NEW DELHI: At 213 marks, NEET-UG recorded its highest ever qualifying cutoff, even as the number of candidates clearing the medical entrance examination fell by 1.15 lakh, a divergence driven by a smaller-appearing pool and a sharp upward shift in the score distribution. Moreover, the total qualified candidates for EWS and OBC for the first time breached 60% of their ‘appeared’ cohort, and the percentage of unreserved qualifiers now rests below 50%. The qualifying cutoffs for unreserved and EWS candidates rose to 213 from 144 in 2025 – a 69-mark jump. For OBC, SC/ST candidates, the threshold increased by 64 marks, from 113 to 177. The UR/EWS qualifying range moved from 720-162 in 2024 to 686-144 in 2025 and 715-213 this year. For OBC, SC and ST candidates, the lower end moved from 127 in 2024 to 113 last year before surging to 177.
Highest Success Rate In EWS; 9% Skipped Retest
Registrations remained virtually unchanged at 22.8 lakh, compared with 22.76 lakh in 2025. But only 19.99 lakh candidates appeared, down from 22.09 lakh – a decline of nearly 2.1 lakh. Attendance consequently dropped from 97.1% to 87.7%. The number qualifying fell from 12.37 lakh to 11.21 lakh, a decline of 9.3%. Yet the success rate among those who appeared remained virtually unchanged at about 56.1%, showing that the fall in qualifiers was largely an absentee story rather than a collapse in performance. Under the category-wise qualifying criteria, UR and EWS candidates must secure at least the 50th percentile, while OBC, SC and ST candidates require the 40th percentile. For candidates with benchmark disabilities, the qualifying requirement is 45th percentile for UR/EWS and 40th percentile for OBC, SC and ST.
Highest Success Rate In EWS; 9% Skipped Retest
In marks, the 2026 ranges were 715-213 for UR/EWS, 212-177 for OBC, SC and ST, 212-194 for UR/EWS-PwBD and 193-177 for most reserved-category PwBD candidates. The ST-PwBD range was 191-177. NTA’s table shows 9.97 lakh candidates clearing at the UR/EWS threshold, while 81,111 OBC, 29,947 SC and 12,452 ST candidates qualified within the lower score band. These are score-band figures and not the total number qualifying from each social category.Separately, category-wise results show that 61.8% of EWS candidates who appeared qualified, the highest rate, followed by 60.7% of OBC candidates. The qualification rate was 52.4% among SC candidates, 51.2% among general candidates and 49% among ST candidates.
