SC accepts NBE’s time extension request, NEET PG on August 3 now in single shift

The National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences (NBEMS) on March announced that NEET PG 2025 will be held in two shifts, following last year’s format. Aspirants were concerned that multiple shifts may create unevenness due to potential differences in question paper difficulty levels, affecting some students’ performance. Candidates who appeared in NEET PG exam in 2024 had raised concerns on transparency of results and normalisation process. The petitioners had demanded that NBE should release the NEET PG answer key, response sheets, raw and pre-normalised scores and normalised results of all shifts. They have also demanded that the release of the NEET PG answer keys, question papers should become a standard practice to ensure transparency. Petitioners had also requested the Court to suspend the counselling process till all concerns are addressed.

Last year, for the first time, NEET PG was held in two shifts instead of one. The exam took place on August 11, with sessions from 9 am to 12.30 pm and 3.30 pm to 7 pm.

Candidates were randomly assigned shifts to ensure equal group sizes and minimize bias. Due to this change, the Board implemented a normalization process. Results were based on raw scores and percentiles calculated up to seven decimal places. In case of ties, older candidates were ranked higher. The final merit list was determined by percentile scores across all shifts.