NEET 2026 Passing Marks out of 720: Check Qualifying Marks for General, OBC, SC, ST & PwD

NEET Admit Card

26 Apr '26 - 3 May '26

Deputy Manager - Editorial

Updated on Apr 10, 2026 17:19 IST

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

NEET passing marks 2026 are the minimum qualifying marks that candidates must obtain to clear the exam. The qualifying marks or scores are percentile-based and change every year. Check NEET exam pass marks along with previous years' cutoff.

NEET Passing/Qualifying Marks

Candidates appearing for the NEET 2026 often ask about the passing marks or qualifying marks in the exam. The simple answer to this query is that there are no fixed passing marks in the exam. However, the NTA has notified the NEET qualifying percentile 2026, which means that a candidate of a particular category needs to score better than the given percentage of students. The NEET qualifying cutoff percentile remains the same every year, which is the 50th percentile for general category and 40th percentile for SC/ ST/ OBC. However, the NEET qualifying marks or scores change every year based on the exam difficulty level, the number of applicants and number of seats to be filled. The NEET qualifying marks refer to the pass marks or the cutoff scores needed to clear the exam. Check below the NEET passing marks or qualifying marks and previous years' NEET cut off scores.

The National Testing Agency (NTA) will release the NEET passing marks 2026 as cutoff scores along with the NEET result 2026. Candidates who will successfully obtain the cutoff marks in the NEET 2026 exam will become eligible to participate in the counselling process. The NTA will conduct the NEET UG 2026 exam on May 3, 2026.

Table of contents

NEET Passing Marks 2026: Qualifying Percentile
Will NEET Exam Pass Marks 2026 be Higher than Last Year?
NEET Qualifying Marks Trends of Past 5 Years
NEET 2026 Result: How to calculate the percentile score?
Preivous Years' NEET Qualifying Cutoff Scores
What After Obtaining NEET Passing Marks?

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-

Category	NEET Cutoff Percentile
General/EWS	50
General/EWS/PH	45
OBC, SC, ST	40
PH- OBC	40
PH- SC	40
PH- ST	40

Also Read: NEET AIIMS Cutoff 2025 for MBBS

Commonly asked questions

Q: When will NTA release NEET OMR Sheet 2026?

The NTA will release the NEET OMR sheet 2026 along with the provisional answer key. Candidates can download the OMR answer sheet by logging to their registered accounts using the application number and password.

Q: Will there be NEET exam in 2026?

There will be NEET exam in 2026. The NEET UG exam will be held on May 3. The NTA has announced the dates and schedule for the exam.

Q: What is the procedure to challenge NEET OMR sheets?

The responses marked on the OMR Sheet of NEET are scanned and uploaded on the official website of NTA. The responses marked are read and captured by the machines, which can sometimes lead to smudging of the responses. Therefore, there can be errors in the scanned copy of NEET OMR sheet. If a student finds any such error in their OMR sheet, they have the provision to challenge them. Candidates have to pay a processing fee of INR 200 per response challenged. The steps for challenging the OMR sheet of NEET are given below:

Go to the official website of NTA NEET
Login using the NEET application number and password or date of birth
Click on “OMR Challenge”
You will see the questions in sequential order
Select Question (s) for which you wish to challenge the Recorded Response.
Once you select any Question for Challenge, you will see three options under the column ‘Candidate’s Claim’.
If you wish to challenge this option, you may use the Options given in the ‘Candidate’s Claim’ column.
After clicking your desired option, for Physics / Chemistry / Botany / Zoology for NEET (UG) - 2023, scroll down, ‘Submit’, and move to the next screen.
You will see a screen displaying your challenges.
Click on ‘Submit' and Pay Fee Finally’.
Select Mode of Payment and Pay a processing fee of INR 200 for each question/grade challenged. Make payment through Debit/Credit Card/Net Banking/Paytm.
After successful payment, download/print the Answer Key challenge receipt

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 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.

Category	NEET 2022 Qualifying Score	NEET 2021 Qualifying Score	NEET 2020 Qualifying Score	NEET 2019 Qualifying Score	NEET 2018 Qualifying Score
General (UR)	715-117	720-138	720-147	701-134	691-119
OBC/ SC/ ST	116-93	137-108	146-113	133-107	118-96
PwD (General/ UR)	116-105	137-122	146-129	133-120	118-107
PwD (Reserved)	104-93	121-108	128-113	119-107	106-96

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Utilise the NEET Rank Predictor tool by Shiksha.com to predict your NEET Rank based on the expected score. Predict your NEET Rank Here:

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NEET 2026 Result: How to calculate the percentile score?

Candidates can calculate the scores in NEET 2026 using the formula shared below-

NEET Percentile = 100 x Number of candidates with their raw score equal to/ less than the candidate

Total number of candidates who appeared for NEET

Preivous Years' NEET Qualifying Cutoff Scores

The NEET qualifying percentile remains the same. However, the scores change every year based on the difficulty level. Have a look at the previous years NEET cutoff scores below-

NEET 2025 Cut Off: Qualifying Marks/ Passing Marks

The NEET 2025 was more difficult than the past year. The number of students who appeared in the NEET 2025 was less than that of 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.

Category	NEET Cutoff percentile	NEET Cutoff score
UR/EWS	50th	686-144
OBC, SC, ST	40th	143-113
UR/EWS-PwD	45th	143-127
OBC/SC/St-PwD	40th	126-113

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-

Category	Cut off percentile	Cut off score
UR/EWS	50th	720-162
OBC	40th	161-127
SC	40th	161-127
ST	40th	163-127
UR/EWS-PwD	45th	161-144
OBC-PwD	40th	143-127
SC-PwD	40th	143-127
ST-PwD	40th	142-127

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

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Category	NEET 2024 Cutoff percentile	NEET 2024 Cutoff score
UR/EWS	50	720-164
OBC	40	163-129
SC	40	163-129
ST	40	163-129
UR/EWS-PwD	45	163-146
OBC-PwD	40	145-129
SC-PwD	40	145-129
ST-PwD	40	141-129

NEET 2023 Qualifying Marks

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

Category	NEET 2023 Cutoff Percentile	NEET 2023 Cutoff Marks
General/EWS	50	720-137
OBC, SC, ST	40	136-107
General/EWS/PH	45	136-121
OBC & PH	40	120-107
SC & PH	40	120-107
ST & PH	40	120-108

What After Obtaining NEET Passing Marks?

The NEET exam is 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. After the declaration of the result, candidates can check whether they have secured the qualifying marks for NEET 2026 as given on the scorecard. Upon fulfilling the NEET passing marks or qualifying marks, they can participate in the NEET 2026 counselling for the 15 per cent All India Quota (AIQ) seats conducted by the Medical Counselling Committee (MCC) and the 85 per cent State Quota seats conducted by the State Counselling authorities. You may predict the colleges and courses in which you may have an admission chance by utilising the Shiksha College Predictor Tool.

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About the Author

Rupali Pruthi

Deputy Manager - Editorial

With MA in English, Rupali has more than 15 years of editorial experience. At Shiksha.com, a subsidiary of Info Edge (India) Limited, she creates content and make prep guides for students preparing for competitive e

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