NEET Exam Pattern 2026 (Updated): Exam Mode, Duration, Total Marks, Questions, Marking Scheme

The National Testing Agency will conduct the NEET (UG) - 2026 on May 3rd across several cities in India. Students who are in class 12th or passed and are now planning to appear in the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test must be aware of the latest NEET Exam Pattern 2026 and updated NEET UG Syllabus for efficient preparation.

This blog guides you in get familer with the NEET UG 2026 Paper Pattern, Total questions & Marks, medium of the question papers and many other aspects.

NEET Exam Pattern 2026

The question paper pattern for the NEET 2026 is expected to same as last year; however, the information brochure has yet to be announced. From the last session, the paper pattern was reverted to the pre-COVID era. The NEET Exam Pattern now features a total of 180 questions, which are all compulsory questions which have to be attempted by the candidate. The duration of the examination is 3 hours or 180 Minutes. The exam is held in offline (Pen-and-Paper) mode using an OMR sheet.

NEET 2026 Exam Pattern Highlights

Before the start of preparation, aspiring candidates should familiarise themselves with the latest NEET exam pattern 2026 to understand the marking scheme, number of questions, and distribution of subjects for effective preparation. Practising the NEET previous year questions and mock tests is super beneficial to understand the paper pattern practically.

Particulars	Details
Name of exam	National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test
Conducting Body	National Testing Agency
Mode of the exam	Offline (OMR-Based test)
Subjects	Physics, Chemistry and Biology (Botany + Zoology)
Sections	4 (45 questions for each subject)
Exam Duration	Three hours
Type of questions	Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs)
Total number of Questions	180
Total Marks	720
Negative marking	Yes (-1 for each incorrect response)
Marking Scheme	+4 for correct responses

NEET 2026 Subject-wise Marks Distribution

The NEET 2026 Exam pattern comprises 180 multiple-choice questions asked from three subjcets Physics, Chemistry, and Biology. The Biology segment is divided into two parts: Botany & Zoology.

The subject-wise questions and marks distribution for the NEET UG examination for admission in the Session 2026 are as follows:

Subject	Number of Questions	Marks
Physics	45	180
Chemistry	45	180
Biology (Botany & Zoology)	90	360
Total	180	720

Mode of NEET UG Exam

There are some ongoing discussions on the NEET exam mode, whether it is held online or offline. However It is expected that NEET (UG) will be a single-day single-exam in PEN and PAPER mode using the OMR (Optical Mark Recognition) System. On exam day, you will be given a NEET OMR Sheet and asked to mark your answers to 180 multiple-choice questions with a black or blue ballpoint pen.

NEET Exam Marking Scheme

NEET UG 2026 Marking scheme is one of the most crucial aspects of the exam pattern. Each question has four possible options in which students need to choose one option corresponding to the correct answer or the most appropriate answer. Marking will be done as per the following criteria:

Correct answer or the most appropriate answer: Four marks (+4)
Any incorrect option marked will be given minus one mark (-1).
Unanswered: No mark (0).

In case of multiple correct answers

While every effort will be made to guarantee that each question has a single unique answer, if it is discovered that a question has more than one alternative, it will be addressed in the following manner:

If more than one option is confirmed to be accurate, four points (+4) will be granted to those who have marked any of the correct
If all alternatives are confirmed to be right, four (+4) marks will be granted to all individuals who attempted the question.
If none of the options are determined to be correct, a question is discovered to be incorrect, or a question is withdrawn, all candidates who attended will receive four marks (+4) regardless of whether the question was attempted or not.

Duration of NEET UG Exam

The duration of the NEET Exam would be three (03) hours or 180 minutes. The afternoon shift starts at 02:00 P.M and ends at 05:00 P.M.

A candidate with benchmark disabilities is allowed a compensatory time of one hour for an examination of three hours duration, whether such a candidate uses the facility of a scribe or not.

Medium of NEET Exam

As the All-India National Level examination, the NEET exam is being conducted in 13 languages, including English, Hindi, Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Odia, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu.

How Medium of NEET question Paper defined?

Candidates can opt option of medium of the NEET Question Paper, which should be carefully chosen while filling in the Application Form. The option once chosen cannot be changed. The possible combinations of the medium of neet exam is given below.

Candidates opting for English would be provided a Test Booklet in English only.
Candidates opting for Hindi would be provided with a Bilingual Test Booklet in English and Hindi.
Candidates opting for Regional Languages would be provided a Test Booklet in English + selected Regional

For Example: If a candidate opted Tamil (out of 13 languages), the Test Booklet would be provided in English + Tamil.

NEET Exam Pattern

Yes, the NTA is likely to conduct the NEET UG 2026 exam on May 3, 2026.

No. In 2026, NEET-UG will be held in only one phase in the month of May 2026.

The NEET 2026 exam is going to be held in offline (Pen-and-Paper) mode using an OMR sheet.

The NEET (UG) exam includes Physics, Chemistry and Biology (Botany & Zoology). The exam currently has 180 questions, for a total of 720 marks. The duration of NEET is 180 minutes, or three hours.