NEET 2026 Passing/ Qualifying Marks out of 720: Category-wise Pass Marks for MBBS

NEET qualifying marks 2026 are the minimum marks candidates need to clear the exam and be eligible for NEET UG counselling. The qualifying or passing marks or scores are percentile-based and change every year. Check NEET exam pass marks here. Also, get here the previous years' NEET cutoff marks.

NEET Passing/Qualifying Marks

The National Testing Agency (NTA) will release the qualifying marks or the cutoff marks along with the NEET result 2026. Candidates who will successfully obtain the qualifying cutoff in the NEET 2026 exam will be eligible to participate in the counselling process. The NEET qualifying marks refer to the pass marks or the cutoff scores needed to clear the exam. The NEET UG qualifying cutoff percentile remains the same every year, which is 50th percentile for general category and 40th percentile for SC/ ST. OBC. However, the NEET qualifying cut off scores change every year based on the exam difficulty level, the number of applicants and number of seats to be filled. Check below the NEET passing marks or qualifying marks and previous years' NEET cut off scores.

The NTA will conduct the NEET UG 2026 exam on May 3, 2026. The exam will be conducted for admissions to MBBS, BDS, BSc Nursing, BAMS, Veterinary, and other medical/ paramedical courses in India. The total number of MBBS seats in India is 1,17,950. 

NEET Passing Marks 2026: Qualifying Percentile

NTA has fixed the NEET qualifying or pass percentile for each candidate category. The NEET passing marks are variable for each year and category and depends on candidates' performance. The NEET qualification percentiles are shared below-

Also Read: NEET AIIMS Cutoff 2025 for MBBS

Will NEET Exam Pass Marks 2026 be Higher than Last Year?

Obtaining the NEET pass mark 2026 will determine whether candidates have passed or qualified the exam. Owing to the higher number of test takers and the increase in the number of MBBS and BDS seats, the NEET cutoff marks for 2026 may go up. Hence, students must gear up for tougher competition in NEET 2026. The NEET cut off may increase or decrease based on the factors shared below-

• Total number of candidates who appear for the examination

• Difficulty level of the examination

• Performance of the candidates

• Number of seats available

• NEET cutoff for previous years

NEET Passing/ Qualifying Marks Trends of Past 5 Years

The NEET cutoff scores or the NEET qualifying marks vary for each candidate category every year. The table below brings the qualifying or pass marks for NEET over the past 5 years.

The NEET 2025 was more difficult than the past year. The number of students who appeared in the NEET 2025 was less than 2024. A total of 22,09,318 students appeared for the exam, and nearly 12,36,531 students qualified. The highest marks of NEET 2026 was 686 out of 720. Hence, the NEET UG qualifying cutoff was lower than last year. The table below brings passing marks in NEET out of 720 and percentiles for each category below.

Also Read: NEET Cut Off 2025 for MBBS Government Colleges

NEET 2024 Qualifying Marks

In 2024, the NEET exam pass marks were reduced for each category, after the re-release of the scorecards. The category-wise NEET cutoff 2024 percentiles and qualifying marks are given below-

The table below brings the original NEET pass marks of 2024.

NEET 2023 Qualifying Marks

The category-wise NEET 2023 qualifying cutoff percentile and marks are shared below for General, OBC, SC, ST and PwD.