A Complete Guide To NEET

It was in the year 2013 that the NEET exam was conducted for the very first time in India. Before NEET, there were numerous other exams pertaining to 90, that were conducted for medical admissions. They were many state exams too that was conducted by AIIMS, CMC Vellore, JIPMER, etc. Due to these wide ranges of exams, students had spent a large amount on application fees and even had to bear the added expense of commuting to the exam locations. This, as a result, used to add up to the burden of already stressed and anxious students. Considering this, all the medical entrances were scraped out and a common entrance test was introduced called NEET or National Eligibility cum Entrance Test.

NEET, conducted by National Testing Agency (NTA) is a pre-medical entrance test whose score is accepted by more than 500 colleges including both government and private institutions. After the exam is conducted, every student is allotted a rank (AIR), and a merit list is released. 15% of the seats are allotted by MCI for the state, central, and deemed universities. For the rest of 85% of seats, the state medical board release their own merit lists for various private institutions. The total number of seats under NEET is 66,000 which are as follow-

Colleges	No. of seats offered
All private colleges	25,840
All government colleges	27,590
NEET Counselling seats	3,521
NEET Basis seats	35,461

This entrance test is conducted at two levels.

NEET (UG)- This test is conducted for getting admission in courses like MBBS, BDS, and AYUSH (BAMS, BUMS, BHMS etc).
NEET (PG)- This course is conducted for admission in MS and MD.

NEET is a single-phase exam that is conducted for 3 hours in an offline mode. Currently, this exam is conducted once every year. NEET 2021 was conducted on pen and paper in 11 languages- English, Hindi, Urdu, Kannada, Assamese, Bengali, Marathi, Odia etc. However, it is speculated that in near future, it might be conducted twice every year, and in an online mode.
All students appearing for the NEET exam need to have Physics, Chemistry, Biology/Biotechnology as their subjects and should have a pass status in all these exams. The exam pattern of NEET (UG) is based on these subjects.

The question paper consists of 180 multiple choices and would be divided into three parts.

Part 1- This part will contain questions based on physics.

Part 2- This part will have questions based on Chemistry

Part 3- This part sums up Biology.

The syllabus for the test is thus 96 chapters of PCB from both class XI and XII with an exception of the physical world, Frog, Earthworm. Every correct answer will fetch you 4 marks and 1 is deducted for every wrong one. The maximum marks thus are 720 for 180 questions.
Students appearing for the NEET exam are not required to have Maths as a subject in 10+2. The eligibility criteria for this test does not require your MATHS percentage.
If we talk about eligibility to give the exam, it was made pretty clear by NTA that anyone who is of 17 years of age as of 31 December can appear for the exam. There is no upper age limit for appearing for this exam, nor does NTA limit the number of attempts.
The cut off list is released soon after the exam. The minimum qualifying percentile for the unreserved category is 50th and for the rest it is 40th.

NEET harbours the reputation of being a difficult exam to crack. There are limited seats, an enormous syllabus, and lakhs of students competing for each seat. As such, in order to excel, students require rigorous preparation with set study schedules. Here are some sure-shot ways that will help you prepare for the upcoming NEET exam:

Equip yourself with everything:

Before starting your preparations, it is always great to equip yourself with all the necessary study material, research papers, previous year question papers, notes, and basic stationery. After all, you wouldn’t want any distractions once you start studying. If you need coaching for NEET, take trials from various institutes and then make an informed choice. Being well informed is the only strategy that will take you a long way.You can also refer to NEET Online Mock Test Series.

Formulate a study plan:

Prepare a study schedule in advance giving each topic a particular day. Now, you can either refer to a plan suggested by your teachers, you found online, or even come up with one that suits you best. However, what’s important is that you strictly adhere to this plan and under no circumstances let your routine break. Formulate a plan that includes equal hours for all subjects/chapters, and make sure you do not miss out on anything. Also, this plan should also include breaks so you can relax your mind and come back again.

Acquaint yourself with the syllabus and exam pattern.

A huge mistake that several students make while preparing for this exam is starting their studies before understanding the syllabus and exam pattern. It is important for you to first understand what all is there in the syllabus, and see which topics require more time and effort than the rest. There are some topics that are more important than others and hence are allotted more marks. Understanding which topics require more attention will give you an edge over others and would help you prepare a better study plan. There are many websites including that of CBSE that will provide the help needed.

Follow standard study material

It is important for all the students to follow the prescribed syllabus. Only refer to books that have quality study material, as indulging in any book, or an abundance of books/material will only lead to more confusion. The best book for NEET 2022 preparation is the NCERT. Before moving on to additional help material, it is necessary to complete their NCERT syllabus first.

With proper help from true experts and hard work of one’s own, NEET can be cracked with a breeze!