Last year NTA had announced the exam date of NEET exam on 21 August, vide a common exams calendar for JEE, NEET and all the other exams it was planning to hold for the session.
Then NTA opened NEET exam registration at ntaneet.nic.in on 02 December. The last date to apply was 06 January.
The expected exam date and registration dates for NEET 2021
Looking at last year’s timeline, NTA was expected to announce the NEET 2021 exam date in August or September. However the previous session’s NEET, i.e. NEET 2020 was delayed considerably owing to the pandemic and as a result at least the announcement of exam date for upcoming NEET UG has been pushed back.
However this does not mean that the exam will be postponed.
There are still chances that the rest of the events of NEET 2021 will be as per the usual timeline. That is, the registration is expected to begin in December 2020, and end in January 2021. And the exam has high chances of being conducted like all years, on the first Sunday in May.
If the exam is not delayed then the exam date is most likely to be May 2, 2021 – first Sunday in the month of May.
Reduction in syllabus?
There are several news reports citing politicians requesting the concerned bodies to slash the syllabus of JEE Main 2021, and NEET 2021. The latest being Manish Sisodia’s recommendation in NCERT’s 57th general council meeting.
The syllabus reduction requests seek 50% deduction in class 12 syllabus as in the academic session 2020-2021, schools could not utilize classroom studies for 7 months. In fact schools are yet to re-open. As per Unlock-5 guidelines schools were allowed to open from October 15, but the final decision is upto the states, and most have chosen to keep the schools shut for now. As a result around 50% of the syllabus has already been affected in regular school.
There is no official word from NTA or other concerned bodies related to NEET exam on whether NEET 2021 syllabus will be reduced or not. This will also be known when NEET 2021 information brochure is released, or other official notice on this becomes available.
It should be noted that until last year the NEET syllabus was recommended by the Medical Council of India (MCI). Now that the National Medical Commission has taken over its functions, the NEET 2021 syllabus is expected to be finalized by NMC.
Ongoing events of NEET 2020 exam
MCC is going to open registrations for NEET 2020 counselling first round on October 28, 2020 at mcc.nic.in.
Students who qualified NEET 2020 and wish to participate in the counselling for 15% AIQ seats, deemed and central universities, AIIMS, JIPMER, AFMC can apply from then to November 02, 2020. Choice locking will remain open on the last date from 4 PM to 11:59 PM.
Seat allotment results will be out for first round on November 5, 2020. Likewise for second round on November 25, 2020, and mop up round on December 17, 2020.
To summarize
| Concern | What to expect | When to expect |
| NEET 2021 Exam Date | Most likely exam date is May 2, 2021 Slight chances of delay in exam | NTA will announce the exam date soon, along with JEE Main 2021 and other exam dates; probably in November |
| NEET 2021 Registration | There could be a delay in registrations as the matter of school re-opening is still dicey | 50-50% chances of registration starting in December 2020 or January 2021 |
| NEET 2021 syllabus reduction | Academic pundits are divided on their opinion. If reduction happens, syllabus of class 12th will be reduced. However final decision will be as per the National Medical Commission (NMC) that sets NEET UG syllabus | Final decision on NEET syllabus is expected when NTA releases NEET 2021 information brochure; most probably in December 2020 / January 2021 |
