NEET PG 2018, 2019 & 2020: Pattern, Cut-offs & Paper Status

NEET PG 2017 was reported as a multi-day exam with no negative marking. Reports from 2017 describe NEET PG 2018 instead as a single-day, single-session computer-based exam on 7 January 2018, with a one-mark deduction for each wrong answer.

For 2019 and 2020 we have the National Board of Examinations' own information bulletins. Both set out the same scheme: 300 single-correct questions in English, divided into Part A (50), Part B (100) and Part C (150), in 3 hours 30 minutes, with 25% negative marking, on a single day in a single session. Both also give the same indicative subject-wise distribution.

2020 is the earliest year for which we found NBE's result documents: the original qualifying cut-offs out of 1,200, a revision in July 2020, and NBE's summary of how many candidates registered and appeared. For 2018 and 2019 we have not found the result notices, so no cut-offs are shown for those years.

Medical Dialogues reported in October 2017 that NBE would conduct NEET PG 2018 on 7 January 2018 on a computer-based platform, with results due by 31 January 2018. An earlier Medical Dialogues report, in September 2017, said the exam would be held on a single day in a single session and would have negative marking: 4 marks for a correct answer, minus 1 for a wrong answer and 0 for an unattempted question.

We have not found NBE's information bulletin or result notice for 2018. The number of questions, the duration, any subject-wise distribution and the cut-offs are therefore Unverified. We do not assume they matched 2019.

The NEET-PG 2019 Information Bulletin sets the exam for 6 January 2019, on a single day in a single session. The paper had 300 single-correct multiple choice questions in English, divided into Part A (50 questions), Part B (100) and Part C (150), with 3 hours 30 minutes to answer. Each wrong answer cost a quarter of the marks for a correct one, and unattempted questions scored nothing. The bulletin scheduled the result for 31 January 2019.

The bulletin also gave a subject-wise weightage, which NBE described as "indicative and purely provisional" (shown below), and stated that the contents of the exam are "confidential, proprietary" and owned by NBE.

NBEMS's current notice board starts in December 2019, and we have not found a 2019 result or cut-off notice, so the 2019 result date and cut-offs are Unverified.

The NEET-PG 2020 Information Bulletin kept the 2019 scheme unchanged: 300 questions in Parts A, B and C, 3 hours 30 minutes, 25% negative marking and a single session, on 5 January 2020. According to NBE's result summary, 167,102 candidates registered and 160,888 appeared, at 542 test centres in 169 cities.

NBE declared the result with ranks on 30 January 2020. After reviewing every question, it found one technically incorrect and gave all candidates full marks for it. The merit list for All India 50% quota seats followed on 18 February 2020.

On 14 July 2020, following a Ministry of Health and Family Welfare letter of the same date, NBE lowered the qualifying percentiles and issued revised scorecards from 20 July 2020. Ranks did not change. A notice of 21 July 2020 said candidates who qualified after the lowering could take part in the third round of NBE's centralised counselling for DNB (Post MBBS) courses.