National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET)

The National Eligibility cum Entrance Test, commonly known as NEET UG, will be conducted by National Testing Agency (NTA) on May 3, 2020. Along with the exam date, NTA has also announced the NEET 2020 important dates relating to registrations, admit card and result. NEET 2020 application form and official notification will be released on December 2, 2019. The eligible candidates can register for NEET exam till December 31, 2019.
Through a press conference on October 4, 2019, Dr. Harsh Vardhan, the Minister of Health and Family Welfare, announced that the admission to 1205 AIIMS and 200 JIPMER  undergraduate (MBBS) seats will be done on the basis of scores obtained in NTA NEET 2020. Thus, candidates willing for admission to AIIMS and JIPMER institutes will be required to fill NEET application form 2020 on or before the due date. With this, the boom in the number of registrations is expected in NEET academic session 2020-21, to grab a seat in around 76,928 MBBS and 26,949 BDS seats available in 532 medical as well as 313 dental colleges across India. Last year, a total of 15,19,375 candidates registered for NEET 2019, While, for the year 2018, CBSE saw the registrations of 13,26,725 candidates. 

In case of any discrepancies in the application form of NEET 2020, the authority will open the facility of correction window in the second week of January. The medical students can edit/delete/modify the specified fields in the form within the last date. The applications accepted by NTA after the completion of correction window, can download NEET admit card 2020 from March 27, onwards. NEET 2020 question paper will contain as many as 180 multiple choice questions from Physics, Chemistry and Biology (Botany+Zoology). NEET official answer key 2020 will be released in the last week of May to calculate the marks to be scored by candidates.

NTA will declare NEET UG result 2020 by June 4. Only aspirants securing the minimum qualifying percentile will be considered qualified. NEET 2020 cutoff is the percentile to be secured to qualify the entrance test. Out of 14,10,755, as many as, 7,97,042 candidates had qualified in the offline exam in 2019. Using the qualifying percentile, the authority will prepare the merit list. Based on the All India Rank (AIR) in NEET merit list, qualified students will be called for NEET counselling 2020 process for admission to 15% All India Quota (AIQ), 85% State Quota seats, Deemed/Central universities, private institutes, ESIC and AFMS colleges. Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) on behalf of Medical Counselling Committee (MCC) will conduct NEET UG counselling for allotment in 15% AIQ seats, all seats from Deemed/Central universities and other ESIC as well as AFMS colleges. The admission to MBBS and BDS seats through NEET UG will be done on the basis of rank secured, preferences of courses as well as colleges, availability of seats, reservation criteria and other factors. While the remaining 85% state quota seats will be allotted by the respective state counselling committees on the basis of NEET UG scores.

The eligibility criteria of NEET 2020 stipulates the minimum requirements candidates need to meet in order to appear for the exam. The regulations are laid down in accordance with the Regulations on Graduate Medical Education (1997). The following points will acquaint candidates with the NEET eligibility criteria 2020 in terms of nationality, age limit, educational qualification and attempts limit:

• Nationality:- Indian Nationals, NRIs, PIOs, OCIs and Foreign Nationals are eligible to take NEET 2020.

• Age Limit:- The age limit has for now been waived off as per the latest Supreme Court judgement. For 2020, NTA has not yet given any age limit. Any updates on this will be available here as soon as it is announced The lower age limit however is 17 years as on the date of admissions or by December 31, 2020. Candidate who complete 17 years by then will be eligible for the exam and admissions.

• Educational Qualification:- Candidate must have passed Class 12 or equivalent examination  and must have scored a minimum of 50% in Chemistry, Biology and Physics in each and in aggregate too.
Reserved category candidates must score at least 40% while PwD candidates are required to score a minimum of 45% in the qualifying exam.

• Number of Attempts:- There is no limit to the number of attempts that a candidate can appear as long as he/she  fulfills other eligibility criteria of NEET 2020.

Mode of Application : Online and Offline

Mode of Payment : Net Banking | Credit Card | Debit Card | Other

The National Testing Agency (NTA) will start the registration and application process for NEET UG from December 2, 2019. The official brochure for the exam will also be released at the same time. NEET 2020 application and registration process is online only. Candidates intending to register for NEET 2020 can apply till December 31, 2019. NEET 2020 application fee is INR 1,400 for unreserved and OBC category candidates while for reserved and PwD category candidates, the registration fee is INR 750.

Steps to Fill NEET Application Form

Step 1 - Registration:  Candidates must first register and enter the following details

• Candidate's name
• Mother's name
• Father's name
• Date of Birth
• Gender
• Nationality
• State of Eligibility
• Category
• Person with Disabilities
• Identification Type
• Identification Number
• Mobile Number
• Email ID
• Create Password 
• OTP Verification
  

After submitting the details, they must note their Provisional Application Number of NEET and password for future references.

