The online registration process of Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) National Eligibility Cum Entrance Test (NEET) UG 2018 will conclude today, March 12, on the official website, the link for which is cbseneet.nic.in. The examination for admission to undergraduate medical courses across the country is scheduled to be conducted on May 6.
The online registration process of Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) National Eligibility Cum Entrance Test (NEET) UG 2018 will conclude today, March 12, on the official website, the link for which is cbseneet.nic.in. The examination for admission to undergraduate medical courses across the country is scheduled to be conducted on May 6.
This is the reality that faces medical and BDS aspirants of Tamil Nadu even as the State School Education Minister K.A. Sengottaiyan has been talking about the government’s policy to get exemption from NEET, which was promised even as early as 2017.
“The state government’s policy is to get exemption from NEET. Continuous efforts are being made in this regard,” he told reporters even recently.
It may be recalled that the State government has made arrangements to provide free training for students to face the test, even as it kept hoping that the exemption would come through. The exams are compulsory to qualify for admission to MBBS/BDS courses.
It is a claim by the State Government that 412 such centres of the State Government are training nearly 78,000 students to face NEET. Recently the Minister stated that 4,000 aspirants out of the 78,000 would be selected and provided ‘special’ coaching for NEET. Special classrooms / smart classrooms and separate set of teachers trained in the NEET syllabus were supposed to be training the aspirants. How far all this has turned a reality is a question. In the mean time it is time for students to apply for the mandatory test.
Applying for CBSE NEET UG 2018:
Aspirants should have passed class 12 or equivalent exam with physics, chemistry, biology/biotechnology and English individually. Moreover, they must have obtained a minimum of 50 per cent marks taken together in physics, chemistry and biology/biotechnology in the qualifying examination.
The Medical Council of India has kept the age criteria same as previous year. The candidate's age has to be over 17 years and less than or 25 years.
For the first time, NEET would be conducted in 150 cities. In 2017, NEET was conducted in 107 cities across the nation.
The NEET (UG) will consist of one paper containing 180 objective type questions (four options with a single correct answer) from Physics, Chemistry and Biology (Botany and Zoology). The duration of paper would be three hours.
Important dates:
- Date of Examination, NEET (UG), 2018: May 6 (Sunday)
- Last date of online application form: March 12
- Online correction of data in application form: March 15 to March 17
- Date of uploading of admit cards on the website: 2nd week of April 2018
- Declaration of Result: June 5 (Tuesday)
What to expect ?
Now that the timeline is out, it is anyone’s guess that the failed attempt of the State Government to get an exemption is a reality. Not only that. Its promise of preparing students for NEET and updating the State Board Samacheer syllabus to make it on a par with the CBSE or other boards across the country has also not been fulfilled.
Some online study material has been promised by the end of March, which aspirants can access on the completion of the Plus-Two examination. That means, these students get only a month to prepare for the NEET in a full-fledged manner with the available study material. It must be noted that this batch of students would not have been taught the Plus-One syllabus, which is said to form a large part of the NEET question paper. The Minister has promised to rectify this weakness from this year and ensure that schools taught students the full Plus-One syllabus.
Another unfulfilled promise is that of a bank of 50,000 questions. While this is the reality of the students belonging to the State Board schools, those from private schools have as usual taken up private coaching. Academics, especially from schools, say that this year too NEET results would be a dampener for those students who compete from State Board schools.