The National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences has announced major changes to the NEET PG 2026 examination, including a return to a single-shift format, a revised exam pattern, enhanced security measures and improved test centre allocation to ensure a fairer and more candidate-friendly process.
The examination will be held on August 30, 2026, in a single shift across the country, replacing the two-shift system used in recent years. The move is aimed at ensuring uniformity in the difficulty level of the question paper and providing equal evaluation standards for all candidates, reported by NDTV.
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Exam Centres Closer To Home
NBEMS has also scrapped the earlier first-come, first-served system for selecting examination centres. Candidates will now be required to choose three preferred states for their test centre, with their state of correspondence serving as the mandatory first preference, increasing the likelihood of receiving a nearby centre.
Aspirants will be informed of their allotted examination city nearly three weeks before the exam, allowing sufficient time to arrange travel and accommodation
Revised exam pattern and tighter security
The exam pattern has also been revised, with the number of questions reduced from 200 to 180 while retaining the overall duration of 210 minutes. The change is expected to provide candidates with more time per question.
To strengthen exam security, Aadhaar-based authentication and biometric verification will be mandatory. In cases where fingerprint verification fails, iris authentication will be used. Additional safeguards include end-to-end question paper encryption, offline paper preparation, dynamic computer allocation, signal jammers, CCTV surveillance and controlled digital decryption at the start of the examination.
Record registrations
A total of 2,73,183 candidates have registered for NEET PG 2026, an increase of more than 12.5 per cent compared with last year. The examination will be conducted across more than 1,300 centres in 340 cities, with over 60,000 personnel deployed to ensure smooth conduct, as per NDTV.
The reforms are part of a broader overhaul aimed at improving transparency, standardised testing conditions and streamlining the examination process for postgraduate medical aspirants.
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