With just days until the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test - Postgraduate (NEET-PG) 2024 exam, the internet is abuzz with concerns from aspirants emphasising issues like the new two-shift exam pattern, normalisation, transparency, far-away exam centres and more.

Now, a few candidates have taken to social media, demanding a single-session examination, highlighting that the two-shift exam pattern can lead to discrepancies in results.

Since 2017, the NEET-PG exam has been conducted in a single shift every year by the National Board of Examinations (NBE). Before that, the exam was conducted over a duration of eight to ten days for admissions into postgraduate medical courses across the country.

However, after allegations of software breach were reported against the US-based company Prometric Testings, which had been conducting the exam along with NBE until 2017, it was decided that NEET PG will be held in one session only and the agency Prometric will no longer conduct the exam, as reported by Medical Dialogues.

However, this year, after the elaborate NEET-UG paper leak row, the NBEMS announced that the postgraduate medical entrance exam is going to be conducted in two sessions on the same day — August 11 — for better coordination, and logistics.

It might also be noted that the exam schedule has already undergone multiple revisions this year. Earlier, the officials had notified that the exam would be conducted on July 7, however, later it was preponed to June 23. Again, just a few hours before it was scheduled to be conducted in June, the exam was postponed indefinitely on June 22 in the light of the NEET-UG paper leak scam in order to “maintain the integrity of the exam.”

Now, the question that still remains is whether students should be worried about the new two-session exam format.

Experts share a mixed opinion about the exam pattern.

Health activist Dr Vivek Pandey said that most NEET-PG aspirants are doubtful about the normalisation process, and hence, are demanding a single-shift examination.

“Unlike NEET-UG and other exams, the NBEMS does not provide an answer key and question bank for the NEET-PG exam. So, the students who appear for the first session would not know the difficulty level of the second paper and vice-versa. No one can claim an error as was done in the case of the NEET-UG question paper. This lack of transparency creates doubts regarding the normalisation process,” he explained.

Aspirants are also concerned that the normalisation process might hamper the ‘fairness’ of the examination.

On the other hand, educationist Jayaprakash Gandhi opined that conducting the examination over multiple shifts would lead to better management and maintain the sanctity of the examination.

“I think it is a good move. JEE (Joint Entrance Examination) has been conducted in multiple sessions for several years and it seems to be an effective model. While there have been a few instances of students complaining about the normalisation process in other exams, if it is done with accuracy and transparency, it could work out in favour of the students,” he opined.