NEET limited to three attempts, Age limits put in place: UGC

The University Grants Commission(UGC), has clipped National Eligibility Entrance Test's(NEET), wings to bring about greater synchronization of functionality, by reducing the attempts for the examination to three and also introduce a new age criterion, for those who wish to sit for the medical and dental entrance test.

The university officials took this decision at a meeting on Tuesday, in Delhi reports TOI. According to the latest amendment, the minimum age to appear for NEET is 17 years. The maximum age for the open category is 25 years, and that of the reserved category stands at 30 years. Till now there has been no maximum age to appear for the test nor was there a bar earlier to the number of attempts a candidate could make for clearing the test.

"This is a good decision," said Dr Pravin Shingare, Director, Maharashtra Directorate of Medical Education and Research (DMER).

"There are some students who keep taking the test, and when they don't make the cut, join a BSc college and keep taking the medical entrance test," he added.

Interestingly, the new changes will also act as a restraining factor for the faculty of coaching classes, who keep sitting for the examination to understand its altering pattern. The NEET brochures carrying this information would be in distribution soon.

"We often find that coaching classes field candidates and sometimes that leads to fraud and cheating," said an expert.

Medical College Principals, welcoming the UGC step said that the cap on age and restricted attempts, is bound to force candidates to focus on the field where their capability and passion lie.