NEET UG 2026 eligibility: pass-year rules, droppers, age, percentage thresholds

You're eligible for NEET UG 2026 if you have passed (or are appearing in) Class 12 with Physics, Chemistry, Biology / Biotechnology and English at a minimum 50 percent PCB aggregate for General (45 percent PwD, 40 percent SC / ST / OBC), and turn 17 on or before 31 December 2026. NTA sets no upper age limit and no cap on attempts.

NEET UG 2026 eligibility centres on three rules: (1) Class 12 with PCB and English, (2) minimum 50% aggregate in PCB (lower for reserved categories), and (3) minimum age 17 by 31 December 2026. There is no upper age limit and no cap on number of attempts.

Who is eligible for NEET UG 2026?

• 2026 12th appearing: ✅ eligible - provisional admission, submit the certificate at MCC / state counselling.
• Earlier 12th-pass (any year): ✅ eligible - NEET UG has no pass-year window like JEE Main.
• Droppers, repeaters: ✅ eligible - no cap on attempts; you can attempt every year until you secure a seat.
• Minimum age: 17 years on or before 31 December 2026.
• Maximum age: none. NTA removed the upper age limit.

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What subjects must you have studied in Class 12?

You must have studied and passed the following subjects in Class 12 (or equivalent):

• Core PCB: Physics, Chemistry, Biology / Biotechnology
• Plus English: pass in English in Class 12 (any board).
• Biotechnology in place of Biology: allowed - NTA accepts Biotechnology as the "Biology" subject for NEET eligibility, provided it was studied as a main subject.

What is the minimum 12th percentage for NEET UG?

The percentage is calculated on the aggregate of Physics, Chemistry, and Biology / Biotechnology marks (not the overall board percentage). You must also have passed each individual subject and English in Class 12.

Ready to test where you stand? Take a free NEET UG mock in the live NTA format and see how your current PCB strength translates into a raw NEET score.

Improvement exam: how it works

If your 12th PCB aggregate falls below the threshold, you can sit for a board improvement exam to raise scores. Three things to know:

• The higher of the two attempts is what NTA / MCC counts for the eligibility math.
• The improvement must cover at least the Physics, Chemistry, and Biology subjects required by NEET.
• You apply to NEET UG normally - mark the improvement-exam year as your "year of qualification" in the application.

NRI / foreign-board / OCI applicants

NRI candidates can write NEET UG from designated foreign centres (Dubai, Kathmandu, Doha, Riyadh, etc.). Eligibility rules and minimum percentages are the same. Foreign-board candidates must obtain a board-equivalency certificate from the Association of Indian Universities (AIU) before MCC verification. OCI / PIO candidates are eligible to write NEET and to participate in counselling on par with Indian citizens for MBBS / BDS seats.

NIOS / Open School / Private candidates

NIOS (National Institute of Open Schooling) Class 12 PCB passes are eligible for NEET UG, provided NIOS is recognised by the relevant state council and PCB + English were studied. Private / external candidates (not enrolled in a regular school) are also eligible if the board accepts them as Class 12 pass candidates.

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Common edge cases

1. Two attempts of 12th: the year you passed is the year that counts - and any year is acceptable.
2. Biology in 12th, Biotech in 11th: you need PCB to be studied through Class 12 - check your board's subject transcript before applying.
3. Fail in one subject in 12th: not eligible - you need to have passed all required subjects.
4. PCM + Biology as additional subject: eligible only if your board treats Biology as a regular Class 12 subject (not just an extra elective without a marksheet entry).
5. Currently in 12th - results expected after NEET: ✅ eligible - appear on a provisional basis, submit the result certificate at MCC / state counselling.

State-specific quotas (85% seats)

85% of MBBS / BDS seats in state government colleges are reserved for state-domicile candidates and allocated by the state's counselling authority. The eligibility for this quota is set by each state - typically requires: 10 + 12 in that state, domicile certificate, or birth in the state. Check your home-state authority's information bulletin separately from NTA's.

Minimum age: 17 years by 31 December

NTA requires candidates to be at least 17 years old on or before 31 December of the year of admission. For NEET UG 2026, this means a date of birth on or before 31 December 2009. There is no exception or relaxation on the minimum age. Candidates who turn 17 in January 2027 will not be eligible for the 2026 cycle and must wait for NEET UG 2027.

The upper age limit was removed by the National Medical Commission in March 2022 following a Supreme Court direction. Before 2022, the cap was 25 years for General (with a 5-year relaxation for SC / ST / OBC and PwD). The removal opened NEET UG to mature candidates - working professionals switching careers, students who completed degrees in other fields, and long-term droppers. There is currently no upper limit at all, and NMC has not indicated any plan to reinstate one.

