NEET UG cutoff: 2026 qualifying marks by category
The official 2026 qualifying percentiles and marks, with 2025 for comparison. The 2027 cutoff will only be known when the 2027 result is declared.
What is the NEET UG qualifying cutoff?
NEET UG does not have a fixed pass mark. You qualify if you reach a set percentile for your category, and NTA converts that percentile into marks once the result is out. So the marks needed change every year.
The qualifying percentiles are:
| Category | Qualifying percentile |
|---|---|
| General / EWS | 50th |
| OBC / SC / ST | 40th |
| General / EWS with benchmark disability (PwBD) | 45th |
| OBC / SC / ST with benchmark disability (PwBD) | 40th |
The percentile is based on the highest marks in the All-India common merit list. The Central Government may lower it if seats are left vacant.
NEET UG 2026 cutoff by category
These are the official figures from NTA’s key data release of July 2026. They are based on the 21 June 2026 re-examination, which replaced the cancelled 3 May exam (see important dates).
| Category | Percentile band | 2026 marks range | Qualified in 2026 | 2025 marks range |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| UR / EWS | 50th and above | 715 – 213 | 9,96,935 | 686 – 144 |
| OBC | 40th to below 50th | 212 – 177 | 81,111 | 143 – 113 |
| SC | 40th to below 50th | 212 – 177 | 29,947 | 143 – 113 |
| ST | 40th to below 50th | 212 – 177 | 12,452 | 143 – 113 |
| UR / EWS-PwBD | 45th to below 50th | 212 – 194 | 480 | 143 – 127 |
| OBC-PwBD | 40th to below 45th | 193 – 177 | 185 | 126 – 113 |
| SC-PwBD | 40th to below 45th | 193 – 177 | 64 | 126 – 113 |
| ST-PwBD | 40th to below 45th | 191 – 177 | 11 | 126 – 113 |
All marks are out of 720.
Why was the 2026 cutoff so much higher than 2025?
The General and EWS qualifying mark rose from 144 in 2025 to 213 in 2026. NTA has not stated a reason, and we will not guess one. What matters for you is the rule: the cutoff is a percentile, so it moves with how everyone else scores.
How many students took NEET UG 2026?
| 2026 | 2025 | |
|---|---|---|
| Registered | 22,79,743 | 22,76,069 |
| Appeared | 19,99,895 | 22,09,318 |
| Absent | 2,79,848 | 66,751 |
| Qualified | 11,21,185 | 12,36,531 |
In 2026, 6,54,049 women and 4,67,134 men qualified. The exam ran at 5,440 centres in 551 cities in India and 14 cities abroad.
How were scores spread at the top?
| Score (out of 720) | Candidates in 2026 |
|---|---|
| 650 or more | 1,492 |
| 600 or more | 10,160 |
| 500 or more | 90,780 |
The highest score in 2026 was 715, achieved by two candidates.
Is the qualifying cutoff the same as the admission cutoff?
No, and this is the most common mix-up.
- The qualifying cutoff above decides whether you are eligible for counselling at all.
- The admission cutoff is the closing rank at a particular college, for a particular course and quota, in a particular round. It comes out of counselling, not from NTA.
MCC runs counselling for the 15% All-India Quota and central institutions. Each state runs its own quota. Their closing ranks are published by them, not in the NEET result.
What happens if two students have the same marks?
NTA breaks ties using Biology marks first, then Chemistry, then Physics, then the ratio of wrong to right answers. The full order is on the exam pattern page.
What does this mean for your preparation?
Qualifying is only the first step. Seats are allotted by rank, so aim well above the qualifying mark: in 2026, 90,780 candidates scored 500 or more.
Two habits move your score more than anything else: fewer careless negatives, and steady marks in Biology. The preparation strategy covers both.
TestGuru’s NEET UG mock tests are not open yet. When they are, each report will show where your marks were lost and why.