Candidates for the National Eligibility Cum Entrance Test - Undergraduate (NEET-UG) 2025 have a little more than a month to prepare, with the exam slated for May 4.
This year, the country's premier undergraduate medical admission exam will change, including a new paper pattern, which experts feel may effect both the number of toppers and overall results.
According to the official notice, the most significant change this year is the removal of the option-based pattern from the exam, which contrasts with the previous structure in which NEET-UG had two portions for each subject — A and B, ETV Bharat reports.
Candidates had to answer 35 Part A questions and 15 Part B questions under the previous system, with the option to select 10 Part B questions. The COVID-19 pandemic prompted the introduction of this provision, which has since been removed.
In addition, there are now 180 questions instead of 200, with 90 questions from Botany and Zoology and 45 questions each from Physics and Chemistry in a single paper titled Biology.
Another significant change in NEET-UG this year is the reduction of around 20 minutes from exam time. For the previous five years, candidates had three hours and twenty minutes to finish the exam.
These changes may also result in lower cut-off marks, with a lesser number of candidates with perfect scores.
In 2024, 67 applicants initially scored a perfect 720 out of 720. The number fell to 17 after a modification to the Physics answer key.
These candidates comprised four from Rajasthan, three from Maharashtra, and two from Delhi and Uttar Pradesh, among others.
So far, only 24 applicants have got a perfect score in NEET UG, with 17 in 2024 and the remaining seven ranging from 2020 to 2023.
