The National Testing Agency (NTA) has announced the NEET UG RE 2026 results. More than 20 lakh candidates appeared for the exam, of which 11.21 lakh candidates have qualified. Candidates can check their scorecards on the official NTA website: neet.nta.nic.in. The top ranks — Aryan Gupta and Panshul Bansal — both have secured 715 out of 720 marks, which goes on to show the stiff competition in the medical college industry for just 1.36 lakh MBBS seats. (Getty/Representative)

The cut off marks has seen a huge rise this year. The qualifying cut off for the Unreserved (UR)/Economically Weaker Section (EWS) category has increased sharply this year. It has gone up from 686–144 in 2025 to 715–213 in 2026. Last year, for the General/EWS category, the qualifying mark stood at 276 at the 50th percentile, which was lower than 291 in 2023 but slightly above 275 in 2022. (Representational Image/ Getty)

In NEET, there are two important cut-offs you need to know about: the qualifying cut-off and the admission cut-off. The qualifying cut-off is the minimum score you need to be eligible for counselling. It includes 50th percentile for General (UR/EWS); 40th percentile for OBC/SC/ST; 45th percentile for UR/EWS – PwBD; and 40th percentile for OBC/SC/ST – PwBD. However, just qualifying is nowhere near enough to get a seat at govt medical colleges especially AIIMS Delhi. To actually get a seat here, you must score very high marks and secure a top rank, which usually means scoring around 700 or more. (Representative/File)

The NEET rank is the key that decides whether you will enter the gates of the top medical institute of the country – AIIMS Delhi. If you belong to the general category, you must secure a rank within the top 50 to get an MBBS seat there. The competition is so intense that only students who answer almost the entire paper correctly manage to reach this level. (Getty Images)

Admission to most govt colleges comes under the All India Quota (AIQ), and the counselling is conducted by the Medical Counselling Committee (MCC). After the NEET results are declared, students register for counselling. This is followed by choice filling, seat allotment, and document verification. After each round of counselling, the opening and closing ranks are published. These ranks give students a clear idea of the range within which admissions are granted. (File/Representative)