What Does NEET Stand for?
NEET or the National Eligibility Cum Entrance Test is for students for undergraduate MBBS, BDS and AYUSH courses. It was previously known as AIPMT or All India Pre-Medical Test. This is conducted for admissions in government and private institutions in India and also for students who are considering having a medical qualification abroad. The exam is conducted by the government by the National Testing Agency or NTA which gives the results to the Directorate General of Health Services. The directorate is under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and results of NEET are also given to the State Counseling Authorities for seat allocation of the students. NEET not only replaced the AIPMT but also other state entrance examinations conducted by state governments separately for medical entrances and some of the other medical colleges. The NEET wasn’t conducted in the year of 2014 and 2015.
The NEET-UG is thus a single entrance examination held for the admissions of more than 66,000 and BDS all over India. After the NMC Act 2019 was enacted by the government in September 2019, NEET examination became the only entrance examination that is required by the students to get admission to medical colleges. This includes examinations like All India Institutes of Medical Sciences or AIIMS and Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research (JIPMER).
Documents required for NEET have to be scanned and uploaded and these are – Aadhar card or number, ration card number, passport number, bank account number for the Indian nationals. For NRIs, the passport number or Aadhar number is required. And for OCI and PIO, the passport number is required. Students should see the guidelines before the form fill-up and should fill accordingly. It is provided on the official website of NTA and students should carefully read through the instructions. Students must gather all required information about NEET before submitting an application for the exam. Students must keep all documents ready before filling an application of the NEET exam so that they do not make any mistake and submit the form successfully.
NEET is an important entrance exam for many of the medical courses such as MBBS, BDS, and Post Graduation in both government and private medical colleges. The governing agency for the NEET UG exam is the National Testing Agency or NTA. Questions that are mainly asked in the NEET exam are MCQs. This is an offline test that is being carried out in a pen-paper mode. This single-level national exam is carried out for medical aspirants who seek admission to the medical colleges of our country.
This particular exam has recently emerged as the only medical entrance exam in India. So, even those who seek admission to renowned institutes such as JIPMER and AIIMS will have to qualify for the NEET exam. Not only that but the government of India introduced NEET as a plan for conducting only one exam. Therefore, it effectively replaces multiple medical entrance exams that were being conducted in our country. This was done specifically as a part of the One Nation One Examination policy.
NEET Full Form
The NEET full form is the National Entrance cum Eligibility Test.
Eligibility Criteria to Opt for This Exam
To opt for this exam, the candidate must be an Indian citizen. In case the candidate is a non-resident of India, then, they should be a PIOS or Persons of Indian Origin, Non-Resident Indians or NRIs or Overseas Citizen of India or OCI.
Also, the minimum age limit for the candidates from all the categories is 17 years, for NEET.
The maximum age limit is 25 years for the candidates in the general category. However, the maximum age limit is 30 years, for the reserved group candidates.
Also, the minimum educational requirement to appear for the NEET exam is to clear class 12 board examinations from a recognized institute. Candidates will be able to learn more about the NEET eligibility criteria from the official website of NEET.
They will receive the complete details on the official website. Another required thing is that candidates must qualify from the science stream with majors in Chemistry, Physics, Biology or Biotechnology, or Mathematics to attend this exam.
In this regard, they must score a minimum of 50% of marks in their board exams. So, to qualify for the exam, the candidates must obtain the required aggregate marks. For candidates of the general category, the aggregate marks is 50% and for physically disabled general category candidates, the aggregate marks is 45%. The candidates of the OBC, ST, or SC category must obtain 40% of the marks whereas, the physically handicapped OBC, SC, or ST category candidates must have 40% of the marks.
NEET Question Papers
The NTA will specifically provide the code-wide question paper in the course of the offline entry test. NEET will also consider publishing the question papers in nine regional languages along with the national language.
The applicants will be asked to select their preferred language for the question paper while they fill out the application form. Below are mentioned the languages in which the NEET question papers are generally available.
English
Hindi
Oriya
Urdu
Telugu
Tamil
Assamese
Gujarati
Bengali
Marathi
Kannada
Objective of the NEET Exam
The main objective of the NEET exam is to effectively streamline the admission procedure in BDS and MBBS courses. So, the NEET exam was introduced as an initiative to replace several other medical entrance examinations that were previously conducted all over the country including the AIPMT and state-level medical entrance exams.