Step 2 - Fill Application Form: The following details must be entered to fill the form

• Personal Details 
• Place of Birth
• Choice of Medium of Question Paper
• Choice of Examination Centre - four exam cities have to be chosen
• Academic Details (Class 10th or equivalent)
• Academic Details (Class 11th or equivalent)
• Academic Details (Class 12th or equivalent)
• Permanent Address
• Correspondence Address
• Details of Parents and Guardian
• Dress Code Assent
• Security Pin

Step 3 - Review and Final Submission: Details cannot be changed thereafter so candidates must keep this mind before pressing the submission button and thoroughly review all details

Step 4 - Upload Photograph and Signature:  The dimensions and specifications for photograph and signature are mentioned below. Candidates must adhere to it before uploading.

• Photograph: Must be postcard size picture in a white background with the Name of the candidate and date written on the photograph. The Size must be 10 Kb to 100 Kb and format should be JPG
• Signature: Candidates must sign with a black pen on a white background in JPG format with a file size of 3 Kb to 20 Kb

Step 4 - Pay NEET 2020 application fee: The details of fee payable and mode are given below

Step 5 - Take a printout of confirmation page: Use the download option to download the confirmation page and save it for future reference.

Correction Window of NEET 2020 Application Form

The correction window to rectify mistakes in the NEET application form will be available from tentatively from January 14 to 31, 2020. Candidates can correct all permissible details. As per the brochure, mistakes in any field can be corrected.

The online correction window facility for registered aspirants may be reopened tentatively in the last week of May, as per the last year's trends. Only registered candidates can edit or correct details in the fields namely mother's name, father's name, date of birth, category and gender. No request for further corrections will be entertained once this NEET 2020 correction window is closed.

Application Fees

NEET 2020 preparation tips are the first step towards qualifying the medical entrance exam. However, there is no fixed list of steps that one can follow to qualify NEET 2020 with a good score. Every topper of NEET has his/her own story to tell. The essential part of this journey is how well candidates utilize their time to achieve the goal of cracking NEET 2020. For competitive exams like NTA NEET, aspirants must frame a preparation strategy that allows them to concentrate on each and every concept thoroughly.

Before delving into books, one should be well acquainted with the NEET 2020 syllabus and exam pattern. When preparing for NEET UG, it should be ensured that candidates are referring to the relevant study material. Since, the syllabus of NEET has been prepared in compliance with the NCERT, the textbooks of Class 11 and 12 NCERT must be referred.

In the beginning, NEET 2020 syllabus might look vast but it becomes simpler when one actually divides the whole syllabus into smaller units through which the path to success will get closer as candidates cover each topic. To cover the entire syllabus, it is important to maintain health and stay positive to ensure you are able to put in your best efforts while preparing for the NEET 2020 exam.

The syllabus of NEET must be looked at in all entirety. While studying the prescribed syllabus, its important to also know the exam pattern as well as the best books to refer topics from. A list of best books for NEET UG 2020 for the benefit of students is mentioned below.

Best books for Biology

• Objective Biology (volumes 1 & 2) by GR Bathla 
• Biology Classes 11 and 12 (Volume 1 & 2) by Pradeep Publications
• Objective Biology (Volume 1, 2, and 3 along with Practice Papers) by Dinesh Publications
• A Class Book for Botany by A C Dutta
• Objective Biology (volumes 1 and 2) by Trueman Publications

Best Books for NEET Chemistry

• Physical Chemistry by O.P. Tandon
• Oxford’s Organic Chemistry by Jonathan Clayden, Nick Greeves
• Concise Inorganic Chemistry by J D Lee
• MTG’s Objective NCERT at your fingertips by MTG Editorial Board
• Modern’s ABC of Chemistry of Classes 11 and 12 (volumes 1 and 2) by S.P. Jauhar

Best Books for NEET Physics 

• Concepts of Physics, part 1 and 2 by H C Verma
• Fundamentals of Physics by Halliday, Resnick and Walker
• Objective Physics for medical entrance examination (volumes 1 and 2) by D C Pandey
• NCERT Exemplar Class 11 and 12
• Physics MCQ by D Mukherjee

NEET 2020 will conducted in offline mode where candidates are provided with an OMR sheet to put their responses in. The question paper of NEET will contain three sections, namely Biology (Botany+Zoology), Physics and Chemistry. The detailed exam pattern of NEET 2020 is mentioned below.

Section-wise breakup of NEET 2020 question Paper

National Testing Agency will issue the NEET admit card from March 27, 2020, onwards, at ntaneet.nic.in in online mode. Candidates have to login to download the admit card of NEET as it will not be sent by any other means. The NEET 2020 admit card is a mandatory identity document which needs to be carried to the examination hall on the exam day. 

Candidates must enter their application number, date of birth and provided security pin with them in order to access the admit card. Once the hall ticket is displayed,  students must download it for verification purposes.

How to download the NEET admit card?

• Click on the candidate login
• Enter the application number  and password
• Download the admit card and check the details
• Print the same if details are correct.

Details mentioned in the admit card:

NEET 2020 admit card carries information like application number, name, father’s name, mother’s name, birth date, gender, category, residential address and linguistic medium of the question paper (which the candidate has selected while filling the application form). The hall ticket will also display the roll number, details of exam centre along with the exam schedule that has been allotted to the candidates.

