August 2025 or 2029 — When will the National Exit Test (NexT) be conducted?
This is a question that many in the medical fraternity are still trying to find the answer to. However, it goes without saying that in the absence of any official update from the National Medical Commission (NMC), the confusion persists.
This ambiguity around the proposed NExT exam is not a new one. Since the NMC Bill was first introduced in the Rajya Sabha in 2019, the question of when the exam will be conducted has been a persistent concern.
Speaking about this, health activist Dr Dhruv Chauhan said, “For five years, there has been the same pattern, the same story — each year brings another notice, another gazette, another set of guidelines, yet students are left wondering when the exam will actually be conducted. The answer remains elusive. At this point it is equal to torturing these students who are supposed to be the future, the cream of the nation. For medical students, NExT is always next but then there is no NExT.”
The NExT exam was proposed to replace the existing National Eligibility cum Entrance Test – Postgraduate (NEET-PG) and the Foreign Medical Graduates Examination (FMGE) — to act as a screening and licensing test for medical students in India to get a license to practice medicine or to take admission in postgraduate medical courses in Indian medical colleges.
Recently, the NMC Undergraduate Medical Education Board (UGMEB) President Dr Aruna V Vanikar told EdexLive that there is no official update regarding the implementation of the exam so far, turning down the speculations that the exam might be conducted in 2029.
FAIMA Chairman Dr Rohan Krishnan, told EdexLive, “There is no information available because no decision has been made yet by the authorities. Before we can even ask when the exam will be conducted, there are many other questions that need answering. For instance, who will be the conducting body? We do not know. I do not think NExT will be implemented anytime soon because the roadmap it requires is still incomplete.”
NExT: What has happened so far?
It is difficult to see what comes NExT for medical students.
But let us see what has happened so far when it comes to the National Exit Test. Here is a timeline:
July 2017: A draft for the National Medical Commission (NMC) Bill was placed in the public domain by the Centre. This bill introduced the concept of NExT exam — a common exit test for all doctors in India
The proposed exam received strong objections from medical students and many associations in the medical fraternity
July 2019: The Cabinet gave the nod to the NMC Bill. In August 2019, National Medical Commission (NMC) Act, 2019 was passed by the Indian Parliament and approved by the President of India. This resulted in the NMC replacing the Medical Council of India (MCI) as the apex medical education regulatory body.
July 2021: Media reports suggested that the first session of the NExT exam was scheduled to be implemented in 2023. However, with no official notification from the NMC, this led to significant backlash from the 2018 batch of medical students, who called for more clarity on the matter.
August 2021: NMC issues draft of ‘Postgraduate Medical Education Regulations, 2021′
The regulations stated that NEXT exam would not only serve as a licentiate exam for those who have pursued MBBS in India as well as abroad but would also serve as a gateway to admission to the postgraduate medical courses.
However, the regulations further mentioned that the NEET-PG exam will continue to be the entrance test for PG courses until “NExT becomes operational”
The draft also added that NExt score obtained by the candidates will be valid for a period of three years from the date the person has become eligible to be granted a license to practice as a medical practitioner, for admission to postgraduate broad speciality courses.
However, after receiving flak from medical associations, the NMC notified that it would take a second look at the draft regulations.
February 2022: A notice, claiming that the NExT exam will be conducted in December 2022, made its way to the public domain. The notice also contained information about the exam like subject-wise score distribution, rules and regulations, etc.
However, this notice was soon labelled fake by the NMC
March 2022: The buzz around the NExT exam resurfaced when during a hearing at the Delhi High Court, related to a petition seeking redaction of NEET-PG percentiles, the Central Government’s counsel mentioned that this might be the ‘last year of NEET-PG’.
“This may be the last year that NEET-PG takes place. We will come out with the ‘National Exit Test’. Just like AIBE is for lawyers, an exit test will be developed for doctors,” it was mentioned in the court.
Still, no official update was released by the NMC
September 2022: Putting an end to the “NExT in 2023” claims, the National Board of Examinations clarified that it will be conducting the NEET-PG exam in March 2023
December 2022: Finally releasing official information about the exam, the NMC released proposed draft regulations related to NExT.
The draft included comprehensive details about the NExT exam, covering its objectives, applicability, and conduct, as well as the calculation, validity, and uses of NExT scores.
January 2023: As questions persisted about who would conduct the NExT exam, the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare proposed establishing a new autonomous Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences (BEMS) under the National Medical Commission to oversee this responsibility
June 2023: As the medical community waited eagerly for the official schedule and guidelines for the NExT exam, the NMC released the CBME Curriculum for the MBBS course which stated that stated that the “Third Professional Part II examination will be called NExT and it shall be held at the end of 17th / 18th month of that training.”
Later, the NMC finally published the National Exit Test Regulations, 2023, putting an end to long-withstanding speculations around the exam
Again, to address the confusion among the medical community regarding the exam, the NMC decided to hold a webinar on NExT with all the medical colleges. All the final year MBBS students along with the faculty of the medical institutes across the country were directed by NMC to attend the webinar on June 27, 2023.
July 2023: The NMC announced that a mock test will be conducted with the final year MBBS students for NExT exam, in order to better grasp the exam pattern. It was also added that it will be conducted by AIIMS Delhi as a designated authority.
However, protests erupted across India as medical students and associations argued that the NExT exam should not be conducted for the 2019-batch MBBS students, as they were admitted before the NMC Act came into place.
Following this agitation, the then Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya clarified that the exam will not be applicable for 2019-batch students.
Days later, the NMC released an official notice postponing the exam until further notice. The mock test was also cancelled by the authority.
August 2023: The calm within the medical community remained shortlived. With the release of the CBME curriculum for the academic year 2023-24, the speculations around the conduct of the medical exam resurfaced.
News reports claimed that the exam will be conducted in February 2028. However, no official word was released regarding the same
January 2024: Amid all uncertainty regarding the conduct of NExT, the NMC circulated a feedback form regarding the examination to invite comments from various stakeholders. As reported later, this had received more than 35,000 responses
September 2024: Another year, another set of CBME guidelines led to the restart of discussion around NExT exam.
There is still no word from the NMC regarding the same.
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