In this regard, the NEET or National Eligibility cum Entrance Test was introduced by the Medical Council of India (MCI) and the CBSE. Previously, the medical students had to fill different forms for the different medical entrance exams in the country.
History of NEET Exam
The NEET exam was first proposed to take place in the year 2012, but, due to various reasons, the exam was postponed for a year by the Medical Council of India (MCI) and CBSE.
It was the 5th of May, 2013, when the NEET exam was held for the first time in India for the aspirants who seek admission for both UG and PG courses in medicine. It was specifically the first-ever medical entrance exam where over 10 lakh students had registered. On the 18th of July, 2013, the Supreme Court, in support of 115 petitions, gave the decision for the cancellation of the NEET exam. This was particularly because the states, Gujarat, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and West Bengal strongly denied the exam stating that there were a lot of differences in the syllabus.
So, the Supreme Court of India, declared the NEET exam to be unconstitutional in the year 2012. However, the NEET exam was relaunched on the 11th of April, 2016.
Things to Know Before you Opt for the Exam
Below are some of the most important things that one should be aware of before they opt for the NEET exam.
The exam is not only for the toppers. Even the average student can easily crack this particular exam. Sometimes, even the toppers may fail due to a lack of proper time management.
The medical course is vast and in MBBS, there are about 19 subjects and many books are there per subject. So, you should opt for this field only if you are very much interested in this field. This is particularly because you may feel burdened later on.
Chemistry and Physics are considered to be very important subjects because you would not be able to crack the exam only with the help of biology only. Even the combination of good knowledge in chemistry and biology is not enough. You must be very well prepared in all three subjects, i.e., Biology, Chemistry, and Physics to crack the NEET exam.
So, here’s all you need to know about the NEET exam. Also, to prepare for the exam, you should refer to the best study material and take mock tests. Leading Ed-tech companies like Vedantu provide some of the best-rated study materials and mock tests for the NEET exam. You may refer to these e-learning websites for better exam preparation.
FAQs on NEET Full Form | What is NEET?
1. How much score is considered good for NEET?
Considering the previous years’ examination’s cut-off, students must try to score 550+ marks in NEET examination to get admissions in government medical colleges in State or All India quota. 600+ marks can help students get admissions in the top medical colleges. There are two types of seats which are 15% All India Quota seats and 85% quota for state. Cut-off is required for admission through state-wise, category wise and even college-wise. Factors that mainly affect a cut-off are number of candidates appearing in NEET, difficulty and the total number of seats.
2. How do I prepare for NEET?
First, a student must know the NEET syllabus which is present on online platforms. The aspirants can compare their NEET syllabus with their board exam syllabus which will be beneficial for them as they can find the common chapters that they can prepare at once and save time. They should consider topics which are important like physics, mechanics, nuclear physics, thermodynamics etc. Similarly, for chemistry, it is mole concept, the periodic table, general organic chemistry and chemical bonding. In biology, it is genetics, cell biology, morphology, ecology, reproduction etc. Students should see which chapters have the highest weightage.
3. Is NEET tough?
NEET is not tough if one prepares with a proper ideas about the syllabus and revision. One must be consistent when preparing for the examinations. You can see which chapters have the highest weightage for the examination and study accordingly. Students should give mock tests and solve previous years’ examinations. The study material for NEET is available on Vedantu and students can register for coaching from our subject experts.
4. Do Vedantu have previous years’ questions?
Vedantu has previous years’ questions which are solved by the subject experts. They have made it understandable and the solutions have explanations which will help you understand the concepts better. Furthermore, there are mock tests and revision notes that are available on Vedantu platforms. All you have to do is log in or sign up to Vedantu and start learning. For doubts, you can talk to the subject experts who will help you understand the concepts better.
5. Can I take online coaching for NEET on Vedantu?
Yes, you can register for NEET coaching on Vedantu and learn about the subject experts. They are alumni of IIT and many others; they have expert knowledge on the subjects. They also have years of experience and will guide you through the syllabus. Furthermore, the students can also get their doubts cleared from the experts whenever they want to. Students can attend the mock tests provided by the Vedantu platforms and download the PDF file of the revision notes too. All you have to do is log in or sign up to the Vedantu platforms i.e. on the website or app.