NEET PG Previous Year Clinical Questions: 20 Practice Questions with Answers & Explanations

NEET PG Previous Year Clinical Questions: General Medicine

1. A 45-year-old man on antitubercular therapy for the last two months presents with reduced visual acuity and difficulty distinguishing red from green. Which drug is most likely responsible?

A) Isoniazid

B) Rifampicin

C) Ethambutol

D) Pyrazinamide

Answer: C) Ethambutol.

Explanation – Ethambutol causes dose-dependent optic neuritis, classically presenting with reduced visual acuity and red-green colour blindness. This is one of the most frequently tested adverse drug reactions in NEET PG, appearing in various forms across recent cycles.

2. A patient with a history of bronchial asthma is prescribed a beta blocker for hypertension. Which of the following would be the safest choice?

A) Propranolol

B) Metoprolol

C) Timolol

D) Nadolol

Answer: B) Metoprolol.

Explanation: Metoprolol is cardioselective, acting mainly on beta-1 receptors, and carries a lower risk of bronchospasm compared to non-selective beta blockers like propranolol, timolol, or nadolol. Cardioselective versus non-selective beta blocker questions come up regularly.

3. A 30-year-old with a recent AKI shows a rise in serum creatinine of more than three times baseline and urine output less than 0.3 mL/kg/hr for 24 hours. As per the RIFLE criteria, which category does this fall under?

A) Risk

B) Injury

C) Failure

D) Loss

Answer: C) Failure.

Explanation: The "Failure" category under RIFLE requires a creatinine rise of three times baseline or GFR decrease of 75%, or urine output less than 0.3 mL/kg/hr for 24 hours, or anuria for 12 hours. AKI staging criteria such as RIFLE and AKIN are asked frequently in clinical case format.

4. A young girl presents with fever, migratory polyarthritis, and a new pansystolic murmur three weeks after an episode of sore throat. Which major criterion, if present alongside these, would support a diagnosis of acute rheumatic fever as per the Jones criteria?

A) Arthralgia

B) Fever

C) Elevated ESR

D) Erythema marginatum

Answer: D) Erythema marginatum.

Explanation: Erythema marginatum is a major Jones criterion, along with carditis, polyarthritis, chorea, and subcutaneous nodules. Arthralgia, fever, and elevated ESR are minor criteria. Diagnostic criteria questions like this are a well-established recurring pattern.

5. A patient presents with dry mouth, dilated pupils, flushed skin, and confusion after ingesting an unknown plant extract. Which toxidrome does this represent?

A) Cholinergic

B) Anticholinergic

C) Sympathomimetic

D) Opioid

Answer: B) Anticholinergic.

Explanation: The classic description "dry as a bone, red as a beet, blind as a bat, mad as a hatter" refers to anticholinergic toxicity, commonly from atropine or plant alkaloids. This toxidrome pattern is a favourite in toxicology-based clinical vignettes.

6. A patient with type 1 diabetes needs an insulin regimen that mimics basal secretion with minimal peak activity. Which insulin type is most appropriate?

A) Regular insulin

B) NPH insulin

C) Insulin glargine

D) Insulin lispro

Answer: C) Insulin glargine.

Explanation: Glargine is a long-acting insulin analogue with a relatively flat, peakless profile, making it suitable for basal coverage. Insulin type questions, especially rapid-acting versus long-acting, are consistently tested.

NEET PG Previous Year Clinical Questions: General Surgery

7. A 22-year-old presents with periumbilical pain that has migrated to the right iliac fossa, with associated fever and rebound tenderness at McBurney's point. What is the most likely diagnosis?

A) Meckel's diverticulitis

B) Acute appendicitis

C) Mesenteric lymphadenitis

D) Ureteric colic

Answer: B) Acute appendicitis.

Explanation: The classic migratory pain pattern, from periumbilical to right iliac fossa, along with McBurney's point tenderness, is the textbook presentation of acute appendicitis and remains one of the most reliably tested acute abdomen presentations.

8. A patient with 40% total body surface area burns weighing 70 kg needs fluid resuscitation using the Parkland formula. What is the total fluid requirement for the first 24 hours?

