NEET Exam Pattern 2026: Total Marks, Subjects, Marking Scheme, Exam Duration & No. of Questions

NEET or National Eligibility cum Entrance Test is a paper-and-pencil-based test (PBT) of three hours or 180 minutes duration. There will be a total of 180 multiple-choice questions (MCQs), all of which will be compulsory to attempt. The syllabus of the exam consists of Physics, Chemistry and Biology subjects. The Biology subject is segregated between Zoology and Botany. On the other hand, the Chemistry subject is segregated into Organic, Inorganic and Physical Chemistry. Unlike last year, the subjects will not be divided into two sections.

According to the marking scheme, each correct question carries 4 marks, and there is a negative marking of 1 mark for each wrong answer. No marks will be awarded or deducted for unattempted questions. The following table brings the structure of the NEET exam.

No, marks are not deducted for unanswered questions in NEET. However, the NTA applies negative marking of 1 mark for each incorrect answer in the NEET UG examination.

The total number of questions in the NEET 2026 question paper will be 180, all of which are compulsory. Physics and Chemistry will have 45 questions each, Biology subject will have 90 questions, 45 each from Botany and Zoology. The total number of questions has been reduced from 200 to 180. The optional questions have been removed this year. Moreover, each subject will have single section, with 45 questions. Each question will have four marks and in case of wrong answer, there will be negative marking of one mark for each wrong answer. 

The Biology section has the highest number of questions in the NEET examination. There are 360 questions in the NEET UG exam and of these, 90 questions are alone from Biology, which is further divided into Botany and Zoology, each containing 45 questions.

There will be no sectional qualifying criterion for NEET 2025. NTA releases overall qualifying marks or cutoff marks for each category. The overall marks will be considered while preparing the rank list for NEET. But to ensure a good score, candidates must ensure a high number of attempts with full accuracy. A skewed performance might hamper the overall marks obtained in NEET.

Candidates will get 3 hours or 180 minutes to solve the entire question paper of NEET. They can divide the time between the NEET subjects or sections as per their convenience. There is no sectional time limit in the NEET exam pattern. According to the experts, candidates should keep around 45 minutes for each subject and 15 minutes for revision. Candidates must prepare a fool proof time management strategy while taking mock tests. They must follow different approaches and then finalise on the most convenient one.

The mode of the NEET exam is offline or paper-based mode. Candidates are handed over hardcopy of NEET question paper and OMR sheets to answer the questions. The NEET UG exam has always been conducted in paper-pencil-based mode. Despite the expert committee recommendation to conduct the NEET exam in onlne or computer-based mode, the National Medical Commission (NMC) announced that the NEET 2025 exam will be conducted in offline or paper-pencil-based mode. 

No, the NEET exam or NEET question paper does not have any optional questions. Although there used to be 20 optional questions in total in between the years 2022 and 2024, but 2025 onwards, the optional questions in NEET were removed as part of the revision or change in the NEET exam pattern as per the pre-COVID era. Hence, the NEET 2025 question paper will not carry any optional questions, and will have 360 mandatory questions from Physics, Chemistry and Biology.  

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:

1. Go to the official website of NTA NEET
2. Login using the NEET application number and password or date of birth
3. Click on “OMR Challenge”
4. You will see the questions in sequential order
5. Select Question (s) for which you wish to challenge the Recorded Response.
6. Once you select any Question for Challenge, you will see three options under the column ‘Candidate’s Claim’.
7. If you wish to challenge this option, you may use the Options given in the ‘Candidate’s Claim’ column.
8. After clicking your desired option, for Physics / Chemistry / Botany / Zoology for NEET (UG) - 2023, scroll down, ‘Submit’, and move to the next screen.
9. You will see a screen displaying your challenges.
10. Click on ‘Submit' and Pay Fee Finally’.
11. 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.
12. After successful payment, download/print the Answer Key challenge receipt

Along with the provisional NEET answer keys, NTA releases the NEET OMR sheets of the test takers. Candidates could download those from the official website of NEET. Candidates had to follow the steps given below to download the NEET OMR sheet:

1. Visit the official website of NEET, which is neet.nta.nic.in
2. Click on the link indicating NEET OMR sheet download
3. Enter the login credentials
4. Click on ‘OMR Challenge’ tab
5. Click on ‘Click here to view your OMR Answer Sheet’
6. Check the scanned image of the answer sheet uploaded by NTA
7. Download and save the NEET OMR sheet for future reference

After downloading the NEET OMR sheets, candidates must check carefully whether it is in the same condition as the one they had submitted. In case there is any discrepancy, they can submit challenges or objections. In case there is no discrepancy, they can calculate their estimated scores by tallying their responses with the NEET provisional answer keys. 

NEET OMR sheet refers to the answer sheet or the answer booklet wherein candidates have to mark or shade the correct answer option. The fullform of OMR is Optical Mark Recognition. Unless candidates mark answers in the OMR sheet properly, those would not be marked. NTA states the following instructions about marking NEET OMR sheets, which are stated below:

• The OMR sheets will have to be marked with blue or black ballpoint pen.
• If a bubble is semi-filled, it will not be considered a valid response. Such responses will not be graded
• The marking must be confined to the circle only. Smudging or overfilled circles will not be graded.
• The correct way to mark the response is to fill the entire bubble. This will be considered a valid response.

NEET will be conducted in 13 languages. Till 2020, NEET was held in 11 languages. NTA increased the number of languages or medium to 13 from 2021 onwards. Malayalam and Punjabi are the latest additions. The list of languages are as follows:

1. English
2. Hindi
3. Bengali
4. Urdu
5. Assamese
6. Gujarati
7. Marathi
8. Odia
9. Kannada
10. Tamil
11. Malayalam
12. Punjabi
13. Telugu.

According to NEET pattern, the question paper for the candidates who have chosen Hindi as the medium will be bilingual. The second language of the question paper will be English. In case candidates have any doubts regarding a particular question or term, they can refer to the English questions. Candidates choosing the NEET question paper medium as Hindi must ensure that they have received the Hindi language question paper in the exam hall. In case they receive English or any other regional language question paper, they must report the matter to the invigilator and get it changed immediately. In case they start solving the NEET question paper of a different language and report it later, it may be considered redundant.

You can choose any exam centre of NEET if you have opted for English medium question paper. English is available at all centres across the country. English is a universal language and the NEET question paper medium. The exam city selection option becomes limited once candidates choose a regional language, except Hindi. Apart from the medium of the question factor, the other factor that plays a role in the NEET exam centre city selection is the permanent and present address selected by candidates during the application process.

Yes, the NEET 2025 exam pattern has been changed. NTA announced the change in the exam pattern on January 25, 2025, to enable candidates prepare accordingly. The optional questions have been removed. Instead of 200 questions, there will now be 180 questions. The total duration of NEET 2025 has been reduced from 200 minutes to 180 minutes or three hours now. Announcing the same, NTA has stated, “Aspirants are hereby informed that the question paper pattern and examination duration will revert to the pre-COVID format. where there will not be any Section B anymore. Hence, there will be a total of 180 compulsory questions (45 questions each in Physics and Chemistry and 90 in Biology) which will be attempted by the candidates in 180 minutes thereby removing any optional questions and extra time introduced due to COVID.”

NEET question paper has objective type and multiple-choice questions. Hence, there is no possibility of having descriptive questions in NEET. Each question has four answer options. Test-takers will have to select the correct answer option and mark it on the OMR sheet.