Ahmedabad: The National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences (NBEMS) conducted the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test for Postgraduate (NEET-PG) courses on Sunday, with over 2.48 lakh candidates appearing nationwide. In Gujarat, around 15,300 candidates sat for the exam, while an estimated 300 candidates remained absent.
Changes in Exam Structure May Lower Cutoff Scores
This year, the exam format has been revised, reducing the number of questions from 200 to 180. Consequently, the overall evaluation scale has decreased from 800 to 720 marks. Experts suggest that these changes may lead to lower cutoff scores for candidates as a result of the reduced evaluation criteria.
Historically held in Jan and later during April-May, the entrance test was conducted on Sunday across 1,111 centres in 339 cities nationwide, registering an overall attendance of around 2.7 lakh students. In Ahmedabad, the examination was held across 16 centres. Around 2,445 candidates registered at this centre will now appear for a re-test scheduled on Sep 5.
Statewide, nearly 300 registered candidates skipped the test due to various reasons. Most candidates described the paper as average in difficulty, noting that questions were lengthy, analytical, and tricky, with fewer one-liner questions. Results are expected to be declared by the end of Sep. At the Silver Oak University centre, three candidates were barred from appearing after arriving past the reporting time. After results in late Sep, counselling rounds for the State Quota and All India Quota are slated to commence in Oct. In Jaipur, a power outage led authorities to cancel the test at the affected centre.