Discrepancy in NEET admit card 2020:

Candidates must intimate the authorities if they find there is any discrepancy in the details mentioned on the NEET admit card.

What to carry along with the NEET 2020 admit card?

• A photograph - similar to the one uploaded while filling the application form. This will be pasted in the attendance sheet at the exam hall
• A valid original Photo ID - PAN Card/ Passport/ Ration Card/ Aadhaar Card/ Any Govt ID
• PwD certificate, if applicable

Leading coaching Institutes like Allen, Akash, Resonance will release NEET 2020 Answer Key for various codes like P, Q, R, S (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6) after the completion of the entrance exam. National Testing Agency will release provisional NEET answer key 2020 in the last week of May. For the ease of candidates, NTA will also release a scanned copy of the OMR sheets of each candidates that can be downloaded through the candidate login . Candidates will be required to use their login credentials in order to access the answer key for the question paper they got in the exam as per the given codes. With the help of the NEET answer key 2020, candidates can cross-check the responses submitted by them in the OMR sheet and the answers deemed correct by the authorities. Candidates will be provided with an option to challenge the the answers given in the official NEET 2020 answer key. In order to do so, candidates will be required to pay a fee of INR 1,000/- per answer challenged in the official answer key. This amount will be refunded to candidates if the challenged answer is accepted by the conducting body. NTA will release the final answer key for all the paper codes tentatively on June 4, 2020.

NTA is expected to announce the result of NEET 2020 by June 4. NEET result 2020 will be released in the form of scorecard in online mode. Candidates have to login and download their result of NEET as it will not be sent via mail or post by NTA.

How to download NEET 2020 result?

• Click on the link given on official website
• Enter the NEET 2020 Roll Number (as given on admit card) and date of birth in dd/mm/yyyy format
• The score card will be displayed
• Download the same and check details for accuracy

Details mentioned on NEET result cum score card

• Candidate's personal details like roll number, application number, name, mother’s name and father’s name etc. 
• Marks obtained by the candidate in total
• Subject wise and overall percentile score 
• NEET All India Rank 
• Cutoff percentile score and marks (lowest and highest) for each category
• Details of total number of candidates who appeared and qualified

The cutoff section of the NEET 2020 scorecard reflects the cutoff score for each category and this confirms the eligibility of the candidate for further admission rounds. Since NEET 2020 is the sole gateway for admission to all the MBBS (apart from those offered AIIMS and JIPMER), BDS and AYUSH courses available across the country, the NEET score 2020 will be the basis on which admissions to these courses will be conducted. It must be noted that merely qualifying NEET 2020 will not guarantee candidates admission to medical and dental seats. Rather, their admissions will depend on the  counselling process they choose to participate in.

NEET UG cutoff 2020 is the minimum percentile to be secured by aspirants to qualify the test. The cutoff percentile to qualify NEET 2020 is decided by MCI prior to the conduct of the exam and is also stipulated in the Graduate Medical Education Regulations (1997). Candidates belonging to the unreserved category must secure not less than 50th percentile in NEET UG, while the reserved category candidates and PwD candidates (reserved categories) must secure a minimum of 40th percentile. However, PwD candidates belonging to the unreserved category are required to secure at least 45th percentile in order to qualify the exam. 

The corresponding marks to the minimum qualifying percentile will be disclosed with the release of NEET result 2020. The cutoff score varies every year as it depends on various attributes of the exam like the total number of students taking the exam, seats available in a particular academic year and the difficulty level of the test paper. To allow candidates to have an idea of the cutoff marks, the previous years' NEET cutoff has been made available below.

Previous years' NEET qualifying percentile

Mode of Counselling: Online, Offline

NEET counselling 2020 will be conducted by Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) on behalf of Medical Counselling Committee (MCC) for 15% AIQ, 100% Deemed/Central universities, ESIC and AFMS. The seats of the government medical and dental colleges have been divided in 15% All India Quota and 85% State Quota (except for erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir where all the seats are in control of the state authorities). The counselling for remaining 85% State Quota seats and private universities will be conducted by various state authorities where the respective colleges are located.

NEET 2020 counselling conducted by MCC will be held in two rounds for AIQ seats, while a mop-up round will also be organised to fill the vacant seats in Deemed/Central universities, ESIC colleges and AFMS institutes. The allotment of seats in NEET UG counselling 2020 will be done on the basis of All India Rank, preferences of colleges as well as courses, seats availability, reservation criteria and other aspects.

The mode of conduct of the counselling is online or offline depending on the rules laid down by the state conducting bodies. Candidates who will qualify the NEET 2020 exam by securing equal to or more than the cutoff percentile will be eligible to participate in the counselling process. In order to apply for the state counselling processes, candidates will be required to fulfill the domicile rules of the particular state as applicable.

Steps in counselling vary from state to state. While the All India counselling is completely online till the allotment is done, the state wise counselling slightly varies when candidates have to get their documents verified to establish thier domicile status. This is the case with most states with some exceptions. Also to be noted is the fact that other state students dont have eligibility to apply in many states but in some states where they can, the seats open are private unreserved ones only.