NEET-PG: Exam to be held at 500 'trusted' centres in two shifts on Aug 11

NEET-PG 2024: To prevent cheating incidents, candidates have been assigned to centres located in the same cities as the addresses provided on their application forms

The 2024 NEET-PG exam, which serves as the qualifying test for postgraduate medical studies, will be conducted at 500 "trusted" centres this year.

The National Board of Examinations (NBE) has announced that the exam, scheduled for August 11, will be held in two shifts for the first time. This decision follows a reduction in the number of exam centres from 1,200, with the examination body opting not to rely on outsourced centres due to concerns over past incidents of paper leaks.

Earlier, the exam was initially set for June 23 but was postponed a day before as a precautionary measure. Additionally, to prevent instances of cheating, an official said that all candidates have been assigned to centres located in the same cities as the addresses provided on their application forms, according to an Indian Express report.

“Earlier, the students were given the option to select different centres across the country to appear in the examination. Now, they have to appear at a centre either in the city or close to where their address is. It will be ensured that a person from one corner of the country does not go to another just to appear in the examination,” the official said, as quoted in the report.

This year marks the first instance where the NEET-PG examination will require score normalisation due to students taking two different papers in separate shifts.

“The examination started in 2018 and since then, there hasn’t been any need for normalisation because it used to take place simultaneously for all students with the very same question paper,” the official added.

NEET-PG: SC to hear plea today

The Supreme Court will hear a petition on Friday, seeking to postpone the NEET-PG 2024 examination. The exam is currently scheduled for August 11.

The plea, filed by Vishal Soren, claims that many candidates are facing challenges in reaching their designated exam centres, which are located in cities that are difficult for them to access, and the exam should be postponed.

"Many similarly placed candidates have been allocated cities that are highly inconvenient for them to reach and further seeking details of the formula for normalisation of the four sets of question paper and seeking clarity on ensuring that the normalisation formula is disclosed to the candidates thereby eliminating any possibility of arbitrariness in the process," the plea states, as quoted by Bar and Bench.