Year-of-passing rules and attempt limits

NEET UG places no restriction on year of passing Class 12. A candidate who completed Class 12 in 2015 is eligible for NEET UG 2026 on the same footing as a candidate appearing in 2026. There is no equivalent of JEE Main's 3-year window or any explicit attempt cap. The 2022 NMC notification that removed the upper age limit also confirmed there is no maximum number of attempts. A candidate can sit for NEET UG every year for as long as they wish, until they secure a seat they want to accept.

This makes NEET unusually friendly to multi-year droppers and gap-year retakers. The trade-off is that the candidate pool grows every year - a record 24 lakh candidates registered for NEET UG 2024 - which means rank competition is steeper even when raw qualifying cutoffs stay broadly flat. Repeat candidates should factor in the cumulative pressure of larger cohorts and not assume that last year's closing cutoff for a given college will hold.

NRI, OCI, PIO, and foreign-national candidates

Indian nationals living abroad (NRIs), Overseas Citizens of India (OCIs), and Persons of Indian Origin (PIOs) are all eligible to write NEET UG. OCI candidates received clarified parity with Indian citizens for MBBS / BDS admissions following the 2021 MHA notification and a series of court directions; they can compete for both AIQ and state-quota seats subject to state-by-state confirmation.

Foreign nationals (without Indian citizenship or OCI status) can write NEET UG but are restricted to NRI / management quota or specific institutional channels, and not the standard AIQ / state-quota merit list. The DASA (Direct Admission of Students Abroad) scheme administered by MEA covers some MBBS-equivalent programmes at select Indian universities for foreign nationals and PIOs; DASA uses a separate ranking and is independent of NEET. Anyone planning the DASA route should check the official DASA portal each year for the applicable institution list.

NEET UG also remains the mandatory entrance exam for any Indian student planning to pursue an MBBS-equivalent course outside India and return to practise in India. NMC requires NEET qualification at the time of departure as a pre-condition for FMG (Foreign Medical Graduate) licence-exam eligibility on return.

Reservation: AI, state, OBC, SC, ST, EWS, PwD

Reservation in NEET UG operates at two layers: the All-India Quota (AIQ, 15% of government college seats) and the state quota (85%). The AIQ reservation matrix is set by central rules, while state-quota reservations vary by state and can include additional categories such as Maharashtra's SEBC, Tamil Nadu's MBC, and Karnataka's 1A / 2A / 2B / 3A / 3B sub-classifications.

Reservation is horizontal for PwD (cuts across SC / ST / OBC / General) and vertical for the others. Candidates must hold a current, valid certificate at the time of MCC / state counselling document verification. Expired certificates - particularly OBC-NCL, which is annually renewable - are a frequent cause of counselling-stage disqualification.

Common reasons NEET applications get rejected

• Name mismatch: the name on the NTA application does not match the Class 10 marksheet exactly (middle initial difference, spelling variation, surname order swap).
• Wrong subject combination in 12th: PCM-only candidates who did not study Biology as a regular subject through Class 12 are not eligible.
• Photo or signature rejection: blurry, selfie-style, filtered, or non-white-background photos; signature in block letters instead of cursive; outside the size limits.
• Category certificate issues: wrong format, missing seal, expired OBC-NCL, EWS certificate from a non-issuing authority, or PwD certificate from a non-designated centre.
• Year-of-passing inconsistency: applicant marked "appearing" but had already passed earlier, or vice versa; this typically surfaces at MCC document verification rather than at NTA stage.
• Underage on cutoff: date of birth after 31 December 2009 for the 2026 cycle is an automatic disqualification with no relaxation.

Documents you need to keep ready

NTA does not require you to upload most documents during the application stage, but you will need them at multiple downstream checkpoints: admit-card download, NEET exam day reporting, and MCC / state counselling verification. Keep digital and physical copies of each:

• Class 10 marksheet and pass certificate (proves date of birth)
• Class 12 marksheet (pass certificate or appearing certificate from the school)
• Aadhaar card (mandatory at the NEET exam centre as the primary ID; passport or PAN can substitute in limited cases)
• Category certificate (SC / ST / OBC-NCL / EWS) issued by a competent authority and valid as of the counselling year
• PwD certificate from a designated NMC disability assessment board, if claiming PwD reservation
• Domicile certificate issued by the home state, for state-quota counselling
• Passport-size photographs (4 to 6 copies, identical to the one uploaded on the application)
• NEET admit card(printed copy) and the post-exam admit card with the candidate's declaration

Keep an original-plus-three-photocopies bundle ready by early March. Counselling rounds move fast and the document-verification window often closes within 48 hours of seat allotment - chasing down a missing certificate at that stage can cost you the seat.

Practice while you wait for results