Candidates appearing for NEET-PG 2026 will be able to choose examination centres closer to home, receive advance information about their allotted test city and get more time to answer each question, as the Centre rolls out a series of changes aimed at making the entrance examination more candidate-friendly.
The National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (Postgraduate), scheduled for August 30, will also be held in a single shift this year, a move officials said is aimed at ensuring uniformity in the difficulty level of the examination and evaluation of candidates.
Under the revised system, candidates will indicate three preferred States for their examination centre, with the State mentioned in their correspondence address being the mandatory first preference. The Health Ministry said the change is intended to improve the chances of candidates getting centres closer to where they live.
The move replaces the earlier first-come, first-served system for allotting examination cities, under which candidates who registered later often had to travel to other States after nearby centres filled up, official sources said.
In another major change, candidates will be informed of their allotted examination city nearly three weeks before the test, giving them additional time to make travel and accommodation arrangements. Earlier, city details were released much closer to the examination date, often leaving candidates with little time to plan.
The National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences (NBEMS) has also revised the examination pattern. The test will now comprise 180 questions to be answered in 210 minutes, instead of the earlier 200 questions carrying a maximum of 800 marks, allowing candidates more time per question while retaining the overall duration of the examination.
Reviewing preparations for the examination on Saturday, Union Health Minister JP Nadda directed all agencies to ensure NEET-PG 2026 is conducted in a "smooth, secure, transparent and technology-enabled manner" and stressed that every effort must be made to ensure a "fair and candidate-friendly examination", according to the Health Ministry.
To strengthen the integrity of the examination process, Aadhaar-based authentication has been introduced during both the application process and on the day of the examination. Iris-based biometric verification will be used wherever fingerprint authentication is unsuccessful.
"The end-to-end question paper preparation and delivery process has been further reinforced through multiple layers of encryption, secure offline preparation, time-bound finalisation of the question paper shortly before the examination and controlled digital decryption only at the scheduled commencement of the test," the ministry said.
The NBEMS has also operationalised a dedicated email address for reporting impersonation, touting, and other unfair practices, while continuing to issue advisories to candidates to promote awareness and vigilance.
A total of 2,73,183 candidates have registered for NEET-PG 2026, an increase of more than 12.5 per cent over last year. The examination will be conducted in a single shift across around 340 cities at more than 1,300 centres.
According to the ministry, security measures include advance sealing and verification of examination centres, CCTV surveillance, biometric authentication, candidate frisking, deployment of signal jammers, dynamic computer monitoring, live supervision through central and regional command centres, and oversight by independent observers and appraisers. More than 60,000 examination personnel will be deployed for the smooth conduct of the examination.
