NEET-UG explained: what the exam tests and how a seat is actually allotted
Close to 20 lakh candidates sat NEET-UG in 2026. For most families the exam is the whole story. It is in fact only the first of two stages, and the second, counselling, decides which college a rank turns into.
Who runs it, and why there is one exam
Section 14 of the National Medical Commission Act, 2019 provides for a uniform National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test for admission to undergraduate medical education in all medical institutions it governs. The test is conducted by the National Testing Agency, which has run it since 2019.
NEET-UG is used for admission to MBBS, BDS and the AYUSH degrees BAMS, BUMS, BSMS and BHMS. Since 2020 it has also been the qualifying exam for MBBS at AIIMS and JIPMER. NTA's own role is limited: it conducts the exam, declares the result and issues the All India Rank. It does not allot seats.
What the paper looks like
The 2026 paper had 180 compulsory multiple-choice questions to be answered in three hours: 45 in Physics, 45 in Chemistry and 90 in Biology, which means Botany and Zoology. At four marks a question, the total is 720.
A correct answer earns four marks, an incorrect one loses one, and an unanswered question scores zero. The exam is a single-day, single-shift, pen-and-paper test. In January 2025 NTA announced a return to the pre-COVID format, and the optional questions introduced during the pandemic are no longer available, so every question counts.
The paper was offered in 13 languages. A candidate who chooses a regional language gets a booklet in English and that language, and if a translation is ambiguous the English version is final.
Who can sit it
A candidate must have completed 17 years of age on or before 31 December of the year of the exam. The 2026 bulletin states that there is no upper age limit.
At the Class 12 level, the candidate must have studied Physics, Chemistry and Biology or Biotechnology along with English, including practical tests. Students still waiting for their Class 12 result may apply and appear, but they are not eligible for admission if they have not passed by the first round of counselling.
The 2026 exam that was held twice
NEET-UG 2026 was first held on 3 May. On 12 May NTA announced that, with the approval of the Government of India, it had cancelled that exam and would conduct it again, and the Government referred the matter to the Central Bureau of Investigation. The re-examination was held on 21 June, with registrations carried forward, and the result came on 16 July.
For that re-examination NTA reports 22,79,743 candidates registered, 19,99,895 appeared and 11,21,185 qualified. The ranks for 2026 come from the June exam.
What "qualified" means
Qualifying is a percentile rule, not a pass mark. General and EWS candidates must reach the 50th percentile, and SC, ST and OBC candidates the 40th percentile, with separate levels for candidates with benchmark disabilities.
The marks this corresponds to change every year. In 2026 the qualifying range for unreserved and EWS candidates went down to 213 out of 720, and for OBC, SC and ST candidates down to 177. In 2025 the lower ends were 144 and 113. Qualifying only makes a candidate eligible for admission. It does not guarantee a seat.
The number of seats explains why. The National Medical Commission's seat matrix for 2026-27, as on 18 September 2026, lists 1,40,664 MBBS seats in 839 medical colleges, excluding Institutes of National Importance. Qualified candidates are competing not only for these but also for BDS, AYUSH and other courses.
How a rank becomes a seat
After the result, counselling authorities draw up merit lists and allot seats. Within each category, admission is based solely on the All India Rank. Where two candidates have the same score, the tie is broken first by higher marks in Biology, then Chemistry, then Physics.
There are two layers of counselling.
The Medical Counselling Committee of the Directorate General of Health Services counsels for the 15 per cent All India Quota seats in participating government medical and dental colleges. It also counsels for all MBBS seats in the AIIMS institutions, for JIPMER, Banaras Hindu University and Aligarh Muslim University, for deemed universities and for central institutions in Delhi. In the All India Quota the reservations are 15 per cent for SC, 7.5 per cent for ST, 27 per cent for OBC non-creamy layer and 10 per cent for EWS, with 5 per cent horizontal reservation for persons with benchmark disabilities.
Seats under the control of a state are counselled by that state's designated authority, under the state's own reservation policy. Every state runs its own process, so a candidate who wants to be considered for both All India Quota and state seats has to take part in both counselling processes.
The central counselling runs in four rounds: three regular rounds and a stray vacancy round. Upgradation is possible only up to Round 3, and a candidate who joins a seat in Round 3 cannot resign it and cannot take part in any other counselling. The Committee states that it does not allot any seat on nomination or manually.
What changed after the controversies
After the 2024 controversy, the Ministry of Education set up a high-level committee of experts chaired by Dr K. Radhakrishnan to recommend reforms in the examination process, data security and the working of NTA. In July 2026 the government told the Rajya Sabha that 35 of 46 recommendations had been implemented, including Aadhaar-based biometric authentication, AI-enabled face authentication, CCTV surveillance and signal jammers.
In the same month both Houses of Parliament passed a bill amending the law against unfair means in public examinations, which would raise the minimum imprisonment from three years to five. A task force on examination reforms under Nandan Nilekani invited public suggestions in August 2026, including on secure computer-based testing. We found no official decision on changing NEET's format when this was written.
What to take from this
Preparation usually stops at the exam. It should not. Knowing the counselling rules matters as much as the last few marks: which quotas you can apply under, which rounds allow an upgrade, and what joining a seat in Round 3 rules out. A good rank used carelessly in counselling can still end in the wrong college.