National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET)

 
1. What is NEET?
 
  1. NEET stands for National-Eligibility-cum-Entrance-Test
  2. NEET has been proposed by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), Govt. of India in coordination with the Medical Council of India (MCI)
  3. NEET has been proposed to conduct a combined entrance test for Under-Graduate (UG) Medical Courses like MBBS, BDS; and also for the Post Graduate Medical Courses (NEET-PG) like M.S., M.D. etc
  4. NEET-UG conducts Common Entrance Test (CET) for MBBS course across the country for almost all Government and Private Medical Colleges / Universities
2. Why NEET?
 
  1. To create an umbrella through single combined entrance exam for all the medical aspirants in India.
  2. Currently, India has 271 Medical Colleges (138 Govt. Colleges + 133 Private Colleges), offering a total of over 31000 MBBS seats.
  3. Till now admission to these seats was done through national level and state level entrance exams. There were over 25 such different Medical Entrance Examinations in India for admission into various Govt. & Pvt. Medical colleges.
  4. On an average a student used to appears in 7-9 entrance exams, thereby causing unnecessary stress for them as well as for their parents.
  5. Likewise, appearing for so many exams create lot of financial burden for the parents because each examination involves expenses like Application Fee & commuting cost in appearing for the Entrance Test in various cities /at various test centres. So, imposition of NEET eliminates unnecessary wastage of time, efforts & money.
  6. Multiple exams pose additional pressure for the preparation of different syllabi and patterns upon the students. NEET being in place turns the pressure singular.
3. Possible issues due to NEET
 
  1. NEET is controlled by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE); this might induce pressure upon the minds of the students belonging to different State Boards. Their State Medical Policies, syllabi and regulations may not be applicable under NEET.
  2. NEET does not include the management quota seats; it’s creates doubt in the system. This makes a question mark upon the authenticity of the merit list prepared by the NEET.
  3. Earlier, the students had many opportunities for writing the entrance tests through multiple exams; on an average, a student would write around 8-10 entrance tests to realize his/her dream by getting admission in Medical Colleges/Universities. Earlier the chances of getting a seat anywhere were quite high. If a student lost in one entrance exam, he/she could work hard and make it to the other. But now onwards with the implementation of NEET, these chances have been vanished. This is the single combined Medical Examination that shuts the door of getting multiple selection opportunities. Thus, in case a student fails to make grade in this exam, this will end up sapping his/her dreams to a medico.
  4. The top notch medical colleges like AIIMS (All India Institute of Medical Sciences) have not been include in the NEET list.
  5. Since it is a single medical entrance system for almost 31, 000 medical seats, the mode of implementation of error-free system is highly questionable!
4. NEET Pattern
 
  1. NEET is supposed to be conducted in the month of May every year.
  2. The application form is supposed to be available tentatively in the 2nd week of November every year.
  3. A student can apply offline as well as online as per his/her convenience.
  4. Exam Pattern:
    1. Total Number of Questions: 180 Qs
      1. Physics:       45 Qs
      2. Chemistry:  45 Qs
      3. Botany:        45 Qs
      4. Zoology:      45 Qs
    2. Total Time: 3 hours (180 Minutes)
    3. 1/4th negative marking
  5. Exam Language/Medium: English and Hindi
5. Impact of NEET
 
  1. NEET shall replace:
    1. All India Pre-Medical Test (AIPMT) – the National Level Medical Entrance Test for MBBS courses, which till 2012 was used for the admissions to 15% seats in all government medical colleges except that of the states of Andhra Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir.
    2. All individual MBBS entrance exams, which were earlier organized separately by the state govt. or colleges themselves (e.g. AFMC, OJEE, EAMCET, Delhi-PMT, UP-CPMT, U-PMT, R-PMT, HR-PMT, WB-JEE, JK-CET etc.)
    3. The government is about to take decision on including the admission to other allied medical courses viz., veterinary, agriculture, horticulture, nursing etc through NEET.
6. NEET Merit List & Rankings
 
  1. NEET body (i.e. CBSE) shall provide:
    1. National as well as State level ranking or merit list to be prepared for all the appearing candidates
    2. Rank Usage for NEET qualified students:
      1. National Rank: A student can use National Rank to take admission in any of the NEET affiliated MBBS colleges in India.
      2. State Rank: A student can use State Rank to take admission in any of the affiliated colleges in the state from here he/she has done class XI & XII or holds a domicile.
      3. The NEET guidelines require that 85 per cent of the MBBS seats in the medical colleges across the state are reserved under the state quota. The left over 15 % remain open to candidates from other states.
7. Benefits of NEET
 
  1. One common examination for admission into almost all of the MBBS colleges in India.
  2. No need to apply for several entrance examinations.
  3. The students will be free and relaxed after appearing in only one exam.
  4. Stress-level will be considerably reduced which otherwise used to be there due to various entrance examinations spread over a period of three months (April-May-June).
  5. Substantial financial savings for parents.
8. NEET Controllers & Syllabus
 
  1. The NEET has been recommended by MHRD.
  2. Medical Council of India (MCI) has accepted the recommendation and notified final syllabus for the upcoming NEET on its website.
  3. The notified syllabus for NEET- UG has been achieved after review of various State syllabi as well as those prepared by CBSE, NCERT and COBSE.
  4. The new syllabus will establish uniformity across the country keeping in view the relevance of different areas in medical education.
  5. NEET will be conducted by the CBSE.
9. Eligibility criteria for NEET
 
