New Delhi | The medical entrance exam NEET-UG will be conducted on May 4, the National Testing Agency (NTA) announced on Friday.

The application process for the the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET)-UG began on Friday and will conclude on March 7. It is the largest entrance exam in the country in terms of the number of candidates appearing for the test.

In 2024, a record more than 24 lakh candidates took the exam. The NTA conducts the NEET every year for admission into medical colleges. A total of 1,08,000 seats are available for MBSS course. Approximately 56,000 of them are in government hospitals and about 52,000 in private colleges.

Admissions to undergraduate courses in Dentistry, Ayurveda, Unani and Siddha also utilise the results of the NEET for admission.

The NTA had last month announced that the crucial exam will continue to be conducted in pen and paper mode. The decision came after detailed deliberations between education and health ministries on whether to conduct the NEET-UG in pen and paper mode or online mode.

In the line of fire over alleged irregularities in NEET and PhD entrance NET, the Centre had in July set up a panel to ensure transparent, smooth and fair conduct of examinations by NTA.

According to the high-level panel headed by former ISRO Chief R Radhakrishnan, multi-stage testing for NEET-UG could be a viable possibility that needs to be followed up.

While NEET was last year plagued by several allegations of irregularities, including paper leaks, and litigation, UGC-NET was cancelled as the ministry received inputs that the integrity of the exam had been compromised. Both matters are being probed by the CBI.