Bhubaneswar: About 15.19 lakh students across the country including 42,000 from Odisha will appear in the National Eligibility Cum Entrance Test (NEET) scheduled on May 5 next year.
The all-India test to be conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA) for the first time will be held for admission to MBBS/BDS courses in Medical/Dental Colleges run with the approval of Medical Council of India (MCI) and Dental Council of India (DCI) under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare except All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) and Jawaharlal Institute of Post-graduate Medical Education & Research (JIPMER) Puducherry.
The pattern of the test shall consist of one paper containing 180 objective type questions (four options with the single correct answer) from Physics, Chemistry and Biology (Botany & Zoology). The duration of the test will be three hours beginning at 2 pm.
From this year, students willing to pursue their MBBS and BDS in foreign countries will have to secure the rank.
The test will be conducted in 154 centres in the country of which a maximum 56,683 studentshave preferred Delhi followed by 52,420 students for Patna, 42,375 for Bengaluru, 42,644 for Kota and 18,000 for Bhubaneswar.