NEET UG 2026: NTA Expected to Release Provisional Answer Key by End of May

The National Testing Agency (NTA) is expected to release the provisional answer key for the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) UG 2026 by May 30, according to sources close to the education ministry. This year, the exam was conducted on May 3 across 550 cities in India and 14 cities abroad. With a record-breaking 2.6 million candidates appearing for the test, the evaluation process is currently being expedited to ensure that the academic calendar for the 2026-27 session remains on track.\n\nOnce the answer key is published on the official website, candidates will be given a 48 to 72-hour window to raise objections against any discrepancies. For every challenged question, students will have to pay a non-refundable processing fee of INR 200. The NTA will then review these challenges through a panel of subject matter experts. If a challenge is found valid, the answer key will be revised, and the final result will be processed based on the updated data.\n\nDr. Anjali Deshmukh, a senior consultant at a leading coaching institute in Kota, noted that the expected cutoff for the General category might see a slight increase this year due to the moderate difficulty level of the Biology section. 'While Physics was slightly more calculative than last year, Biology and Chemistry remained largely NCERT-centric, which usually leads to higher scoring,' she explained. Students are advised to keep their admit cards and OMR sheet copies ready to cross-verify their responses once the portal opens.\n\nFollowing the declaration of results, which is tentatively scheduled for the second week of June, the Medical Counselling Committee (MCC) will begin the registration for the 15% All India Quota (AIQ) seats. State-level counselling authorities will simultaneously manage the remaining 85% of seats in government medical colleges. The competition for the approximately 1.1 lakh MBBS seats across the country remains fierce, and students are encouraged to research various private and deemed universities as backups.\n\nIn addition to the answer key, the NTA is also expected to release the scanned images of the OMR answer sheets and recorded responses. This transparency measure allows students to verify that their marks are calculated correctly. Candidates should monitor the official NTA website regularly for the latest notifications and avoid falling prey to misinformation circulating on social media platforms.