News Update: NEET exam to be conducted twice a year: Approved by Health Minister

From 2021 onwards, the National Entrance-cum-Eligibility Test (NEET) will be conducted twice as per the latest approval given by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and has adopted the examination pattern as organised by the Joint Entrance Examination (Main).

So far, only the frequency of the NEET examination has been finalised which will be conducted twice annually which comes as good news to all the aspiring medical students. However, the examination schedule is yet to be decided and finalised for the medical entrance examination of dental, medical and other related fields.

In a recent meeting, health ministry officials confirmed that there has been a detailed discussion with the Education Ministry and the National Testing Agency (NTA) (the agency which conducts the NEET exams) on issues including online and offline modes of examination through multiple sessions of intense dialogue.

Because of the recent challenges posed due to the pandemic, it was important to formulate other methods to conduct the examinations including the Online Mode. However, the entire examination process cannot be conducted wholly on online mode as a large number of NEET aspirants still may not be ready to appear the NEET exam in online mode. Conducting NEET twice a year now gives an option for the students to choose either the online or the offline mode as per their conveniences and makes it easier for them to appear for the exam.

Adopting the same format from the Joint Entrance Examination (Main), this twice a year format will allow the students to be ranked based on the best of the two scores if they take the test twice. This twice a year format will also reduce the stress of the students and will give the students the ability to score better in the NEET exams as per another NTA official.

Usually conducted in the first week of May every year, NEET was pushed to September last year due to strict Covid-19 precautions. The NTA is yet to publish the dates and give a better opportunity for the students to clear the exam and secure an MBBS seat.

Speaking to a TV channel, the Union Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank informed that the officials from Health, Education and NTA have been actively discussing the possibility of conducting NEET exam twice a year and the conclusion has been drawn after an informed and unanimous decision.