  1. XII Academic Eligibility (Minimum percentage):
    1. 50% for General category student; 40% for SC/ST/OBC category student in Physics, Chemistry and Biology taken together (i.e. aggregate).
    2. Students must pass Physics, Chemistry, Biology and English subjects individually.
  2. Entrance Qualifying Criteria: Qualifying criterion has been changed from 50% of absolute marks in NEET to 50 percentile in NEET to ensure that no seat remains vacant
  3. Age Eligibility:
    1. Minimum 17 years at the time of admission
    2. Upper age limit relaxed by 5 years for SC/ST/OBC
  4. Number of Attempts: A maximum of three attempts

Calculation of Percentile:

Percentile will be calculated based on the rank of the student in his/her board exam. If someone has secured Rank 3 in his/her XII board exams with 10000 students appearing for the exam, then the percentile would be {(10000-3)/10000] x 100] = 99.97

10. NEET -Reservation Policies

The Union Health Ministry has confirmed the state governments that:

 
  1. Their existing reservation policies would not be disturbed under the proposed scheme.
  2. State wise eligibility merit lists will be prepared for the respective state authorities to admit students for admission in accordance with their admission criteria in the institutions located in the respective states.
11. Candidates participated in NEET 2013
 
  1. A total of 7,17,127 candidates were eligible to appear in the first NEET-UG, 2013, among the registered candidates.
  2. Out of which 6,58,040 candidates appeared in the test and 3,66,317 candidates have qualified the test held in May 2013.
  3. The maximum number of students expected to appear for the NEET Exam was 10 - 11 lac.
12. Preparation for NEET
 
  1. Starting the preparation at the beginning of Class-XI and continuing consistently till Class-XII (for two years) would be prudent.
  2. Since, there will be stiff competition for admission in good institutions like AFMC, MAMC, JIPMER (to secure top ranks in NEET); many students may even start preparing right from Class-IX and X to Class-XII.
  3. Since the admission criteria does not include Board marks (apart from minimum eligibility), a student must prepare in a focused manner for NEET, from a reputed national level coaching institute.
13. NEET-2013 Question Paper
 
  1. NEET-2013 question paper will give an overview of the trend serving as ready reckoner for the future aspirant.
  2. This paper is enough to get the hang of ideas, and prepare accordingly.
  3. Based on this paper, one can prepare oneself to the fullest after having a minute analysis.
14. Role of Coaching for Success in NEET
 
  1. The changed pattern of NEET across the country needs a think-tank. And a serious student, who wants to make grade must bank on a national level PMT specialist to achieve their dream of becoming a doctor.
  2. Analysis of the latest pattern and preparing a student with the help of focused teaching, study material and test papers is what a reputed coaching institute can offer in the uncertain-fiercely-competitive exam NEET exam-2013.
  3. Since, NEET is going to be a national level exam, a country-wide network of a coaching institute can help a student gauge his/her performance vis-a-vis other students across India, who are preparing for NEET, and will give them an edge over others.
  4. Experience with various National and State Level Exams with a reputed coaching institute can offer the required edge to the students.
15. How can Aakash help you?
 
  1. Aakash has been guiding students for various National and State Level Medical Entrance Exams since 1988.
  2. In the last 25 years, Aakash has produced outstanding results in all National & State Level Medical Entrance Exams (both in terms of quality and quantity). The details of Aakash’s achievement are available on its website (www.aakash.ac.in).
  3. With over 76 centres across India and a strength of nearly 1000 staff members, Aakash is thoroughly prepared itself to accept any changes in entrance exam and devise the patterns be it AIPMT or any other Medical or Engineering Entrance Exam and act swiftly to adapt to the changes with its hard work to produce even better results after the change.
  4. Aakash is NEET ready because it has already incorporated the following changes in its teaching methodology to maintain the legacy of consistent success in the NEET:
    1. Revised and NEET relevant study material is ready with all Aakash centres.
    2. All the teachers have been trained on new NEET pattern and syllabus.
    3. Test papers, Assignments and practice papers are – ready as per the new NEET pattern & syllabus
  5. The entire Aakash system is geared up as per the changed pattern of the NEET and started counseling /guiding /mentoring and motivating the students for their success in NEET.
  6. The details of Aakash NEET courses are ready and are available at our centres and website.
  7. Fee Structure has been made available on our website as well as in our brochures.
16. Earlier Motions against NEET
 
  1. Among the states that were against the introduction of NEET in 2012 included West Bengal, Maharashtra, Assam, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.
  2. Gujarat and Goa had showed readiness to join NEET from 2013-14.
  3. Andhra Pradesh had sought exemption for two years, saying it would join from 2014-15.
Disclaimer:

The information about NEET and its analysis published here is based on various press releases available on websites (Govt. / Private) and Print/Electronic media reports, which are available in public domain (offline/online) along with our inputs/views. The document is shared for the students’ community in the larger public interest and should be used for reference only. The result of the first batch of NEET 2013 has been already announced. We will further keep updating with the relevant information, we receive from authentic sources.