The National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences (NBEMS), which conducts NEET-PG for admission to MD, MS, and PG Diploma courses across India, has revamped entrance examination procedure after scrutiny and public uproar over irregularities in the conduct of NEET UG by the National Testing Agency (NTA).

The ministry in a statement said, "The end-to-end question paper preparation and delivery process has been further reinforced through multiple layers of encryption, secure offline preparation, time-bound finalisation of the question paper shortly before the examination, and controlled digital decryption only at the scheduled commencement of the test."

NEET-PG scheduled later this month will be held in computer-based test mode across around 340 cities and more than 1,300 examination centres. A total of 2,73,183 candidates registered for NEET-PG 2026, marking an increase of over 12.5% this year. Key reforms in the conduct of NEET-PG 2026 introduced this year are as follows:

• Expanded Choice of Test Locations: The ministry said that candidates were offered more test location options. With the home state as the mandatory first preference, candidates were asked to provide three state preferences in the application process. Through this facility, candidates will be allotted "centres closer to their place of residence." This is in contrast to earlier criteria where exam cities were allotted on a first come, first-served basis.

• Enhanced Candidate Convenience: As per the information bulletin, test city intimation will be issued nearly three weeks before the examination - on 11 August. This will give candidates sufficient time to plan their travel and accommodation well in advance.
• Optimised Examination Pattern: The NBEMS rationalised the examination to 180 questions which have to be answered in 210 minutes. Previously, the exam consisted of 200 multiple choice questions with 800 marks as the maximum score.
• Strengthened Authentication: To strengthen the integrity of the examination process, Aadhaar-based authentication has been introduced during both the application process and on the examination day. "Iris-based biometric verification will be used wherever fingerprint authentication is unsuccessful," the ministry said.

NEET-PG 2026 exam date

NEET-PG exam will be held on 30 August. The registration window for the postgraduate medical entrance exam opened on 1 July and closed on 21 July. Under the revised system, NEET-PG 2026 will be held in a single shift to ensure uniformity in the difficulty level and assessment of candidates. Authorities scrapped the multi-shift plan to align with 2025 Supreme Court's ruling directing authorities to conduct the exam in a single unified shift to ensure a transparent, level playing field for all medical graduates.

NEET-PG 2026 result date

NEET-PG 2026 result will most likely be declared by 30 September, NBEMS in its information bulletin said.

On Saturday, Union Health Minister Jagat Prakash Nadda reviewed the preparedness for NEET-PG 2026 and directed all involved agencies to ensure the examination is conducted in a smooth, secure, fair and transparent manner.

Comprehensive security arrangements are in place to ensure the smooth conduct of the examination, including deployment of 60,000 examination functionaries. Besides this increased security measures include advance sealing and verification of examination centres, CCTV surveillance, biometric authentication, candidate frisking, deployment of signal jammers, dynamic comput, live monitoring through central and regional command centres and real-time supervision.