How NEET rank relates to marks#
Your All India Rank (AIR) is your position when every candidate is sorted by total NEET score out of 720. If a number of candidates score higher than you, your rank is roughly that number plus one, with ties broken using the rules in the NTA bulletin.
That is why the official score bands above are useful. In NEET (UG) 2026, 10,160 candidates scored 600 or more, so any candidate with 600 marks had a rank of about 10,160 or better. A 500 placed a candidate within roughly the top 90,780.
The same marks can give a very different rank in another year. The 2026 re-examination produced a higher top score and higher qualifying marks than 2025, so do not carry one year's marks-to-rank relationship into the next. Use rank, not marks, when you compare colleges across years.
Why NTA does not publish a marks vs rank table#
NTA publishes each candidate's score, AIR and category rank on the scorecard, plus summary statistics in the result press release. It does not publish a full marks-vs-rank list. Websites that show such a table have built it from scorecards shared by students or from their own estimates. Use those only as rough guides, and rely on official counselling data for decisions.
NEET cutoff: category-wise qualifying marks#
The qualifying cutoff is the minimum score you need to be eligible for admission. It is set by percentile, so the marks change each year.
⇆ Swipe sideways to see the whole table
| Category | Qualifying percentile | 2026 score range | 2025 score range |
|---|---|---|---|
| General / EWS | 50th | 715–213 | 686–144 |
| OBC | 40th | 212–177 | 143–113 |
| SC | 40th | 212–177 | 143–113 |
| ST | 40th | 212–177 | 143–113 |
| General / EWS with PwBD | 45th | 212–194 | 143–127 |
| OBC with PwBD | 40th | 193–177 | 126–113 |
| SC with PwBD | 40th | 193–177 | 126–113 |
For the ST with PwBD range, check the official result notice on neet.nta.nic.in (opens in a new tab).
Totals: about 20 lakh candidates appeared in NEET (UG) 2026 and 11.21 lakh qualified (result declared 16 July 2026). In NEET (UG) 2025, 22,09,318 appeared and 12,36,531 qualified (result declared 14 June 2025).
What happened in NEET UG 2026
NEET (UG) 2026 was first held on 3 May 2026. On 12 May 2026, NTA, with the approval of the Government of India, cancelled that exam following paper-leak allegations, and the matter was handed to the CBI. NTA held a re-examination on 21 June 2026 (2:00 pm to 5:15 pm) at 5,440 centres in 551 cities in India and 14 cities abroad. The result of the re-examination was declared on 16 July 2026. All 2026 figures on this page refer to that official result.
Qualifying is not the same as getting a seat. Government college seats usually close at ranks far better than the qualifying mark, and closing ranks change with every round of counselling.
State quota in Tamil Nadu#
Seats are filled through two separate counselling systems:
- All India Quota and central institutions: the Medical Counselling Committee (mcc.nic.in (opens in a new tab)) counsels for 15% All India Quota seats in participating government medical and dental colleges, plus seats in AIIMS, JIPMER, central universities and deemed universities. Counselling runs in several rounds; check the current round schedule on the MCC site.
- Tamil Nadu state quota: the Selection Committee under the Directorate of Medical Education and Research runs admission to government college seats and government-quota seats in self-financing colleges, through tnmedicalselection.net (opens in a new tab). A separate management-quota prospectus is issued for management seats.
For 2026-27, the Selection Committee issued its government-quota prospectus on 30 June 2026 and published provisional rank lists, including a separate 7.5% reservation rank list for Tamil Nadu government school students, on 12 August 2026. The state rank list is prepared from NEET scores of eligible Tamil Nadu candidates, so your state rank is much better than your AIR. Read the prospectus for nativity rules, community reservation and documents.
What your rank means for government and private seats#
- Government seats are the most competitive in both All India Quota and state quota. Check the previous year's closing ranks published by MCC and by the Tamil Nadu Selection Committee for each round, not marks.
- Self-financing and deemed university seats usually close at much higher ranks, but fees are far higher.
- Category matters: compare your category rank with the category-wise closing ranks of the previous year.
- Rounds matter: closing ranks move in later rounds as candidates resign or upgrade seats.
We do not publish predicted cutoffs, because they change with seat matrices and every year's paper. Always use the official allotment results.
How to score good marks in NEET#
- Make NCERT your base, especially for Biology, which carries 360 of the 720 marks.
- Prioritise units using our NEET chapter wise weightage list.
- Practise full 3-hour tests on OMR sheets and keep an error log.
- Avoid blind guessing: each wrong answer costs 1 mark.
For the full plan, read how to prepare for NEET, and check the rules for the next exam in NEET eligibility and age limit. You can track your own level with timed NEET mock tests.