NEET Exam Pattern 2026: Marking Scheme, Subject Wise Weightage

NEET Exam Pattern 2026: The National Testing Agency (NTA) has designed the exam pattern for the NEET UG examination. According to the examination pattern, the NEET exam will be conducted over a duration of 3 hours. The NEET UG exam pattern is released on the official website along with the exam information bulletin. 

According to the latest information shared by NTA regarding the NEET exam pattern, the exam will now consist of 180 multiple-choice objective-type questions from the Physics, Chemistry, and Biology (further divided into Botany and Zoology) sections. The optional section B, which was added during the COVID years, has now been discontinued. Candidates appearing in the NEET UG 2026 exam will follow the pre-COVID pattern. 

NEET Exam Pattern 2026: Latest Revision

The exam pattern for the NEET UG 2026 exam has been reverted to the pre-COVID pattern. This clarification was issued by the National Testing Agency last year on the official exam website, neet.nta.nic.in. Check the notice below: 

NEET Exam Pattern 2026: Highlights

NEET UG is conducted in a total of 13 different languages, giving candidates more opportunities in terms of opting for regional languages. Apart from checking the NEET exam pattern 2026, candidates should also check the NEET UG syllabus 2026 for better preparation.

Candidates appearing for NEET UG 2026 can have a look at the key highlights about the NEET exam pattern below:

NEET Exam Pattern 2026: Subject-wise Weightage

As per the NEET exam pattern, the question paper consists of three subjects - Physics, Chemistry, and Biology. Further, each section is divided into two different sections. The table given below will help the candidate to understand the section-wise weightage and the breakup of the question paper.

The table below shows the sections of the NEET 2026 exam pattern shared by NTA. Detailed exam pattern and distribution of marks will be shared soon, along with the official NEET UG exam notification. 

NEET UG Pattern 2026: Distribution of Marks 

NTA also releases the marking scheme for the NEET UG exam every year. Check the marking scheme below:

• Candidates will get four marks for each correct answer 
• Since the exam has negative marking, one mark will be deducted for each incorrect answer
• No marks will be deducted if a candidate has left the question unanswered 
• If a candidate has marked two or more responses on the OMR sheet, then it will be considered as  incorrect, and one mark will be deducted from them

NEET Exam Pattern 2026: Clarification of Pattern 

The NTA has provided the following instructions to clarify the NEET exam pattern:

• Section B or the optional section has been discontinued from the NEET UG 2026 exam pattern. The optional section was added during the COVID period, along with an extra duration of 20 minutes. NTA has now released a notice regarding the discontinuation of the optional section. 
• NEET UG 2026 exam pattern will now be reverted to the pre-COVID rules. Hence, there will be a total of 180 questions (instead of 200) in the question paper. Physics and Chemistry sections will have 45 questions each, while Biology (further divided into Zoology and Botany) will consist of 90 questions. 
• The duration of the NEET UG exam has been reduced to 180 minutes from 200 minutes, i.e., 3 hours from 3 hours and 20 minutes.

NEET UG Pattern 2026: Guidelines to fill OMR Sheet

NTA has issued a list of guidelines for candidates taking the NEET UG examination. Check these instructions to follow while filling in the OMR sheet in the NEET UG examination:

• Candidates have to mark the answer using a ballpoint pen, which will be given to students in the examination hall. 
• Candidates are not allowed to make any changes to the OMR sheet.
• OMR sheets cannot be erased or obliterated.
• Candidates have to do the rough work on the booklet only.
• Candidates should always remember their test booklet code on the OMR sheet.