What changes in NEET UG? Experts’ panel suggests multi-stage exam, security overhaul, simpler process to NTA

NEW DELHI: The high-level committee appointed to propose reforms in the national exams has suggested multistage testing for the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test - Undergraduate (NEET UG) as a ‘viable possibility’.

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In its report for the National Testing Agency (NTA), which was made public on Tuesday, the seven-member panel headed by former Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chairperson K Radhakrishnan has also suggested that the exams with participants exceeding a particular number can be staggered over multiple sessions and days.

It has also advocated for simplification and uniformity for all UG-level exams in terms of number of stages, sessions, attempts allowed, age limit, board exam score cut-off, frequency of tests, syllabus and mode of testing, though it has refrained from offering any specific figures.

The report also recommends that the test centre allocation policy should be devised in such a manner that candidates get a centre within their district of current or permanent residence. It also calls for detection of aberrations and strange patterns of centre selection through data analytics.

The suggestion comes in the wake of reports about some NEET UG candidates from far-off places inexplicably opting for certain allegedly compromised centres.

NEET UG: NTA report recommendations

The high-level committee of experts has suggested a computer-assisted pen-and-paper test model in entrance tests, where question papers would be delivered digitally at the exam centres, where they would be printed and distributed among the candidates, who would write their answers on Optical Mark Recognition (OMR) sheets.

These OMR sheets are then proposed to be scanned at the exam centres itself, instead of having to be transported to different locations. This method will avoid vulnerabilities associated with the pen and paper tests (PPT) and the computer-based tests (CBT), the report suggests.

The expert committee was formed by the union ministry of education in June following widespread allegations of paper leaks and other discrepancies in NEET UG 2024 exam, which was taken by over 23.33 lakh aspirants on May 5 at 4,750 centres across 571 cities in India and 11 cities abroad. Probe by the police and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) later unearthed multiple instances of alleged test rigging in various states.

While the team was initially tasked with offering reforms for the structure and functioning of National Testing Agency (NTA), conduct of exams and data security protocols, the Supreme Court (SC) expanded its scope to include other aspects such as examination security and administration as well as policy and stakeholder engagement. The report has already been submitted to SC.

The reforms specific to NEET UG are being discussed with the health ministry and the medical education regulator, National Medical Commission (NMC). In consequence, the dates and other details pertaining to NEET UG 2025 are yet to be announced. The NEET UG syllabus, though, was released on Tuesday by NMC.

NTA report on UG admissions

As part of its deliberations, the committee consulted a number of stakeholders, including state and central government officials and representatives of private Information Technology (IT) firms. It also spoke to seven NEET UG candidates and seven office bearers from the ruling BJP-aligned Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP).

While pushing for harmonisation of UG admission tests, the committee has acknowledged that it may not be easy to achieve it in ‘one-step reform’. It notes that engineering and medical sciences exams have historically followed distinct testing methods due to fundamental differences in the two disciplines.

“Still, it is possible to align the same at the right time as education truly becomes multidisciplinary in the country,” reads the report.

While recommending multi-session testing, the committee underscored that the parameters and methodology of score normalisation should be “well-defined, established, documented and communicated transparently.” The suggestion is significant considering that normalisation often becomes a point of contention among candidates, leading to court cases.

Even though the committee hasn’t specifically suggested an exam-mode for NEET UG it did refer to CBT as a “sure way forward”. It has recommended numerous measures to strengthen the security of both PPT and CBT. For PPT, it suggests setting up multiple sets of question papers, with ‘lengthy’ codes for each of them.