One of the toughest entrance tests, NEET is conducted every year for medical aspirants seeking admissions to medical courses across the country. NEET is conducted by the NTA (National Testing Agency). Now, it is the one-tier, national entrance test scrapping AIIMS, JIPMER and other state-level entrance tests following the “one nation one test” policy.
Before starting to prepare for NEET, candidates must be well aware of the ground rules which include – eligibility criteria for NEET, syllabus, NEET exam date, exam pattern and much more. The NTA typically commences the registration process in late November or early December by releasing the application form.
Every year the participation and enthusiasm amongst students to take part in NEET has been soaring, this year, nearly 15.9 lakh registrations were recorded for admissions to close to 1 lakh medical seats. Some reasons for this are:
- NEET is now the only entrance test for medical aspirants across the country
- NEET offers extreme transparency at all levels, right from registration, results, uploading of OMR sheet to cross-check, to the counselling sessions
- Students no more have to attempt state-level or other tests for admissions, hence complete focus can be given to one test
- Government has released many scholarships/policies encouraging students to take up medicine
- Increase in the number of seat availability and inclusion of more exam centres
In addition, aspiring students must know other critical details about NEET, which are as discussed below:
Exam Pattern
| NEET Full form | National Eligibility cum Entrance Test |
| Conducting Body | National Testing Agency (NTA) |
| Mode of exam | Offline – Pen and paper test |
| Duration of Exam | 3 hours / 180 minutes |
| Type of questions | MCQs (Objective type questions) |
| Total marks | 720 |
| Total number of questions | 180
45 – Physics 45 – Chemistry 45 – Botany 45 – Zoology |
| Subjects | Physics, Chemistry, Biology (Botany and Zoology) |
| Marking Scheme | 4 marks for correct response
1 mark deducted for incorrect response |
Important Dates
Candidates planning to participate in NEET must regularly visit the official website of NEET to stay updated with the latest. NTA released the application form for NEET 2020 on 2nd December 2020 and the last date for submission of the application form online was 31st December, 2020. The exam is usually conducted on the first Sunday of May and results declared a few weeks later.
In addition to the result-declaration, the NTA also declares the NEET cut-off, which is the minimum marks to be secured to qualify NEET. Alongside, the OMR sheet of all candidates is also uploaded to cross-check and report the same in case of any discrepancy.
Admit Card
Once a student has successfully registered, he is eligible to download the admit card from the official website whenever released. The admit card is the only document allowed in the exam hall, take a printout of the same.
Language of Paper
The question paper is asked in 11 languages English, Hindi, Urdu, Oriya, Bengali, Marathi, Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, Assamese and Gujarati. Those students who prefer to take up the test in their preferred (regional) language can select the exam centre in the same state while filling the application form. Those candidates who opt for regional languages would be provided with a Bilingual Booklet, one with the preferred language and English.
NEET On Foreign Lands
As per the latest notification in this context, students who aim at pursuing UG medical programmes abroad, must still appear at NEET. On qualifying NEET successfully, a letter from the Ministry of Health will be issued to pursue medicine abroad.
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