The National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (Undergraduate) or NEET (UG), formerly the All India Pre-Medical Test (AIPMT), is an all India pre-medical entrance test for students who wish to pursue undergraduate medical ( MBBS), dental ( BDS) and AYUSH ( BAMS,

BUMS Bachelor of Eastern Medicine and Surgery (BEMS) or Bachelor of Unani Medicine and Surgery (BUMS) is a bachelor's degree in Unani medicine and surgery awarded upon graduation from medical school by universities in Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Sri La ...

, BHMS, etc.) courses in government and private institutions in India and also, for those intending to pursue primary medical qualification abroad. The exam is conducted by

National Testing Agency National Testing Agency (NTA) is an Indian government agency that has been approved by the Union Council of Ministers and established in November 2017 to conduct entrance examinations for educational institutions. The government appointed Vineet ...

(NTA), which provides the results to the Directorate General of Health Services under

Ministry of Health and Family Welfare The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare is an Indian government ministry charged with health policy in India. It is also responsible for all government programs relating to family planning in India. The Minister of Health and Family Welfare ...

and State Counselling Authorities for seat allocation. NEET-UG replaced the

All India Pre Medical Test The All India Pre-Medical test/ Pre-Dental Entrance Test was an annual medical entrance examination in India. The exam was conducted by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) but is now replaced by NEET-UG by National Testing Agency. The ...

(AIPMT) and many other pre-medical exams conducted by states and various medical colleges. However, due to lawsuits being filed against the exam, it could not be held in 2014 and 2015. NEET-UG is a single entrance test for admissions to MBBS and BDS colleges across India. NEET UG is one of the largest exam in India in terms of registered applicants. After the enactment of NMC Act 2019 in September 2019, NEET-UG became the sole entrance test for admissions to medical colleges in India including the

All India Institutes of Medical Sciences The All India Institutes of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) is a group of autonomous government public medical universities of higher education under the jurisdiction of Ministry of Health and Family Welfare , Government of India. These institutes h ...

(AIIMS) and Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education & Research (JIPMER) which until then conducted separate exams.

History

Before NEET (UG) was implemented nationwide, states conducted their own entrance tests and some prestigious medical colleges like

AIIMS The All India Institutes of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) is a group of autonomous government public medical universities of higher education under the jurisdiction of Ministry of Health and Family Welfare , Government of India. These institutes h ...

JIPMER The Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education & Research (JIPMER) (originally known as ''L'Ecole de Médecine de Pondichéry'')is a medical school located at Pondicherry (city), Pondicherry, the capital of the states and territori ...

, IMS-BHU, KMC Manipal & Mangalore and

CMC Vellore Christian Medical College, Vellore, widely known as CMC, Vellore, is a private, Christian community-run medical school, hospital and research institute. This Institute includes a network of primary, secondary and tertiary care hospitals in a ...

conducted their own entrance exams. NEET was initially proposed to take place from 2012 onwards. However, for several reasons, the CBSE and

Medical Council of India The Medical Council of India (MCI) was a statutory body for establishing uniform and high standards of medical education in India until its dissolution on 25 September 2020 when it was replaced by National Medical Commission. The Council grante ...

deferred NEET by a year. The test was announced by the

Government of India The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, ...

and was held for the first time on 5 May 2013 across India for students seeking admission for both undergraduate and postgraduate

medicine Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care pract ...

. On 18 July 2013, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of 115 petitions and cancelled the NEET exam and announced that the MCI could not interfere with the admission process done by colleges. Following the announcement from the Medical Council of India that it would introduce the NEET-UG exam in 2012, several states including Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Gujarat, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu strongly opposed the change, stating that there was a huge variation in the syllabus proposed by the MCI and their state syllabi. Even though NEET 2016 is conducted in English and Hindi, it was announced that students can write exams in

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nativ ...

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India *Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language ** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode S ...

Marathi Marathi may refer to: *Marathi people, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Maharashtra, India *Marathi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people *Palaiosouda, also known as Marathi, a small island in Greece See also * * ...

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

, Assamese and

Gujarati Gujarati may refer to: * something of, from, or related to Gujarat, a state of India * Gujarati people, the major ethnic group of Gujarat * Gujarati language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by them * Gujarati languages, the Western Indo-Aryan sub ...

languages from 2017 onwards.

