NEET UG 2026: complete guide to dates, application, result, and counselling

NEET UG 2026 is scheduled for Sunday, 21 June 2026 - a single-sitting, 3 hour 20 minute, 180-question NTA pen-and-paper test that decides every MBBS, BDS, AYUSH and BVSc admission in India for the 2026 intake. Application runs February to mid-March via neet.nta.nic.in; result and MCC counselling follow in July.

NEET UG (National Eligibility cum Entrance Test, Undergraduate) 2026 is the national entrance exam conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA) for admission to MBBS, BDS, AYUSH, BVSc & AH, and other medical / paramedical UG programmes across India. Unlike JEE Main, NEET UG is a single sitting per year. NEET UG 2026 has been rescheduled to Sunday, 21 June 2026.

When is NEET UG 2026 and what's the full timeline?

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How much does NEET UG 2026 cost to apply?

Fees are paid online during the NTA application window. Approximate figures based on the 2024-2025 schedule; verify the exact fee for your category in the current NTA information bulletin at neet.nta.nic.in.

What's the NEET UG exam pattern?

3 hours 20 minutes, pen-and-paper (OMR), 180 questions - 45 each in Physics, Chemistry, Botany, and Zoology. Scoring is +4 for correct, −1 for incorrect, 0 for unattempted. Maximum score: 720. Full pattern + scoring breakdown →

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Who can apply?

Candidates who have passed (or are appearing in) Class 12 with Physics, Chemistry, and Biology / Biotechnology as core subjects are eligible. Minimum 50% aggregate in PCB for General (45% PwD, 40% SC / ST / OBC). NTA has no upper age limit; minimum age is 17 as of 31 December of the year of admission. Eligibility deep dive →

Result & counselling: what happens after the exam

NTA releases the result with your raw score (out of 720), NEET percentile, and All India Rank (AIR). Counselling runs in two parallel tracks:

• MCC AIQ (15%) + Central + Deemed: All India Quota for government colleges (15% of seats), 100% AIIMS / JIPMER / Deemed Universities / ESI / AFMS, allocated by the Medical Counselling Committee.
• State quota (85%):remaining 85% of state government and state-quota private medical college seats, allocated by each state's admission authority (requires state domicile).

How raw score translates to admission

• 650+: shot at AIIMS Delhi, JIPMER Puducherry, and top central government MBBS seats
• 600+: mainstream government MBBS via AIQ at most large states
• 550+: wider state-quota MBBS options; tier-2 government colleges; private deemed seats
• ~165 (General qualifying): 50th percentile cutoff to be ranked at all - the bare minimum to enter counselling

These are rough orientation bands - actual cutoffs vary year by year and by state / college / category. See past cutoffs by year, college, category →

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Full NEET UG 2026 calendar with milestones

The NEET UG 2026 cycle stretches from the NTA notification in early 2026 through MCC and state counselling completion in October-November 2026. The exact dates below are based on the published 2026 schedule and the year-on-year pattern of past cycles; check the NTA information bulletin for any in-cycle updates:

• February 2026: NTA releases the NEET UG 2026 information bulletin and opens the online application portal at neet.nta.nic.in. The bulletin carries the syllabus, fee schedule, exam-day instructions, and the list of test centres.
• Mid-March 2026: application deadline. The last 72 hours typically see the heaviest traffic and occasional portal congestion - apply at least a week earlier to avoid technical risk.
• Late March 2026: correction window opens for 5 to 7 days. Limited fields editable, primarily photo, signature, name spelling, and category certificate documentation.
• Mid-June 2026: admit cards released approximately one week before the exam. Each candidate downloads the admit card from the NTA portal using application number and password.
• Sunday, 21 June 2026: NEET UG 2026 exam day. Reporting time at the centre is 11:00 AM. The exam runs from 2:00 PM to 5:20 PM (200 minutes).
• Early July 2026: provisional answer key and response sheet released. Candidates have a 3-to-4-day window to file objections against any answer key marking, with a per-question objection fee of ₹200 (refunded if the objection is accepted).
• Mid-July 2026: final answer key, result, and All India Rank (AIR) released. NTA publishes both the raw score and the normalised percentile.
• Late July to August 2026: MCC AIQ Round 1 registration, choice filling, and seat allotment for the 15% All India Quota at all government medical colleges, plus 100% of AIIMS, JIPMER, ESIC, and AFMC seats.
• August to September 2026: MCC AIQ Round 2, mop-up round, and stray vacancy round. State counselling rounds run in parallel for the 85% state quota.
• September to October 2026: college joining, document verification at the institution, and start of the 2026-27 MBBS academic session for newly-admitted candidates.

