NEET SS exam is for those who wish to enroll themselves in super speciality courses in medicine across various colleges in India.
NEET SS is expanded into National Eligibility Cum Entrance Test Super Speciality Courses and is conducted by National Board of Examinations (NBE).
NEET SS exam: All about the great test
NEET UG vs NEET SS
NEET UG is an exam conducted by National Testing Agency (NTA) for admitting students into graduate medical course which is also known as MBBS.
Students who have studied plus-two with biology, physics and chemistry as subjects can attend NEET UG exam.
However, NEET SS exam is conducted by National Board of Examinations (NBE) and is for those students who want to pursue super specialisation in any one of the existing medical courses.
NEET SS exam is a single window entrance examination for admission to DM/MCh and DNB super speciality courses.
About NBE
Government of India established National Board of Examinations (NBE) in 1975 with a motive of improving the quality of medical education by establishing high and uniform standards of postgraduate examinations in modern medicine on all India basis.
NBE provides a common national standard for evaluation of minimum level of attainment of the knowledge and competencies of post graduate and post doctoral training.
The organisation also conducts NEET PG (Post Graduation), NEET MDS (Master of Dental Sciences), FMGE (Foreign Medical Graduates Exam).
Point to remember
A mere pass in NEET SS exam does not guarantee an applicant a seat in super speciality courses.
The selection to super specialty seats in any medical institution recognized for running super specialty courses is subject to fulfilling the admission criteria, eligibility, medical fitness and such criteria as may be prescribed by the respective universities, medical institutions, Medical Council of India, state/central government.
More about the exam
NEET SS exam is a computer based exam and held once a year. The duration of the exam is three-and-half hours.
The score of NEET SS exam is accepted by all private medical colleges, universities and deemed universities and also armed forces medical service institutions.
However there are certain institutions that donot accept NEET SS exam score and they are AIIMS (New Delhi), PGIMER (Chandigarh), JIPMER (Puducherry), NIMHANS (Bengaluru) and SCTIMST (Thiruvananthapuram).
The list of courses
Some of the super speciality courses for which students can seek admission through NEET SS exam are Neonatal Anaesthesia, Cardiology, Clinical Haematology, Clinical Immunology and Rheumatology.
Also among the courses are Clinical Pharmacology, Critical care medicine, Endocrine surgery, Gastroenterology, Geriatric Mental Health.
There are about 38 courses in which candidates can do super specialisation after seeking admission through NEET SS exam.
Also read ‘Know how to apply for pursuing PhD in medicine’
Eligibility
Candidates willing to write NEET SS exam must have completed post graduation in medical disciplines, they should have passed MD/MS/DNB from a recognised educational institutions.
Also the applicants for NEET SS exam must be registered with Medical Council of India or State Medical Council.
Foreign candidates
Candidates from other countries can also pursue super speciality courses in India, however, they also must appear for NEET SS exam and clear it.
These candidates need not be registered with MCI or SMC (Medical Council of India or State Medical Council) like how native candidates must be.
These candidates on passing NEET SS exam will be provided with a temporary registration for the duration of the course.
The registration will be limited only to the college/educational institution they are admitted.
How to apply
Applicants must apply for NEET SS exam online. They can visit the official website ‘www.nbe.edu.in’ and then click the button meant for ‘NEET SS exam’
The button ‘NEET SS’ will be located mostly on the left side below the banner.
Once the button is clicked, a new webpage is downloaded, its url is ‘https://cdn3.digialm.com//EForms/configuredHtml/1815/65870/Index.html’
On the page with above mentioned url, applicants can see button ‘New Registration’ written in white colour on blue background.
They have to click ‘New Registration’ and provide information like their name, date of birth, gender, nationality, mobile number and email id.
Post registration the applicants will obtain username and password. Using them, applicants have to login and begin applying for NEET SS exam.
After all the details are filled in the application form, applicants have to pay the registration fee and submit the application finally.
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Post final submission, candidates can take a printout of the application form and preserve for future use.
Candidates can remember that they can click the url ‘https://cdn3.digialm.com//EForms/configuredHtml/1815/65870/Index.html’ directly also to access the link to apply for NEET SS exam.
Registration fee
The registration fee for NEET SS exam totally is Rs 4,425. The examination fee is Rs 3,750 and GST at 18% is applicable which is Rs 675, so the total amount is Rs 4,425.
The fee can be payable through debit card, credit card or any other modes as suggested by authorities concerned from time to time.
Exam pattern
NEET SS exam will be held online and medium of instruction is English.
The questions in the exam will be in multiple choice format where every question will have more than one replies, candidates have to choose the right one among the many replies.
The total number of questions in NEET SS exam are 100 and every correct answer will get about four marks and wrong answer will lead to deduction of one mark.
The question paper
The question paper for NEET SS exam will have two parts – Part A and Part B.
Part A will have 40 questions. If a candidate chooses a super speciality course that has only one corresponding broad speciality course, then Part A will have only one subject.
If a candidate chooses a super speciality course that has more than one corresponding broad speciality course, then Part A of the question paper will have questions from all broad speciality subjects.
The Part B will have 60 questions which will be from the super speciality course, selected by the candidate.
Questions in this section are related to clinical practises and basic sciences related to the super speciality course chosen by the candidate.
Clubbing
Super speciality courses that have few seats have been clubbed together.
These courses that are clubbed together have only one broad speciality feeder course.
During the application process of NEET SS exam these courses that are clubbed together are offered as single course.
For example, Neonatology, Pediatric Gastroenterology, Pediatric Cardiology, Pediatric Nephrology, Pediatric Oncology & Pediatric Hepatology have been clubbed together with Pediatrics which is single feeder broad speciality course.
These courses that are clubbed together will be offered as a single course while filling the application for NEET SS exam.
Exam pattern for clubbed courses
Candidates who choose these clubbed courses will have questions related to single feeder broad speciality course in Part A of NEET SS exam.
The Part B will have questions from all the individual subjects that are clubbed together.
The clubbed subjects
The super speciality subjects that are clubbed together are given below in the tabular format below:
| DM/MCh Courses clubbed together | |
| Cardiac Anesthesia Organ Transplant Anaesthesia & Critical Care Paediatric and Neonatal Anaesthesia |
Surgical Gastroenterology/GI Surgery Hepato Pancreato Biliary Surgery |
| Neonatology Pediatric Gastroenterology Pediatric Cardiology Pediatric Nephrology Paediatric Oncology Pediatric Hepatology |
Vascular Surgery Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery Thoracic Surgery Paediatric Cardio-thoracic Vascular Surgery |
| Neurology Pediatric Neurology |
Neuroradiology Interventional Radiology |
| Gynaecological Oncology Reproductive Medicine and Surgery |
Point to remember
Applicants have to remember that issues like syllabus, mode of exam and evaluation process is likely to change in connection with NEET SS exam due to various reasons.
Students willing to apply for NEET SS exam can visit the official website of the exam at ‘www.nbe.edu.in‘ shortly before applying and click on the appropriate link for information booklet or bulletin to know about latest developments with regards to NEET SS exam.