Kannada Kannada (; ಕನ್ನಡ, ), originally romanised Canarese, is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by the people of Karnataka in southwestern India, with minorities in all neighbouring states. It has around 47 million native s ...

and Odia languages are added to the list so that students can write the exams in nine Indian languages and English. The Supreme Court of India quashed the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) for admissions into all medical and dental colleges on 18 July 2013. The apex court ruled that the Medical Council of India cannot conduct a unified examination. According to a 2013 announcement by CBSE, CBSE planned to conduct AIPMT on 4 May 2014. The final decision on NEET UG was planned to be taken after the verdict of the Supreme Court of India. The Central Board of Secondary Education announces the results and the All India Merit List for NEET-UG. The merit list and the waiting list are prepared as per the directives of the

Supreme Court of India The Supreme Court of India ( IAST: ) is the supreme judicial authority of India and is the highest court of the Republic of India under the constitution. It is the most senior constitutional court, has the final decision in all legal matters ...

, DGHS, MCI and DCI. The results for 2013 were announced on 5 June. NEET was declared illegal and unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of India in 2013. However, it was restored on 11 April 2016, after a five-judge Constitution bench recalled the earlier verdict and allowed the Central Government and the Medical Council of India (MCI) to implement the common entrance test until the court decides afresh on its validity.

Phase One Test (2016)

The All India Pre Medical Test, also known as AIPMT, held on 1 May 2016, was considered as the first phase of the NEET. Students who registered for Phase One were given a chance to appear for the next phase of NEET held on 24 July 2016, but with a condition that candidates have to give up their NEET Phase 1 score. The above dates are as per the order of the Supreme Court.

Exam pattern and structure

There are a total of 180 questions asked in the exam, 45 questions each from

Physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...

Chemistry Chemistry is the science, scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a natural science that covers the Chemical element, elements that make up matter to the chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules and ions ...

Botany Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek w ...

and

Zoology Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the Animal, animal kingdom, including the anatomy, structure, embryology, evolution, Biological clas ...

. Each correct response fetches 4 marks and each incorrect response gets -1 negative marking. The exam duration is 3 hours 20 minutes (200 min). The exam is of 720 marks (maximum marks). In 2021, there was an abrupt change in pattern of question paper. The paper consisted of two sections: A and B in all four subjects, i.e Physics, Chemistry, Botany and Zoology. Section A consisted of 35 compulsory questions and Section B consisted of 15 questions out of which 10 questions were supposed to be filled.

Syllabus

NEET (UG) syllabus consists of the core concepts of Physics, Chemistry and Biology taught in classes 11 and 12 as prescribed by the

NCERT The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) is an autonomous organisation of the Government of India which was established in 1961 as a literary, scientific and charitable Society under the Societies Registration Act. Its hea ...

Organizing body

The

(NTA) has been made the nodal agency for conduct of all India competitive exams and conducts NEET (UG) from 2019. The

Central Board of Secondary Education The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) is a national level board of education in India for public and private schools, controlled and managed by the Government of India. Established in 1929 by a resolution of the government, the Board ...

conducted NEET between 2013 and 2018 before the setting of NTA.

Opposition

The introduction of NEET has received opposition from some entities, most notably the state of Tamil Nadu. The bulk of the major political parties represented in the state, including the

AIADMK The All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (; AIADMK) is an Indian Regionalism (politics), regional political party with great influence in the Federated state, state of Tamil Nadu and the union territory of Puducherry (union territory) ...

and the ruling DMK have expressed resistance to the test on multiple grounds.

Number of applicants by year

* Postponed and delayed in 2020/21/22 because of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

Exam cutoff

Colleges

As per the orders of the Supreme Court and the NMC Act 2019, a single medical entrance exam is conducted all over India for admission into medical and dental colleges, colleges and universities will not be able to conduct their own medical entrance exam and will accept students based on the All India Rank obtained in NEET (UG). After the declaration of the results, an All India Rank (AIR) is allotted to each candidate and a merit list is released. The

National Medical Commission National Medical Commission (NMC) is an Indian regulatory body of 33 members which regulates medical education and medical professionals. It replaced the Medical Council of India on 25 September 2020. The Commission grants recognition of medi ...

conducts counselling (allotment of seats according to merit and candidate choice) for 15% state seats, central institutes and deemed universities. The counselling for remaining 85% state quota seats and private colleges is done by the medical boards of respective states. States prepare their separate merit list on basis of NEET-UG results. The total number of seats offered under NEET as of 2022 are 177,126 (98,013 for MBBS, 27,868 for BDS, 50,720 for AYUSH and 525 for BVSc).

References

{{Standardised tests in India Medical education in India Standardised tests in India 2013 establishments in India