The candidates may note that from 2025-26 the candidates of BSc Nursing at Armed Forces medical hospitals are required to qualify for the medical entrance exam. According to the released notification, “As decided by the National Medical Commission (NMC), it is informed that the NEET (UG)-2025 shall be conducted in Pen and Paper mode (OMR based) in single day and single shift.”
Also, “MNS (Military Nursing Services aspirants seeking admission to BSc Nursing courses being conducted at Armed Forces Medical Service Hospitals for the year 2025 are required to qualify for NEET (UG). The NEET (UG) score will be used for shortlisting for selection to the four-year BSc Nursing course.”
The final decision on the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test Undergraduate (NEET UG 2025) will be announced by next week, Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan on the sidelines of the launch of Kashi Tamil Sangamam 3.0 portal.
"The final decision on whether the NEET UG medical entrance exam will be conducted in online or pen and paper mode will be announced by next week," Dharmendra Pradhan told reporters following the launch of Kashi Tamil Samagam 3.0 portal.
The Medical Counselling Committee (MCC) has revised the NEET PG 2024 round 3 counselling schedule again. The candidates who are going to participate in the same can visit the official website i.e. mcc.nic.in. to check or download the revised schedule.
According to the revised schedule, the MCC NEET PG 2024 round 3 registration deadline has been extended till 19 January 2025. Earlier, the registration deadline was 15 January 2025 and the choice filling window was closing today, i.e. 16 January 2025. As per the revised schedule, the NEET PG 2024 round 3 choice filling has been extended till January 20.
The MCC NEET PG 2024 round 3 seat allotment process is scheduled for 20 and 21 January 2025. Earlier, the Round 3 registration was paused after the NEET PG cut-off percentile was reduced. The candidates are advised to visit the official website regularly to check more related details regarding the same. Also read.
The National Testing Agency (NTA) will not conduct any recruitment exams starting in 2025 and will focus on only higher education entrance exams, Pradhan told earlier.
The move is part of examination reforms based on the recommendation of a high-level panel set up earlier this year following an alleged leak of the medical entrance NEET exam and a series of cancellations of other exams due to suspected leaks and other glitches.
The Ministry is also in conversation with the Health Ministry about whether the exam should be conducted in traditional pen and paper-based mode or switch to a Computer Based Test (CBT).
"NTA will be limited to conducting only entrance exams for higher education and will not conduct any recruitment exams from next year," Pradhan told reporters earlier.
The Minister also clarified that the Common University Entrance Test (CUET)-UG will continue to be conducted once a year.
"The government is looking at moving to computer adaptive test and technology-driven entrance exams shortly," he said.
The Supreme Court of India has directed the Medical Counselling Committee to conduct a special NEET UG counselling round to fill vacant medical seats, emphasizing the country's shortage of doctors. While the admission process must be completed by December 30, 2024, no direct admissions will be allowed, and only waitlisted candidates will be considered for the special round.
The court emphasised that these valuable seats should not go to waste, especially in light of the country’s ongoing shortage of doctors. The authorities have been directed to hold fresh counselling to ensure all available seats are filled.
The Education and Health Ministry are deliberating on whether to conduct medical entrance exam NEET-UG in pen and paper mode or online mode and a decision in this regard is expected soon, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said on Tuesday.
The Education Ministry has held two rounds of talks with the Health Ministry led by Union Minister JP Nadda.
Currently, NEET-UG is conducted offline - in pen and paper mode - wherein students have to solve multiple-choice questions on an OMR sheet.
The National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) is the largest entrance exam in the country in terms of number of candidates appearing for the test. In 2024, a record over 24 lakh candidates took the exam.
"The administrative ministry of NEET is the Health Ministry and hence we are in talks with them about whether NEET should be conducted in pen and paper mode or online mode. We have had two rounds of talks with the Health Ministry led by JP Nadda. Whatever option will be considered best suited for conducting the exam, NTA is ready to undertake the exercise," Pradhan told reporters.
The Minister said a decision in this regard is expected soon and the reforms will be implemented in the 2025 edition of the exam.
"What will be NEET's methodology, what will be the protocol...a decision is expected soon. We will notify it soon," he added.
The NTA conducts the NEET every year for admission into medical colleges. A total of 1,08,000 seats are available for the MBSS course. Of the seats available for the MBBS course, approximately 56,000 seats are in government hospitals and about 52,000 are in private colleges. Admissions to undergraduate courses in Dentistry, Ayurveda, Unani, and Siddha also utilize the results of the NEET for admission.
The idea of switching to Computer Based Test (CBT) mode for NEET is not new and has been deliberated several times before. However, the push for the exam reforms came following the paper leak controversy earlier this year.
In the line of fire over alleged irregularities in NEET and PhD entrance NET, the Centre had in July set up the panel to ensure transparent, smooth, and fair conduct of examinations by NTA.
According to the high-level panel headed by former ISRO Chief R Radhakrishnan, multi-stage testing for NEET-UG could be a viable possibility that needs to be followed up.
Pradhan said that NTA will be restructured in 2025.
"The agency will be restructured in 2025, at least ten new posts are being created and there will be many changes in the functioning of NTA to ensure there is zero-error testing," he said.