A) 5,600 mL

B) 11,200 mL

C) 8,400 mL

D) 16,800 mL

Answer: B) 11,200 mL.

Explanation: The Parkland formula is 4 mL x body weight (kg) x %TBSA burn, giving 4 x 70 x 40 = 11,200 mL, with half given in the first eight hours. Burns fluid calculation is a recurring numerical-style surgery question.

9. A 45-year-old woman presents with a firm, irregular breast lump. Which combination represents the gold standard for initial diagnostic workup?

A) Mammography alone

B) Triple assessment (clinical exam, imaging, biopsy)

C) MRI alone

D) FNAC alone

Answer: B) Triple assessment.

Explanation: Triple assessment, combining clinical examination, imaging, and tissue diagnosis via biopsy or FNAC, is the standard approach and is tested often in the context of breast lump evaluation.

NEET PG Previous Year Clinical Questions: Obstetrics & Gynaecology

10. A woman develops heavy vaginal bleeding immediately after delivery of the placenta, with a soft, non-contracted uterus on palpation. What is the most likely cause of this postpartum haemorrhage?

A) Uterine atony

B) Retained products of conception

C) Genital tract trauma

D) Coagulopathy

Answer: A) Uterine atony.

Explanation: A soft, boggy uterus after delivery is the classic sign of uterine atony, the most common cause of primary postpartum haemorrhage, accounting for the majority of cases.

11. On a partograph, the foetal heart rate and cervical dilation are being plotted. If the cervicograph crosses the action line, what does this indicate?

A) Normal progress of labour

B) Need for immediate intervention due to prolonged labour

C) Fetal distress requiring delivery

D) Onset of the second stage of labour

Answer: B) Need for immediate intervention.

Explanation: Crossing the action line on a partograph signals that labour has failed to progress adequately and requires active intervention, such as augmentation or reassessment for caesarean delivery. Partograph interpretation questions are a consistent OBG favourite.

NEET PG Previous Year Clinical Questions: Pathology

12. Immunohistochemistry on a breast tumour biopsy shows strong positivity for a marker used to assess proliferative activity. Which marker is this most likely to be?

A) HER2

B) Ki-67

C) CA-125

D) CEA

Answer: B) Ki-67

Explanation: Ki-67 is a proliferation marker used on IHC to assess how rapidly tumour cells are dividing, and it's increasingly tested alongside other breast cancer markers like ER, PR, and HER2. Tumour marker and IHC questions have become noticeably more common in recent papers.

13. A child presents with pallor, bleeding gums, and bone pain. Peripheral smear shows blast cells with Auer rods. Which leukaemia is most consistent with this finding?

A) Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia

B) Acute myeloid leukaemia

C) Chronic myeloid leukaemia

D) Chronic lymphocytic leukaemia

Answer: B) Acute myeloid leukaemia.

Explanation: Auer rods are eosinophilic, needle-shaped cytoplasmic inclusions specific to myeloid blasts and are a hallmark finding in acute myeloid leukaemia, distinguishing it from ALL.

NEET PG Previous Year Clinical Questions: Pharmacology

14. A patient develops profound hypotension after receiving a drug that irreversibly blocks alpha-1 receptors, used in the management of phaeochromocytoma. Which drug is this?

A) Prazosin

B) Phenoxybenzamine

C) Doxazosin

D) Tamsulosin

Answer: B) Phenoxybenzamine.

Explanation: Phenoxybenzamine is a non-selective, irreversible alpha blocker used pre-operatively in phaeochromocytoma to prevent hypertensive crisis, distinguishing it from the reversible, selective alpha-1 blockers.

15. A patient stabilised on warfarin is started on an antibiotic and subsequently develops bleeding gums and a markedly elevated INR. Which mechanism best explains this interaction?

A) Enzyme induction

B) Enzyme inhibition

C) Increased renal clearance

D) Reduced protein binding

Answer: B) Enzyme inhibition.

Explanation: Certain antibiotics inhibit hepatic cytochrome P450 enzymes responsible for warfarin metabolism, leading to elevated warfarin levels and an increased INR. Enzyme inducer versus inhibitor questions are a well-established recurring pharmacology theme.

