The notification and online application forms for the examination are likely to be released in January though no official notice has been published yet.
As per the recent report by a leading English daily, the NEET 2018 will be held on May 10 and admission to deemed universities will begin from July 10. Sources said the Medical Council of India (MCI) will complete the admission process for the medical and dental courses by August 18.
Last year, the entrance examination was held on May 7, 2017 though controversies like dress code row and anti-NEET protest in Tamil Nadu had marred the national level entrance examination. Out of the 10,90,085 students who had appeared in the NEET exam, 6,11,539 passed the examination.
How to apply for CBSE NEET 2018
Aspirants will have to apply for the national eligibility cum entrance test through online application forms. The application forms would be made available on the official website cbseneet.nic.in. No offline or paper and pen applications will be accepted by the CBSE.
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Age limit
In 2017, the CBSE had put a lower and upper age limit of 17 years and 25 years, respectively, for appearing in NEET examination. After Supreme Court's intervention, CBSE had rolled back the upper age limit criteria for NEET 2017 examination. Though there is no clarity on whether the board would include an upper age limit criteria for the test yet, the lower age limit, however, is expected to remain unchanged.
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Is there a limit to the number of attempts for CBSE NEET 2018?
As per NEET 2017 notification released by CBSE, the number of attempts for NEET was capped at three. However, the NEET 2017 would be considered as the first attempt for all candidates. The rule is expected to stay for NEET 2018 as well.
Is Aadhaar Card mandatory for applying for CBSE NEET 2018?
Since the CBSE has made Aadhaar card mandatory for all examinations conducted by the board, Aadhaar is most likely to be mandatory for CBSE NEET 2018 as well. All candidates are suggested to apply for Aadhaar card if they don't have one yet.
The owners of Delhi-based Akruti Education, Ashwani Tomar and Arti Tomar, along with Mohit Kumar, a tout from Uttar Pradesh, and Manoj Sikka, owner of a Punjab-based consultancy agency, were booked on charges of criminal conspiracy and cheating.
The Central Bureau of Investigation on Monday filed an FIR against the four and some unidentified persons following a complaint by Director NEET, CBSE (Central Board of Secondary Education) Sanyam Bhardwaj on Sunday.
Kumar is accused of acting as the tout for the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) exam by promising to secure admission in government and private colleges across India, the FIR said.
The four were accused of helping the candidates to qualify the NEET exam.
More than 13 lakh candidates attempted the NEET undergraduate (UG) 2018 exam held on Sunday.
Human Resource Development Minister Prakash Javadekar, while replying to a question raised by AIADMK member Vijila Sathyananth (blaming the CBSE for the ambiguity) in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday, said:
"Since this matter is in the court, I won't say much. This translation was done by Tamil Nadu officials. Next year, we will take measures."
“Javadekar rightly said the government will take care next year. But who will mend the present situation when the future of our students is already at stake,” rued parents.
Venting anger on the Board, a parent of an NEET aspirant said:
“The CBSE is no longer a competent authority to conduct any exam- leakage in Plus 2 exam, 10th exam and now the mismanagement. Instead of taking measures to fix the issue, the government is always seen trying to shield the officials and others involved.”
It is worth mentioning that the CBSE has moved the SC against the order of the Madras High Court granting grace marks to those who wrote this year’s NEET exam in Tamil.
There were 180 questions carrying 720 marks in total in the NEET.
In Tamil Nadu, about 1.07 lakh candidates took the test across 170 centres in 10 cities.
First Bench comprising Chief Justice Indira Banerjee and Justice Abdul Quddhose posted it for hearing tomorrow before a bench headed by Justice Huluvadi G Ramesh after a mention was made for taking up the matter urgently.
Petitioner S Kalimuthu Mylavan, an advocate, submitted that candidates who applied from Tamil Nadu were allotted NEET examination centres in other states and not according to their choice within the state as mentioned in their applications.
The National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) is scheduled to be held across the country on May 6.
Stating that at the time of applying, candidates are required to prefer three examination centres of their choice, the petitioner submitted most of them had chosen three centre situated nearby in their respective states.
The petitioner further said candidates from southern districts of the state had been allotted centres in neighbouring Kerala.
He contended that most of the candidates who had applied were from rural areas and from poor families and may not be able to afford to spend for their stay in other states.
He prayed the court to quash the April 18 public notice issued by Central Board of Secondary Education, which conducts NEET, and for subsequent direction to re-allot examination centres for candidates from Tamil Nadu to those nearest to their residences within Tamil Nadu.
A five-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra directed the central board to upload the directive on their website.
Earlier in the day, UIDAI had told the apex court that it has not authorised CBSE to mandatorily take the Aadhaar number of students to get them enrolled for appearing in the NEET 2018 examination.
Attorney-General K K Venugopal had said that he had instructions from the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) that like in Jammu and Kashmir, Meghalaya and Assam other identity proofs like passport, voter card and ration card can be used by the CBSE for enrolling students in the examination.
The UIDAI’s remarks came on a plea challenging the decision of CBSE seeking mandatory Aadhaar number or Aadhaar enrollment number from students who are aspiring to take the NEET 2018 examination. The Gujarat High Court had dismissed the plea on February 27.
In a latest development, NTA will conduct, inter-alia, JEE (MAIN) and National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET)-UG twice a year in order to give adequate opportunity to candidates to bring out their best.
All the entrance examinations will be computer based, for which a network of test practice centres, especially for the aspirants from rural areas will be established so that they have ample opportunity to acquaint themselves with the computer based tests.
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The Schools and engineering colleges with computer labs will be identified for this purpose, which can be used by any aspirant free of charge.
Extensive consultations were done with the concerned Ministries/ Departments of the Government of India as well as other stakeholders both from Central and State Government in a workshop held on September 1, 2017. Final decision and time table will be announced soon, sources said.