NEET 2021 brochure released; Changes in medium of paper, centres, exam pattern

NEW DELHI: The National Testing Agency (NTA) has released the information bulletin of the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) at neet.nta.nic.in. Some of the prominent changes seen in NEET 2021 include an increase in the total NEET exam centres, changes in the exam pattern as well as introduction of the exam paper in two more regional languages.

NEET UG 2021 will be conducted on September 12 in offline mode as per the NEET 2021 notification. Most of the NEET exam dates have been released in the information brochure.

NTA NEET 2021 (UG) - Know the changes

Here are the major changes introduced by NTA for NEET 2021.

NEET registration in two sets/phases: NEET registration 2021 has started on July 13 at neet.nta.nic.in. Candidates must now fill the NEET application form 2021 in two phases. The first set of information must be filled in the NEET application form by August 6, 2021, while the second set has to be filled prior to the NEET result declaration.

Increase in NEET 2021 exam centres: NEET 2021 information bulletin PDF mentions 201 exam cities showcasing an increase from the 155 last year. This year, Kuwait City is one of the exam centres and the only one abroad. While the tweet of the education minister Dharmendra Pradhan mentioned the increase to 198, the information brochure shows 201 cities. This decision has been taken keeping in mind the prevailing COVID-19 conditions in the country.

New regional languages added in NEET 2021 question paper: This year, Punjabi and Malayalam have been added to the medium of paper making it a total of 13 languages. NEET UG 2021 will now be conducted in these two languages in addition to English and Hindi. Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Marathi, Odia, Tamil, Telugu, and Urdu.

Total questions increased in NEET paper: A total of 200 questions will be asked out of which students will have to answer only 180 questions. The NEET question paper will be divided into two sections - Section A with 35 questions and Section B with 15 questions respectively. Candidates need to answer any 10 in Section B.

Changes in NEET 2021 Tie-breaking methodology: Earlier, the age of candidates was one of the parameters used to break the tie between two candidates with equal NEET scores. This clause has been removed this year.

Changes in EWS and OBC-NCL Reservations: The 10% reservation to the Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) will be only in the national institutes and central universities. Similarly, 27% reservation for OBC NCL candidates will also be valid only at the national Institutes and central universities.

Increase in a number of centres issuing disability certificates: The centres ensuring disability certificates have been increased from 12 to 13 this year. JIPMER Academic Centre has been replaced by Ali Yavar Jung National Institute of Speech and Hearing Disabilities, Bandra, Mumbai. AIIMS, Nagpur has been added to the list of centres issuing disability certificates.

Participation of Ladakh in 15% All India Quota (AIQ) seats: The students from UT of Ladakh are eligible for admission to 15% AIQ seats. However, students of J&K still cannot participate in the AIQ seats as the UT authorities have opted out of the AIQ scheme.

NEET UG will be conducted for admission to 83,075 MBBS, 26,949 BDS, 52,720 AYUSH, 525 BVSc and AH seats. The admission to 1,899 AIIMS and 249 JIPMER seats will be done through NEET 2021. From this year, the NEET scores will be used for admission to BSc Nursing and BSc Life Sciences.

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