What to do in each phase

A candidate's calendar should mirror NTA's timeline with prep, paperwork, and decision points keyed to the right week:

• February (notification phase): read the information bulletin cover to cover. Confirm your eligibility, your preferred exam centres, and the photo / signature specifications. Start gathering category certificates if not already current.
• March (application phase): apply in the first week of the window. Lock test cities early. Pay the fee and download the candidate confirmation page. Set calendar reminders for the correction window.
• April to early June (final prep): three full-length 3h 20min mocks per week minimum. Revise NCERT Biology cover to cover at least twice. Build OMR-shading muscle memory under timed conditions. Identify and patch chapter-level weak spots.
• Mid-June (exam week): download admit card the day it releases, check centre address and route, print 4 copies of the admit card with declaration. Visit the centre the previous day if it is unfamiliar. Pack the bag the night before.
• 21 June (exam day): light breakfast, leave 90 minutes early, carry only permitted items, follow centre staff instructions. The exam itself is 200 minutes - pace yourself across sections rather than rushing the early Biology block.
• Late June to July (results phase): cross-check the response sheet against the official answer key. File objections for any clearly wrong key answers - in many years, NTA has revised the key based on candidate objections, which directly affects AIR.
• July to October (counselling phase): register on the MCC portal and your state counselling portal. Maintain updated choice lists. Have all original documents ready in a single folder. Make freeze / float / upgrade decisions deliberately, not under deadline panic.

Admit card download: what to check

The NEET admit card is the single most important document for exam day. Each candidate must download it from the NTA portal and carry a printed copy to the centre; digital copies are not accepted. When you download the card, immediately verify these fields against your application:

• Name spelling exactly as you submitted - any discrepancy with the Class 10 / 12 marksheet causes centre-level rejection
• Date of birth and category as declared
• Test centre address - confirm the exact location on a map, not just the city name; some centres share city names with multiple branches
• Reporting time, gate-close time, and exam time printed on the card
• Photo on the card matches the photo you uploaded
• Roll number, application number, and centre code - record these separately as backup

Print 4 to 6 copies of the admit card. One for the centre's submission slot, one for the invigilator to sign, two as backup, and one for the family / parent. The admit card declaration on the second page must be signed in ink by the candidate in front of the invigilator on exam day; do not pre-sign it.

Exam day rules: what to carry, what to leave

NTA enforces a strict permitted-items list at every NEET centre. Centre staff conduct frisking, metal-detector checks, and bag inspection before allowing entry to the hall.

Allowed: printed admit card with declaration, one passport-size photo (identical to the application photo), original government photo ID (Aadhaar / PAN / Passport / Driving License), transparent water bottle, and PwD certificate / scribe documentation if applicable.

Banned: mobile phones, smartwatches, calculators, pens (NTA supplies the official pen at the centre), loose paper or notes, electronic devices of any kind, jewellery, metallic ornaments, wallets, sunglasses, caps, full-sleeve shirts with elaborate buttons, shoes with thick soles, or any communication device. Some centres also ban hair clips and hair bands, so plan accordingly.

NTA prescribes a soft dress code: light-coloured half-sleeve shirts / T-shirts, simple trousers / salwar / kurta, open footwear (slippers / sandals) rather than full shoes. Heavily-embroidered traditional clothing, full-sleeve shirts requiring rolling up, and ornate footwear can be questioned at frisking. Plan a simple outfit you have worn before; exam morning is not the time to try something new.

After the exam: answer key, objections, result, tie-breaking

Within 7 to 10 days of the exam, NTA releases the candidate response sheet (showing the answers as recorded by the OMR scanner) and the provisional answer key on the NTA portal. Candidates can verify their answers against the key and file objections for any disagreement. Objections require a payment of ₹200 per question, refunded only if the objection is accepted. In recent years, NTA has revised the final answer key based on candidate objections; even one revised question can shift a candidate's AIR by hundreds of positions.

The final result includes raw score (out of 720), percentile, All India Rank, category rank, and the qualifying status. NTA uses a published tie-breaking order to resolve same-score candidates: (1) higher marks in Biology, (2) higher marks in Chemistry, (3) higher marks in Physics, (4) lower ratio of incorrect to correct answers across all four sections, (5) candidate older in age. This tie-break protocol is applied in sequence until a unique AIR is determined.

MCC AIQ counselling typically begins 2 to 3 weeks after the final result. State counselling timetables vary; large states open their portals within 1 to 2 weeks of the MCC AIQ Round 1 registration window. Track both portals independently if you intend to participate in AIQ and state quota in parallel.

Reschedule history: how exam day moved to 21 June 2026

NEET UG 2026 was originally scheduled for the first Sunday of May 2026, following the long-standing first-Sunday-of-May tradition. NTA announced a reschedule in early 2026, moving the exam to Sunday, 21 June 2026. The reschedule reflected administrative coordination with Class 12 board result timelines across multiple state boards, and the desire to give candidates additional buffer between their Class 12 board exams and the NEET sitting.

The 21 June 2026 date is published in the current NTA information bulletin and should be treated as final unless NTA issues a subsequent notification. The downstream calendar - result in mid-July, MCC counselling Round 1 in late July / early August - has been adjusted to fit the new exam date. Candidates targeting the 2026 cycle should plan revision and mock-test cadence around the 21 June anchor rather than the historical May anchor.

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