- By Sarju Saran Tiwari
- Wed, 14 Jan 2026 08:17 PM (IST)
- Source:JND
NEET PG 2025 Counselling: The qualifying percentile cut-off for the third round of the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (Postgraduate) or NEET-PG has been reduced to zero for reserved categories, the National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences (NBEMS) announced on Tuesday.
According to the notice, all candidates who appeared for the exam, including those who scored as low as -40 marks out of 800 marks, are now eligible to participate in the counselling process. This decision has been criticised by industry experts, who say it has lowered academic standards.
What are the changes in the NEET-PG cut-off?
In the notice, the NBEMS stated that it has reduced the qualifying percentile across all categories to allow more candidates to participate in the third round of counselling for postgraduate medical seats.
For candidates belonging to the SC, ST, and OBC categories, the qualifying percentile has been reduced to zero. This eliminates the minimum marks requirement, and all reserved category candidates who appeared for NEET-PG 2025 can now apply for the vacant MD and MS seats.
As per the revised qualifying percentiles for NEET-PG 2025, for the academic session 2025-2026, for the General/EWS, General PwBD, SC/ST/OBC(Including PwBD of SC/ST/OBC) categories, the revised qualifying cut-off is 7th, 5th, and 0th percentile, respectively. Therefore, the revised cut-off score after lowering the cut-off percentile is 103 for General/EWS, 90 for General PwBD, and -40 for SC/ST/OBC(Including PwBD of SC/ST/OBC) categories, respectively.
Why was the cutoff lowered?
The move aims to ensure that postgraduate medical seats do not remain vacant after the first two rounds of counselling. The Medical Counselling Committee recently revised the seat matrix after candidates resigned from allotted seats and new seats were added.
However, several doctors and medical academics have raised concerns. They argue that allowing candidates with very low or negative scores to compete for seats could compromise the quality of medical education and patient care in the country.
About NEET-PG 2025 Counselling:
The NEET-PG 2025 exam was held on August 3, 2025, and the results were declared on August 19. The first round of counselling took place between October and November, followed by the second round in late November and early December. The Medical Counselling Committee (MCC) is expected to release the schedule for the third round of counselling soon.
The board said that this decision was taken on the instructions of the Union Health Ministry.