The medical entrance exam NEET-UG will be conducted on May 4, the National Testing Agency (NTA) announced on Friday.

The application process for the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET)-UG began yesterday and will conclude on March 7. It is the largest entrance exam in the country in terms of the number of candidates appearing for the test.

In 2024, a record more than 24 lakh candidates took the exam. The NTA conducts the NEET every year for admission into medical colleges. A total of 1,08,000 seats are available for the MBSS course. Approximately 56,000 of them are in government hospitals and about 52,000 in private colleges.

Admissions to undergraduate courses in Dentistry, Ayurveda, Unani and Siddha also utilise the results of the NEET for admission.

In January, the NTA announced that the exam would continue to be conducted in pen-and-paper mode. The decision came after detailed deliberations between education and health ministries on whether to conduct the NEET-UG in pen and paper mode or online mode.

In the line of fire over alleged irregularities in NEET and PhD entrance NET, the Centre had in July set up a panel to ensure transparent, smooth and fair conduct of examinations by NTA.

According to the high-level panel headed by former ISRO Chief R Radhakrishnan, multi-stage testing for NEET-UG could be a viable possibility that needs to be followed up.

While NEET was plagued last year by several allegations of irregularities, including paper leaks and litigation, UGC-NET was cancelled as the ministry received input that the integrity of the exam had been compromised. The CBI is probing both matters.