions multiple times to answer them.“Last time, chemistry questions were straightforward. This time, there were statement-based questions, which took time. In biology also, students took time to answer them. Overall, the question paper was moderately difficult, and the medical cut-off may slightly increase this year as the paper was tough last year,” said Sourav Mondal, co-founder of Edutattva Classes.Meanwhile, a NEET aspirant, B Priyanka, met with a minor road accident while on her way to the examination centre but managed to write the test with timely assistance from the police. She was travelling with her father on a two-wheeler when another motorcycle allegedly travelling on the wrong side of Dindigul–Trichy national highway collided with their vehicle.