NEET 2026 - Dates, Syllabus, Preparation Tips, Exam Pattern, Books

The National Testing Agency (NTA) will conduct the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test NEET 2026 in May of the same year. The single largest medical entrance exam of NEET 2026 will be conducted for admission to MBBS/BDS, B.V.Sc, and AYUSH courses in the government and private medical of India. Lakhs of medical students appear for the NEET exam yearly. The NEET 2026 will be conducted in offline mode in 13 languages in India and abroad. A total of 180 questions of 4 marks each will be asked. There will be a negative marking of 1 mark for each incorrect answer.

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The NTA will release the NEET UG application form and all eligible candidates will be able to fill out the application form from the official website exams.nta.ac.in/NEET. The NEET hall ticket will be released by NTA one week before the exam. NEET 2026 will be conducted in offline mode and the authority will declare the result on its official website in scorecard form.

Once the result is out, the Medical Counselling Committee (MCC) will conduct the counselling for 15% of AIQ seats. The counselling for 85% of state quota seats will be conducted by the responsible state bodies as authorised by the State government. Read the full article to know comprehensive details regarding the NEET 2026 exam.

NEET 2026 highlights

Candidates who are interested in NEET 2026 must know some basic details about this entrance exam. To cater for the students, below is an overview of the NEET 2026 exam.

NEET 2026 overview

NEET 2026 exam date

The exam date of NEET 2026 will be announced by the NTA on its official website. The full schedule of NEET 2026 will be updated in the table below, once out.

NEET 2026 exam schedule

NEET 2026 eligibility criteria

To be eligible for admission through NEET, candidates will need to qualify for certain eligibility criteria set by the NTA. These eligibility criteria are as follows-

• Candidate must have completed the age of 17 years as of December 31, 2026

• The candidate must be an Indian citizen, non-resident of India, overseas citizen of India, or Foreign National

• The student must have passed the 10 + 2 standard or its equivalent from a recognised board with Physics, Chemistry, and Biology as the main subjects.

• The aspirant must have scored an aggregate of 50% marks in Physics, Chemistry, and Biology taken together.

NEET 2026 application form

The application form for NEET 2026 will be available in online mode only on the official website. Only the eligible candidates will be able to fill out the NEET 2026 application form. The basic steps to follow while filling out the application form of NEET are as follows -

• Basic registration for NEET 2026 - Applicants will need to register themselves and provide an email ID and mobile number while registering for NEET 2026. The NEET 2026 application number and password will be sent to the registered email address and mobile number, which will be used later in all stages of NEET 2026.

• Filling out the NEET 2026 application form - Aspirants will have to fill the NEET 2026 application form carefully, mentioning all the details asked in the application form. These details include personal details, the address of the candidate, educational qualifications, etc.

• Uploading of images - Applicants will then need to upload all the relevant images, signature and documents in the prescribed format. The documents will be uploaded only in jpg or jpeg format.

• NEET 2026 application fee payment - Once all the relevant documents are uploaded successfully, candidates will have to pay the application fee of NEET 2026 through online mode.

• NEET confirmation page copy - Upon successful completion of the NEET 2026 application fee payment, students will be able to download the confirmation page copy. This NEET application form confirmation page copy serves as proof of successful fee payment, and is very important and is used later in various stages of the exam.

• Taking a printout of the application form - The last step is to take a printout copy of the duly filled NEET 2026 application form. This copy of the application form may be used later during the counselling process of NEET 2026

Documents required for NEET 2026 application form

There are a certain number of documents and other details that are required for filling the application form of NEET 2026. Students should be ready with scanned copies of these documents before filling out the NEET 2026 application form -

• A valid identity proof such as Aadhar card, Voter ID, PAN card, Passport

• A passport-size scanned photograph of the applicant

• Scanned signature of the applicant

Note - Apart from the scanned copy of the above-mentioned documents, students should be ready with their educational qualification details, a valid email ID and mobile number

NEET 2026 admit card

The admit card of NEET 2026 will be released in online mode only on the official website of NTA. Candidates must log in using their NEET application number 2026, security pin and password and download their admit card. Taking the NEET admit card 2026 is of utmost importance, as without it, students will not be allowed to sit in the exam centres.

Details mentioned in the NEET admit card 2026

• Name of the candidate

• Candidate’s father and mother's name

• Candidate’s NEET 2026 roll number

• NEET 2026 exam centre details

• NEET 2026 application number of the candidate

• Category and gender of the candidate

• QR code for NEET 2026

• NEET exam day guidelines

NEET 2026 exam pattern

Before taking the test, applicants must be familiar with the NEET exam pattern. Detailed information about the NEET exam pattern, including the length, number, and weightage of questions, as well as its marking scheme, can be found in the table below.

NEET exam pattern

NEET 2026 syllabus

The National Medical Commission (NMC), an independent government agency, is the responsible authority for designing the NEET UG syllabus. Getting a comprehensive understanding of the NEET UG syllabus is essential for preparing for the single largest medical entrance examination. A complete set of topics, including Physics, Chemistry, and Biology from classes 11 and 12 is covered in the NEET syllabus 2026.

NEET 2026 answer key

Following the conclusion of the NEET 2026 exam, NTA will release the official answer key. Using the NEET exam answer key released by NTA, candidates will be able to estimate their probable NEET 2026 score. For candidates who wish to challenge the questions, a non-refundable processing fee of Rs 200 will be applicable. NEET UG final answer key is released a few hours before results are announced. Candidates cannot challenge the NTA NEET 2026 final answer key under any circumstances.

NEET 2026 result

The NTA will release the NEET exam result on its official website in the form of scorecards. The NEET 2026 scorecard will contain information about candidates' scores in the entrance exam, their AIR, category. Additionally, the scorecard will also include the qualifying NEET cutoff scores for candidates from the general, SC, ST, and OBC categories.

NEET cutoff

The category-wise NEET UG cutoff percentile is provided in the table below. The NEET cutoff scores for 2026 will be updated here after the announcement of the result.

NEET cutoff: Category-wise

NEET 2026 counselling

The Medical Counselling Committee (MCC) will conduct the NEET UG counselling based on NEET 2026 scores for 15% of all AIQ seats in government colleges and 100% for deemed/central universities, ESIC/AFMC, AIIMS, and JIPMER. The state counselling authorities will conduct the counselling for the remaining 85% of state quota seats of NEET 2026.

The NEET AIQ counselling 2026 process will comprise four rounds - Round 1, round 2, mop-up round, and stray vacancy round. Seats will be allotted as per the choices made by the candidates, their NEET 2026 rank, merit list, and availability of seats. NEET UG 2026 counselling process will include registration, choice filling, paying the registration fee, and seat allotment. Applicants who will qualify for the NEET 2026 exam will be eligible to participate in the counselling process. The vacant seats after round two in NEET 2026 counselling in AIQ will be returned to the respective states and will be filled through the state counselling authority thereon.

The AIQ for NEET counselling 2026 includes the following:

• 15% MBBS/BDS Seats of States

• 100% MBBS/BDS Seats of BHU

• 100% MBBS Seats of AIIMS across India

• All India Quota of JIPMER (Puducherry/ Karaikal)

• All India Quota seats of AMU/ DU/ VMMC/ ABVIMS

• All India Quota Seats of Faculty of Dentistry (Jamia Millia Islamia)

• All India Quota Seats of ESIC