As per the new Competency Based Medical Education (CBME) Guidelines, 2024, released by the National Medical Commission (NMC), the first session of the National Exit Test (NExT) is likely to be conducted for the students admitted into the MBBS course during the academic year 2024-2025.

This suggests that step one of the proposed NExT exam is expected to be conducted for the newly admitted students of the current batch in March 2029. Meanwhile, the proposed NExT Step 2 will be conducted after the completion of their internship in March 2030.

The commission uploaded the new CBME 2024 guidelines on its official website on August 29, 2024.

The official notice on the NMC website reads, “These guidelines will supersede the earlier Guidelines issued by NMC and will be implemented from the MBBS batch of 2024-25 onwards.”

A total of 75 per cent attendance in the electives and submission of log book maintained during electives is required for eligibility to appear in the University MBBS examination/National Exit Test (NExT), as per the official document.

The NExT exam will be administered in two stages: during the 54th week of the MBBS course and the 12th month of the Compulsory Rotating Medical Internship (CRMI).

It might be recalled that last year ,NMC released the NExT regulations and announced conducting the exam for the 2019 MBBS batch, it was ultimately put on hold for an indefinite time.