NEET PG 2025 to be Held in Two Shifts: The National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences (NBEMS) has officially confirmed that the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test for Postgraduate (NEET PG) 2025 will be conducted in two shifts, similar to the previous year. Scheduled for June 15, 2025, this decision has raised significant concerns among aspiring medical professionals, especially regarding the normalization process and the potential for an uneven playing field.
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The Two-Shifts Format: Key Details
According to the official notification released by NBEMS, the NEET PG 2025 exam will take place on June 15, 2025, in two separate shifts:
This is the second consecutive year that the NEET PG exam will be held in two shifts. In the previous year, the exam was divided into two sessions to accommodate the increasing number of candidates, with the exam taking place across multiple centers and cities.
Why Are Aspirants Concerned About Two Shifts?
While the decision to hold the NEET PG exam in two shifts was made to accommodate the growing number of medical aspirants, it has raised concerns among many candidates. The most significant issue revolves around the difference in question difficulty between the two shifts, which could potentially affect the fairness of the results.
Uneven Playing Field: Variations in Paper Difficulty
One of the primary concerns of candidates is the potential variation in the difficulty levels of the question papers for each shift. If one shift has an easier set of questions compared to the other, it may give certain candidates an unfair advantage, skewing the overall results. This issue has led to protests and calls for a single-shift exam to ensure uniformity.
Normalization Process: Lack of Transparency
Another major concern is the normalization process used by NBEMS to adjust scores across different shifts. The normalization process was introduced to ensure that candidates are evaluated fairly, regardless of which shift they were assigned to. However, many aspirants remain skeptical about its fairness and effectiveness. Last year, there were complaints about the lack of transparency in the normalization process, with some candidates even questioning its accuracy.
Several medical associations, including the Federation of All India Medical Associations (FAIMA), have raised concerns about the normalization process, arguing that it introduces inconsistencies and biases. They believe that the differences in difficulty between shifts make it challenging to establish a truly fair normalization system, which could disadvantage candidates in more difficult shifts.
Medical Associations Push for a Single-Shift Exam
Several prominent medical organizations, including FAIMA and the United Doctors Front (UDF), have expressed their preference for a single-shift exam. They argue that holding NEET PG in a single shift would eliminate the need for normalization altogether, ensuring that all candidates face the same set of questions under identical conditions. This would, in turn, promote fairness and transparency in the selection process.
Dr. Rohan Krishnan, the founder of FAIMA, emphasized that the NEET PG exam could easily be conducted in a single shift, given the relatively smaller number of candidates (approximately 2 lakh). He suggested that the exam's complexity should not be underestimated, pointing out that even larger exams, such as the NEET UG, with more than 20 lakh candidates, are conducted in a single shift.
The Benefits of a Single-Shift Examination
Medical experts and candidates alike have pointed out several advantages of holding NEET PG in a single shift:
- Uniform Difficulty Level: A single shift would ensure that all candidates face the same level of difficulty in their exam papers, eliminating any chances of unfair advantage based on the shift they are assigned to.
- Transparent Ranking System: With only one shift, there would be no need for a complicated normalization process, ensuring greater transparency in the ranking system.
- Reduced Stress and Anxiety: Candidates would have fewer worries about differences in exam difficulty, allowing them to focus on preparing for the test itself rather than worrying about potential biases in the process.
What Happened in NEET PG 2024?
Last year, the NEET PG exam was also conducted in two shifts for the first time. Although the normalization process was implemented to ensure fairness, many candidates raised concerns about the effectiveness of this system. In particular, candidates who appeared for the second shift, which was considered more difficult, felt that their marks were unfairly affected by the normalization process. As a result, some students with similar scores in both shifts found discrepancies in their ranks.
For instance, a candidate who appeared in the second shift of NEET PG 2024 reported scoring 470 marks and receiving a 76 percentile, while students in the first shift with the same score were ranked higher. Such instances have fueled the debate on the fairness of the two-shift system and the normalization process.
The Role of Normalization: Is It Fair?
Normalization is a method used to adjust the scores of candidates who appeared in different shifts to a common scale. In NEET PG 2024, for example, the highest score in each shift was standardized to the 100th percentile, and percentile scores were calculated with precision up to seven decimal places. This method aimed to ensure that candidates were ranked fairly, regardless of the shift in which they appeared.
However, the normalization process has its critics. Medical organizations argue that the differences in paper difficulty across shifts make it difficult to achieve a truly fair comparison. Some candidates have even questioned whether the normalization process is transparent and whether it accurately reflects their performance.
Dr. BN Gangadhar, Chairman of the National Medical Commission (NMC), defended the normalization process, stating that it is a widely accepted method used in exams worldwide. He argued that normalization allows for a more manageable examination process and that concerns over the method are unwarranted.
The Way Forward: Will the Two-Shifts System Continue?
As the NEET PG 2025 exam approaches, the debate over the two-shift system continues. Candidates are eagerly awaiting the official information bulletin, which is expected to provide more clarity on the exam pattern, eligibility criteria, and the normalization process.
In the meantime, medical aspirants are actively voicing their concerns through petitions and social media campaigns, urging NBEMS to reconsider the decision and conduct the exam in a single shift. The final decision will likely impact not only the NEET PG 2025 exam but also the future structure of medical entrance exams in India.
While the decision to conduct NEET PG 2025 in two shifts has sparked significant debate, it is clear that the concerns surrounding fairness, transparency, and the normalization process are not easily resolved. As the exam date draws near, candidates remain hopeful that their voices will be heard and that the exam will be conducted in a way that ensures fairness for all participants.
