National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (Undergraduate)
The National Eligibility cum Entrance Test , formerly the All India Pre-Medical Test, is an entrance examination in India for students who wish to study undergraduate medical courses and dental courses in government or private medical and dental colleges in India.
The undergraduate NEET, for MBBS and BDS courses, is currently conducted by the National Testing Agency, which provides the results to the Directorate General of Health Services at the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. Prior to 2019, the test was conducted by the Central Board of Secondary Education in partnership with Prometric Testing Pvt Ltd headquartered in the US.
NEET-UG replaced the All India Pre Medical Test and all individual MBBS exams conducted by states or colleges themselves in 2013. However, many colleges and institutes had taken a stay order and conducted private examinations for admission to their MBBS and BDS courses.
NEET-UG is a single entrance test for admissions to more than 66,000 MBBS and BDS seats across India. In 2018, around 80% of the candidates wrote NEET-UG in English, 11% in Hindi, 4.31% in Gujarati, 3% in Bengali and 1.86% in Tamil.
After the enactment of NMC Act 2019 in September 2019, NEET-UG became common all India entrance test for admissions to medical colleges in India including the All India Institutes of Medical Sciences and Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education & Research which until then conducted separate entrances.
History
NEET was initially proposed to take place from 2012 onwards. However, for several reasons, the CBSE and Medical Council of India deferred NEET by a year. The test was announced by the Government of India and was held for the first time on 5 May 2013 across India for students seeking admission for both undergraduate and postgraduate medicine. On 18 July 2013, SC gave the decision in favour 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, Telugu, Marathi, Bengali, Assamese and Gujarati languages from 2017 onwards. Kannada 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 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 wait-list are prepared as per the directives of the Supreme Court of India, 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 to implement the common entrance test until the court decides afresh on its validity.
Phase One Test
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 and Chemistry, 90 questions from Biology. Each correct response fetches 4 marks and each incorrect response gets -1 negative marking. The exam duration is 3 hours. The exam is of 720 marks.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.Organizing body
The National Testing Agency has been made the nodal agency for conduct of all India competitive exams and conducts NEET-UG. The Central Board of Secondary Education conducted NEET between 2013 and 2018 before the setting of NTA.Number of applicants by year
Exam cutoff
Application fees
Application fees as per NEET 2019| Category | Quota | Mode | Gender | Amount |
| General, OBC | Online, Offline | Male | ₹ 1400 | |
| ST, SC | Online, Offline | Transgender, Female, Male | ₹ 750 | |
| General, ST, SC, OBC | PWD | Online, Offline | Transgender, Female, Male | ₹ 750 |
Colleges
As per the orders of Honourable Supreme Court, there will be a single medical entrance exam all over India for admission into medical and dental colleges. The colleges will not be able to conduct their own medical entrance exam and thus all will accept students based on Score. All India Pre Medical Test, is now known as NEET. The total number of seats offered under NEET are 66,000 which is distributed accordingly.| Colleges | No. of seats offered |
| All private colleges | 25,840 |
| All government colleges | 27,590 |
| NEET Counselling seats | 3,521 |
| NEET Basis seats | 35,461 |
NEET is also for admission into 15% seats in government medical and dental colleges and in all private medical and dental colleges all over India.