NEET-SS: groups, eligibility, pattern and qualifying percentile

Which cycle this describes 

NBEMS has published the NEET-SS 2026 information bulletin. The examination is on 11 and 12 December 2026, and applications are open until 18 November 2026. The dates, fee and eligibility below are from the 2026 bulletin. Its chapters on the question paper and on qualifying could not be read in the published file, so those two sections still describe the 2025 cycle, and say so. Seat allotment after NEET-SS is on the SS counselling page.

The NMC’s Post-Graduate Medical Education Regulations, 2023 require candidates to secure the minimum eligible score in NEET-SS to pursue a super-specialty course (Section 4.1).

NEET-SS 2026 dates 

The edit window cannot change the name, nationality, email, Aadhaar, mobile number or test city. The bulletin says no further chance will be given after the image window. These windows are also tracked under Deadlines.

Eligibility 

• A recognised MD, MS or DNB degree or provisional pass certificate — or an equivalent recognised qualification — in a feeder specialty for the course sought, or the expectation of holding it by the cut-off date (31 January 2027 for the 2026 cycle). Requests from candidates whose results come after that date are summarily rejected.
• Registration with the NMC or a State Medical Council. A colour photocopy of the proof is needed on the examination day and at counselling or admission.
• Foreign nationals, including OCI cardholders, may appear without NMC registration. The NMC may grant temporary registration for the course period, limited to the institution of admission. Candidates who need security clearance from the Ministry of Home Affairs must obtain it before applying.
• Already in a super-specialty course? Candidates pursuing or who have joined a DM, MCh or DrNB through NEET-SS are not eligible for DrNB super-specialty admission through NEET-SS 2026 for the entire prescribed duration of the course they joined, even if they resigned or discontinued.
• FCPS qualifications of the College of Physicians and Surgeons, Mumbai are not equivalent to MD or MS (Ministry of Health letter of 30 April 2021), and candidates holding only such an FCPS are not eligible to apply.

The feeder specialties for each DM and MCh course are listed in Annexure 7 of PGMER-23 and in the bulletin’s own annexure. For example, DM Cardiology accepts MD/DNB General Medicine, Paediatrics or Respiratory Medicine; MCh Urology accepts MS/DNB General Surgery.

The fee 

₹3,500 for each question-paper group a candidate chooses to sit — ₹7,000 for two groups, ₹10,500 for three. Payment-gateway charges are extra; GST is exempted. The fee is not refundable and is not carried forward to a later examination.

Question-paper groups 

As described in the NEET-SS 2025 bulletin.

NEET-SS is a group-based examination. Every DM, MCh and DrNB course offered is placed in one of 15 groups, and all courses in a group share one question paper.

• 13 groups have a primary feeder broad specialty. Their papers ask questions from the whole of that specialty at PG exit level: Medical, Surgical, Paediatric, Obstetrics & Gynaecology, Orthopaedics, ENT, Radiodiagnosis, Anaesthesiology, Respiratory Medicine, Psychiatry, Pathology, Microbiology and Pharmacology.
• 2 groups — Critical Care Medicine and Medical Oncology — ask questions from the super-specialty subject itself, following an NBEMS notice of 11 October 2024 issued on the NMC’s directions.

A candidate may sit as many groups as their PG qualification is a feeder for, paying the fee for each. An MD Paediatrics holder, for example, may sit both the Medical and the Paediatric groups.

The paper 

As in NEET-SS 2025. The 2026 bulletin says only that the examination is computer-based, with each group in a morning or afternoon shift on 11 or 12 December 2026.

Qualifying 

As in NEET-SS 2025.

Candidates at or above the 50th percentile in their question-paper group are declared qualified in that group. Score cards are downloadable from the NBEMS website for six months after upload.