NEET 2018 registration opens today; more than 12 lakh expected to apply

New Delhi: The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has released application form for the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) on February 8, 2018 with re-introduction of upper age limit for applicants. The application form, which was earlier expected on January 31, 2018, can now be accessed on the official CBSE NEET website. The last date to fill the application form is March 9 and the exam will be held on Sunday, May 6, 2018, as per the CBSE notification.

Only candidates born on or after May 7, 1993 (1988 in the case of reserved categories) and on or before January 1, 2002, will be eligible to apply. Other major changes introduced to the eligibility criteria now render NIOS/Open School students ineligible for the exam and require Biology to be a compulsory core subject in both Classes 11 and 12.

Urdu added as language option, AP and Telangana join AIQ

Other new elements in the NEET this year will be inclusion of Urdu as a language option.  The candidates will be able to select the same while filling the form. With Andhra Pradesh and Telangana agreeing to join the NEET All India Quota scheme from this year onwards, candidates from these states will no longer need to fill the self-declaration form to be eligible for the 15% All India Quota seats.

The National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) is India’s largest single window entrance examination for undergraduate medical seats. Apart from offering admissions to approximately 90,000 MBBS and BDS seats across medical and dental colleges across all states, NEET 2018 will also be used to determine admissions to all Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy (AYUSH) courses, namely BAMS, BHMS, BNYS, BSMS and BUMS, from this year onwards. No states or institutions with the exception of AIIMS and JIPMER will be allowed to conduct their own examinations for admissions to these courses. More than 11 lakh candidates had registered for NEET in 2017 but the number is expected to significantly increase this year thanks to the inclusion of the AYUSH courses.

 NEET 2018 Application Form Dates and Details

The NEET 2018 registration will remain open for a period as the last date is March 9. The application fee for the exam is INR 1,400/- for candidates belonging to Unreserved and OBC categories and INR 750/- for SC/ST categories and all PH candidates. It is mandatory for all candidates, except those belonging to the states of Assam, Jammu & Kashmir and Meghalaya to have an Aadhaar Card number or an Aadhaar Enrollment number before applying to NEET 2018. Only those candidates who successfully submit the application form will be allowed to download the NEET 2018 Admit Card which will be available from April 2018.