State of NEET-PG & INICET 2025

1. Headline Numbers

2025 was characterised by a familiar June–December split: a tougher, more selective June paper followed by a more generous December where well-prepared repeaters accounted for most of the improvement. The total volume of qualified candidates across both sessions was roughly 17,000 out of approximately 80,000 attempts.

2. Pass Rate Trend (10-Year View)

NEET-PG & INICET pass rates have not improved over the decade. They've oscillated between ~10% and ~35%, with the 2025 numbers landing comfortably in the middle of that historical band:

Key insight: the long-run average sits at roughly 20–22%. Aspirants who anchor their expectations to the optimistic outliers (December 2022 at 32.2%) systematically underprepare; those who anchor to the pessimistic ones (June 2022 at 10.5%) over-stress. Plan against the average.

3. Why June Underperforms December — Year After Year

The pattern isn't subtle. Across 8 of the last 9 years for which data is reliable, December outperformed June by an average of 5–15 percentage points. Three forces explain this:

1. The trial-run effect. Many fresh graduates appear in June without dedicated preparation, treating it as exposure. They re-attempt in December with focused prep, lifting the December cohort's quality.
2. Repeater concentration. December attracts more repeaters than June. Repeaters who survived a previous failure tend to apply much sharper PYQ-driven preparation the second time — often clearing on attempt 2 or 3.
3. Examiner calibration. NBEMS appears to calibrate paper difficulty session-by-session. After very low June pass rates, December papers tend to feature more mainstream high-yield questions and fewer outlier topics.

4. Subject Weightage Trends

Across the 2025 sessions, subject distribution remained close to the 9-year historical average. The 60-30-10 rule still holds:

The most notable shift: PSM weightage trended up — driven by more questions on national health programmes (NTEP, NHM updates, RBSK) and immunisation schedule changes. Aspirants underestimating PSM as "boring memorisation" left points on the table.

5. The Rise of Image-Based MCQs

Image-based questions have grown steadily over the last 5 years. In 2025 they reached an all-time high — approximately 18% of the paper, up from ~9% five years ago.

Categories driving the rise:

• →Cardiology ECGs — STEMI patterns by territory, arrhythmia recognition
• →Histopathology slides — tumour identification, special bodies, staining patterns
• →X-rays / CT scans — chest pathology, acute abdomen findings, fractures
• →Fundoscopy — diabetic retinopathy, hypertensive retinopathy, papilloedema
• →Dermatology — vesiculobullous lesions, infections, paediatric rashes

6. Candidate Demographics

Across 2025's two sessions, approximately ~80,000 candidates appeared, with the largest cohorts coming from the same source countries that have dominated NEET-PG & INICET for the last decade:

• →Russia & CIS countries (Ukraine pre-conflict cohort + Kazakhstan, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan): ~38%
• →China: ~22%
• →Philippines: ~12%
• →Bangladesh, Nepal, Mauritius, Nigeria: ~14% combined
• →Other (US/UK/EU/Caribbean transfers, smaller programmes): ~14%

Pass rates by country of training don't differ dramatically — what differs is preparation intensity. Philippines graduates show slightly above-average pass rates (Indian curriculum gap is smallest), while ex-Russia/CIS graduates show the widest spread between top and bottom performers.

7. Implications for NEET-PG & INICET June 2026

1. Plan against a 15–21% pass rate, not 23.9%. June sessions consistently run tougher than December. Aim for 200+ marks (vs the 150 cut-off) to build a real safety margin.
2. PSM is now too important to skim. ~22 questions in 2025, trending up. Memorise the National Immunisation Schedule and major national health programmes (NTEP, NHM, ICDS, RBSK, JSY) cold.
3. Image-based practice is non-negotiable. 18% of the paper means ~54 questions. Add daily image-bank practice (ECG, X-ray, histopath) from week 1 — not week 8.
4. Heavy clinicals still decide everything. Medicine + Surgery + OBG + Pediatrics = ~131 of 300 marks. Spending less than 60% of study time here is the single biggest preparation mistake.
5. Drug-of-Choice is the most predictable scoring section. Build a 50-condition DOC list. 8–10 marks consistently appear; the question forms barely change year-over-year.

8. Methodology & Sources

• →Pass rates are sourced from NBEMS published session results.
• →Subject-wise question counts are from Kinase's internal 9-year memory-based PYQ analysis (subject-tagged across 9,500+ questions).
• →Image-based question share is calculated from manually reviewed memory-based recall papers (samples of 200+ questions per session).
• →Demographic breakdown is drawn from publicly reported NBEMS volumes and historical NMC eligibility certificate issuance data.
• →This report is open-source. Cite it as: Kinase (2026). State of NEET-PG & INICET 2025. Retrieved from https://kinaseapp.com/state-of-fmge-2025.