The academic year for MBBS students will not be delayed as the results of the re-National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET-UG) will be announced by July 20, a senior official at the National Testing Agency (NTA) confirmed.
Currently, the agency is resolving the issues submitted by students.
On June 25, NTA released the provisional answer key, and candidates had until June 28 to challenge it. A fee of ₹200 is charged per question, which is refunded if the student’s challenge is found correct.
Around 10,000 challenges were received from aspirants, the official said.
The official stated that the agency is working on a war footing to release the results as soon as possible. However, the exact date could not be confirmed. The official, however, assured that the academic year for MBBS students will not be delayed.
NEET-UG re-examination was held on June 21 after the May 3 examination was canceled due to an alleged paper leak, with over 20 lakh students taking the retest.
Despite the exam being conducted again, the academic year will not be delayed, the official assured.
Following the results, the counselling schedule is released both for the central and state quota seats, which stand at 15 per cent and 85 per cent respectively.
The Medical Counselling Committee (MCC) releases the counselling schedule for All India Quota (AIQ), AIIMS, JIPMER, central and deemed universities, while individual states announce separate schedules for seats earmarked under the state quota.
There is no clarity yet on this year’s counselling dates.
Last year, counselling for All India seats began on July 21, and the announcement was made a week after the result declaration.
In a normal NEET year, the first-year MBBS academic session usually starts in August or September, depending on how quickly counselling concludes. The official said that this year, too, the session will begin on time.