NEET PG Previous Year Clinical Questions: Microbiology

16. Gram staining of a wound swab shows gram-positive cocci in clusters, and the culture is catalase-positive and coagulase-positive. Which organism is most likely?

A) Streptococcus pyogenes

B) Staphylococcus epidermidis

C) Staphylococcus aureus

D) Enterococcus faecalis

Answer: C) Staphylococcus aureus.

Explanation: Clustering on gram stain along with catalase and coagulase positivity is classic for Staphylococcus aureus, distinguishing it from Streptococcus (catalase-negative) and coagulase-negative staphylococci.

17. A patient with hypopigmented skin patches shows loss of sensation over the lesions, and a slit-skin smear is negative for acid-fast bacilli. Which classification of leprosy is most consistent with this presentation?

A) Lepromatous leprosy

B) Tuberculoid leprosy

C) Borderline lepromatous

D) Indeterminate leprosy

Answer: B) Tuberculoid leprosy.

Explanation: Tuberculoid leprosy typically presents with few, well-defined, hypopigmented, anaesthetic lesions and a negative or scanty slit-skin smear, reflecting a strong cell-mediated immune response, unlike the multibacillary lepromatous form.

NEET PG Previous Year Clinical Questions: Social and Preventive Medicine

18. A vaccine requires storage at 2 to 8°C and must never be frozen. Which of the following vaccines fits this description?

A) OPV

B) Measles vaccine

C) DPT

D) BCG

Answer: C) DPT.

Explanation: DPT is heat-stable relative to live vaccines but is freeze-sensitive, and freezing destroys its potency, which is why it is stored at 2 to 8°C without ever being frozen, unlike OPV and measles vaccine, which tolerate freezing better. Cold chain questions are a recurring PSM theme, especially around which vaccines are freeze-sensitive versus heat-sensitive.

19. In a data set representing the ages of patients in a ward, one value is much higher than the rest, skewing the distribution. Which measure of central tendency is least affected by this outlier?

A) Mean

B) Median

C) Range

D) Standard deviation

Answer: B) Median.

Explanation: The median is resistant to extreme outliers since it depends on the middle value's position rather than the magnitude of every value, unlike the mean, which shifts with extreme values. Biostatistics basics like this appear consistently across recent papers.

NEET PG Previous Year Clinical Questions: ENT

20. A patient with chronic ear discharge undergoes a Rinne test, which is negative on the affected side, along with Weber test lateralising to the same ear. What type of hearing loss does this suggest?

A) Sensorineural hearing loss

B) Conductive hearing loss

C) Mixed hearing loss

D) Central hearing loss

Answer: B) Conductive hearing loss.

Explanation: A negative Rinne test (bone conduction better than air conduction) along with Weber lateralising to the affected ear points to conductive hearing loss, commonly due to conditions like chronic otitis media. Rinne and Weber test interpretation is one of the most consistently tested ENT concepts.

How to Use NEET PG Previous Year Clinical Questions for Preparation?

Use previous year NEET PG clinical questions as a technique for clinical reasoning as opposed to merely learning their answers. Here’s how.

• First, read the clinical case and try to understand its key symptoms, investigations, and pointers towards diagnosis.

• Second, solve the question before looking at its answer.

• Third, read the explanation even if you got the answer right to reinforce the basic concept.

• Fourth, learn the concept from basic MBBS books or study material if you got it wrong.

• Fifth, attempt those questions that you got wrong once again to see if you have learned the concept or not.

How to Prepare NEET PG Clinical Questions Effectively?

Questions from the clinical section should never be regarded as merely an attempt to remember a set of answers. Candidates need to pay attention to the clinical clues and find out the concept behind them.

• Do not look at the options until after reading the entire clinical vignette.

• Note down any clues related to age, symptoms, investigation and risk factors.

• First solve the question and afterwards check the explanation.

• Revision of the concept is required each time the question is answered wrongly.

• Practice clinical questions, image questions and case questions along with MCQs.

• Compare questions across different years to recognise common concepts rather than waiting for similar questions to repeat year after year.