NEET 2023 Exam Pattern: Know Preparation Tips and Strategy

How to Prepare for NEET New Exam Pattern

Medical aspirants who are planning to appear for NEET 2023 must have already started preparing or are planning to do so soon. The first and foremost step for any exam preparation is to know the exam pattern thoroughly. In 2021, the NEET exam pattern underwent major changes and the total duration was extended by 20 minutes last year. The NEET 2023 exam pattern has remained the same as last year. Hence, it is imperative for NEET aspirants to know and follow the new exam pattern to prepare for the biggest medical entrance exam in India for undergraduate admissions which is taken by over 15 lakh candidates. This article of Shiksha explains the exam pattern of NEET 2023 and the strategy to ace the test.

Let us first take a look at the NEET 2023 exam pattern.

NEET 2023 Exam Pattern

The following table brings the exam structure of NEET.

Now let us take a look at the changes introduced to each factor of the pattern.

Sections: The number of subjects covered in NEET 2022 will remain the same, which are Chemistry, Physics and Biology (further segregated into Botany and Zoology). Each of these subjects will have two sections, Section A and Section B. Earlier, there used to be three sections without any subdivisions.

Number of Questions: The total number of questions has been increased from 180 to 200. However, candidates will have to attempt 180 questions. While all 35 questions in Section A of each subject are open to attempting, in Section B, only 10 out of 15 questions can be chosen to attempt. “The total number of questions and utilization of time will remain the same,” states NTA.

Marking Scheme: Each question will carry four marks and there will be a negative marking of one mark for each wrong answer. The full marks for the exam will continue to be 720. The full marks in Section A is 140 and that for Section B is 40. This refers that marks for only 10 questions are allotted and the rest of the five questions are not marked. No marks will be allotted or deducted for unattempted questions. In case, a question is dropped/ ignored, all candidates will be given four marks ( 4) irrespective of the fact whether the question has been attempted or not attempted by the candidate.

Why NTA Introduced Changes in the NEET Exam Pattern

NTA has introduced the changes to keep the pattern in sync with the syllabus of Class 12, which has been introduced to compensate for the academic loss of students during the pandemic. NTA had stated on the NEET 2021 information bulletin, “To rationalise the decision of reduction in the syllabus by various School Education Boards, the NTA has taken the decision to provide choice in Section “B” for each of the 4 (four) subjects.”

NTA had altered the NEET 2021 exam pattern to provide more internal choices of questions for attempting. The new pattern would ensure that test-takers are able to attempt more questions accurately and score high marks in the exam.

Strategy to Crack NEET 2023 

While students need not change their strategy much in terms of section-wise preparation in terms of the NEET syllabus since the section-wise weightage has remained the same. But in order to maximise their attempts and scores, the test-taking strategy has to be changed accordingly. In the following sections, we bring the preparation and exam-taking strategy.

Revision – With less than two months left for the exam, students should focus on revision. They must not leave any loose ends in terms of conceptual understanding or completing the topics from each chapter or unit. Going through previous years’ NEET question papers and analysis to get an idea of the topic-wise weightage.

Choosing the Right Questions: In the new NEET exam pattern, choosing the right questions from the vast question paper carrying 200 questions is crucial. Upon receiving the question paper, candidates should first visit Section B of each subject and eliminate the five questions they do not want to attempt. The next step is to check the questions in Section A and select the questions they want to attempt. Once they select the questions, then they can proceed towards solving the questions without wasting any more time. Test-takers should also shortlist a few backup questions during this stage so that in case they get stuck with a question, they can attempt one of the backup questions.

Order of Attempting Sections: Candidates should ideally start the exam with the subjects of their strength. This would boost their confidence level and make them comfortable in taking the test. This would also ensure that they complete these subjects quickly and then spend more time on the weak subjects. Irrespective of the order of attempts, what is important is accuracy and test-takers must ensure that they do not compromise on the accuracy of the attempts. Otherwise, they would end up losing marks due to the negative marking scheme.

Time Management: In the three-hour duration test, candidates have to divide the time judiciously for choosing questions, attempting those and final revision. Maximum duration has to be kept for solving the paper. The rest of the time has to be carefully kept for choosing questions, which should be at the beginning of the exam and at least 15-20 minutes for revision. One should not take more than 10 minutes to choose the questions. For each question, candidates should use a maximum of five minutes. If the question takes more than that, then they should leave it out and move to the next question.

Boost Up Confidence and Maintain Composure: Even though the NEET exam structure has changed, students need to change their strategy and not the overall preparation since the sections and syllabus are the same. It’s time to be confident in your preparation and undergo regular practice sessions to be absolutely confident of the preparation. It is not the time to be tensed or nervous, but to maintain calm and composure to ace the test.

Read More:

How to Prepare for NEET 2023 Without Coaching? Self Study Tips, Timetable and More

NEET 2023: Five Tips to Excel Your Preparation