About NEET 2018: An Introduction

The National Eligibility cum Entrance Test – Under Graduate, known as NEET UG, or more popularly as NEET, is an all India level common entrance test conducted by the Central Board of Secondary Education for admissions in MBBS and BDS courses at various government and private medical colleges in the country. 

Introduced for the first time in 2013, the examination has replaced the erstwhile AIPMT (All India Pre-Medical Test) to serve as a common platform for medical/dental admissions in India. Although the test was envisaged as a universal gateway for admissions in MBBS and BDS, it initially failed to serve the purpose in 2013 as many colleges secured a stay order from the apex court for conducting private entrance examinations for admissions to their respective courses. On 18th July, 2013, the Supreme Court passed a very controversial verdict cancelling the NEET test while responding to multiple petitions which had challenged the legality of the examination based on the argument of dilution of autonomous admission rights of colleges. 

However, NEET was reinstated in 2016 after a 5-judge constitutional bench of the apex court overruled the earlier judgement. In 2017, it became the single window entrance exam for all medical and dental seats in India at Undergraduate level apart from the seats offered at JIPMER and AIIMS. 11,38,890 candidates appeared in NEET-2017, out of which 6,11,539 successfully passed the examination to become eligible for the approximately 90,000 MBBS and BDS seats available across 700 medical and dental colleges in the country. NEET is conducted annually and is mandatory for medical and dental admissions in any institution in any state, be it Government, Private, Central or Deemed. 

NEET 2018 is expected to be conducted by May 10 this year. As per its exam pattern which emulates the AIPMT, NEET will be held as a pen-paper based exam with Hindi, English, Gujarati, Marathi, Oriya, Bengali, Assamese, Telugu, Tamil and Kannada available as language options. The paper will comprise 180 multiple choice questions which will have to be attempted in a span of 3 hours. The syllabus of NEET 2018, prepared by the Medical Council of India (MCI) after the review of various State syllabi as well as those prepared by CBSE, NCERT and COBSE, will consist of various topics and chapters from Class 11 and Class 12. Out of the 180 questions, 45 questions each will be from Physics and Chemistry and 90 questions will be from the Biology section, consisting of the Botany and Zoology sub-sections.  The exam will be out of a total of 720 marks. Each question will carry 4 marks while 1 mark will be deducted for an incorrect response. This means that aspirants will have on average only around a minute at their disposal to attempt a single question, so speed and precision will be key. 

The application form for NEET 2018 is expected to begin in online mode from January 31 onwards while the Admit Card will likely be issued in end-March. Those interested in applying should ensure they clear the given eligibility criteria. Only those who have completed at least 17 years of age at the time of admissions or will complete 17 years as on or before December 31, 2018, will be eligible for admissions through NEET. Also, in terms of academic eligibility, General Category candidates should have secured at least 50% marks in PCB subjects (in addition to obtaining pass marks in English) while SC/ST/OBC candidates should have secured 40% marks in PCB in their Class 12 qualifying examinations.

To qualify NEET, candidates should score equal to or more than the minimum percentile cutoff as stipulated by the CBSE. Candidates from the General Category will be required to get atleast equal to or more than the 50th Percentile while those belonging to OBC/SC/ST categories will be required to score equal to or more than the 40th Percentile to qualify for MBBS/BDS admissions. 

The counselling for NEET 2018 will be conducted tentatively from June 2018 onwards following the declaration of the results in the same month. The counselling for 15% All India Quota (AIQ) seats in all Government Colleges and 100% of the seats in all Deemed Universities will be conducted by the Medical Counselling Committee (MCC), while for admissions into the remaining 85% State Quota seats, states will conduct their own counselling through their respective state counselling authorities. All eligible candidates who have cleared the required percentile can apply for All India Quota and Deemed University seats while their eligibility for State Quota seats will depend on a particular state’s eligibility requirements. The MBBS and BDS classes for candidates admitted through NEET 2018 to various colleges are expected to begin from August onwards.