NEW DELHI, Feb 8: The National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test for Undergraduate (NEET-UG) will be held on May 4, 2025, as announced by the National Testing Agency (NTA) on Friday. The application process for the medical entrance exam opened on the same day and will close on March 7. NEET-UG is the largest entrance exam in India in terms of the number of candidates, with over 24 lakh applicants expected in 2024.
This exam is conducted annually by NTA for admission into medical colleges, including a total of 1,08,000 MBBS seats—56,000 in government hospitals and 52,000 in private colleges. The NEET score is also used for admissions to undergraduate courses in Dentistry, Ayurveda, Unani, and Siddha.
The NTA clarified that the NEET-UG will continue to be conducted in pen and paper mode this year, following discussions between the education and health ministries about whether to shift to an online format. This decision comes after concerns over the integrity of entrance exams in the past year, including allegations of irregularities in NEET and PhD entrance exams, which are currently being investigated by the CBI.
A high-level panel, led by former ISRO Chief R Radhakrishnan, had previously suggested the possibility of multi-stage testing for NEET-UG as a viable alternative, which will be further explored.
