NTA's decision followed the guidelines set by the National Medical Commission (NMC). The revised decisions came after last year's massive uproar over malpractice allegations which led to the re-examination of 1,500 students after questionable errors were found in the results.
National Testing Agency (NTA) on Friday announced that the 2025 edition of the medical entrance examination NEET UG is going to be held in the traditional pen and paper mode after. Furthermore, the central testing agency also notified that the highly competitive examination will be held in a single day and single shift.
The National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (Undergraduate), formerly the All India Pre-Medical Test, is a countrywide entrance examination conducted by NTA for admission to undergraduate medical programmes.
NTA's decision followed the guidelines set by the National Medical Commission (NMC). The revised decisions came after last year's massive uproar over malpractice allegations which led to the re-examination of 1,500 students after questionable errors were found in the results.
According to a report by India Today, back in December, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan gave hints for the conduct of the NEET UG 2025 exam in the traditional pen and paper (OMR-based) mode.
While a shift to a computer-based format was considered, after two rounds of talks led by JP Nadda, it was decided that the examination would continue in the pen-and-paper mode.
The National Testing Agency (NTA) has also confirmed that NEET-UG 2025 will serve as the standard entrance examination for courses such as BAMS, BUMS, BSMS, and BHMS under the Indian System of Medicine and Homeopathy.
As per the official statement issued by NTA, the updated syllabus for NEET-UG 2025 has been made available on the National Medical Commission (NMC) website (nmc.org) and the NTA portal (nta.ac.in). The three hours and twenty minutes long examination will cover subjects including Physics, Chemistry, and Biology from Class 11 and 12 curricula.
The exam will comprise 200 questions, out of which candidates will need to attempt 180. Each correct response will earn four marks, while one mark will be deducted for each incorrect answer. The examination will be conducted in 13 different languages.
Back in 2024, the National Testing Agency (NTA) conducted the NEET-UG 2024 examination on May 5 at 4,750 centres across 571 cities, including 14 abroad. Over 24 lakh medical aspirants appeared for the entrance test.
The row erupted as NTA disclosed that 67 candidates scored the maximum possible marks of 720 out of 720 with six candidates from a centre in Haryana's Faridabad figuring in the list. It was alleged that grace marks were given to the 67 students who shared the top rank.
A closer analysis also revealed a significant increase of more than 400 percent in the number of students scoring 620-720 marks.
Shortly after the exam was conducted, many social media posts also claimed that the question paper had been leaked. However, NTA denied such allegations and said that the 'mishap' took place in one of Rajasthan's centre, for which a re-exam was conducted.