The National Eligibility cum Entrance Test is a standard one-tier exam for all medical courses across India. Since 2019, it has been the only medical entrance assessment in India to seek admissions into dental, medical and AYUSH courses. The exam is also for foreign students to pursue medicine in India, and NTA also provides 14 overseas centres for this exam. NEET happens in 543 Indian cities and in 13 languages. The exam tries to cover a diverse population and at the same time, ensures uniformity. A similar kind of exam also happens for postgraduate medical seats.
NEET-UG is a pen and paper-based objective examination that happens for a 200-minute duration (3 hours and 20 minutes). The question paper and answer key for the same will soon be made available online. The NEET 2022 question paper with solution has to be taken from a reliable source. With this, one can analyse their performance and project an approximate score and cut-off. One need not worry if the projected scores are less. The cut-offs change every year based on the difficulty level of the paper. As there is an increase in the number of medical seats, one can even expect a flexible cut-off.
Syllabus and Pattern
NEET syllabus includes four main science subjects – Chemistry, Zoology, Botany and Physics. Each subject comprises 50 MCQ questions, out of which 45 have to be answered. Thus, one has to answer 180 questions in a total span of 200 minutes. The syllabus includes Class 11 and Class 12 topics from the NCERT. This ensures uniformity across the states.
The questions under each subject are further grouped into Section A, and Section B. Section A has 35 mandatory questions, and Section B has 15 questions, out of which 10 have to be answered. The NTA will jumble the subject order and will provide the question papers in different codes. The questions stay the same in every code.
Marking scheme
Each objective question carries 4 marks. Thus, candidates who answer all the 180 MCQs correctly can get 720 marks. Questions that are left unanswered won’t fetch any marks. But the incorrect ones will cost a negative mark (-1). Thus, one can score anywhere between -180 to +720. Candidates must wisely choose the questions while answering. One has to know which questions are to be attempted and which should be left.
NEET Answer Key
The National Testing Agency (NTA) will release the question paper in all codes on its official website. Soon after, it also releases the respective answer keys for each code. The NEET 2022 paper can also be compared with the previous years’ question papers in the NTA archives. This will give more idea about the pattern of the exam.
Candidates can even challenge the answer key by paying a fee. This portal will be open only for a few days. Along with this, the officials will also release the OMR response sheet. Candidates can download the scanned image of their OMR sheets and cross-check with the answer key. In case of any discrepancies, one can challenge the same by paying a fee. These charges are not refundable. Usually, the process to challenge the OMR sheet or answer key will be open only for two days.
In case the scores are way less than the projected cut-offs, need not worry. There are plenty of paramedical courses in our country provided by reputed institutes. Also, the upper age limit for this exam has been recently scrapped. Thus, one can make as many attempts as possible until they achieve a medical seat in a prestigious college.
