NExt Exam: Health ministry advises NMC to waive fees for mock test on July 28

After the medical fraternity raised the issue of high fees being asked for NExT mock test being held on July 28, now the health ministry has also told NMC to consider waiving fees for the mock test. 

AIIMS Delhi recently invited applications on behalf of the National Medical Commission for the mock test of National Exit Test to be held on July 28. The application fee for the General/OBC candidates is INR 2000. Many doctors and medical students said that this is not the right decision to take such huge fees for a mock test. Now, the health ministry has also asked NMC to waive fees for the mock test.

Deliberations have begun at NMC to consider waiving the fees for mock NExT test which is being held for the 2019 batch of final-year MBBS students, as reported by Edex Live.

The aim of conducting the mock test is to familiarise the prospective candidates with the computer-based test, software interface and process flow at the examination centres.

The NExT will be held in two phases next year for the 2019 batch of final-year MBBS students. The sample questions in the NExT mock or practice test will only exemplify the pattern and format of NExT Step 1. Foreign medical graduates (FMGs) who want to practise in India will have to appear in NExT Step 1, do the internship and then, clear NExT Step 2 to become eligible for the same.

There is a nationwide protest going on against the upcoming NExT exam and the issue is being highlighted under #NONEXTFOR2019BATCH on Twitter. Various medicos of government medical colleges across the country are protesting against the exam.

"NMC is imposing the NEXT exam on the 2019 batch forcefully. In the first 3.5 years of MBBS, students studied as per the old pattern of the exam, and now they are suddenly required to face an entirely new pattern of the exam," tweeted All India Student's Union (AISU). 

Read more:

• NExT Mock Test is Mockery of Medical Education, says Medicos
• NExT Mock Test should be free of cost, says FAIMA Chairman