Embrace Your NExT Challenge
Pre-PG will be your companion throughout the journey
Both houses of the Indian Parliament passed the National Medical Commission (NMC) bill in 2019. Among other changes, the NMC bill recommended a new licentiate exam for Indian MBBS graduates.
This test, dubbed the National Exit Test (NExT), targets getting a bare minimum standard for medical graduates from over five hundred medical colleges in India.
NExT will replace NEET PG as well as FMGE in 2022. It will impact all MBBS students from and beyond the 2017 batch.
It would be ok if it were a simple change in name or a change in the format (think AIIMS-PG 2019.) But the proposed changes are a lot more drastic.
These changes will impact you even if you are preparing for NEET-PG 2021 or the other major tests in 2021.
Pre-PG will be ready to help everyone preparing for these tests. Before we get to what we are doing, let’s look at the changed pattern.
What’s NExT?
Two NExT Tests
The proposed NExT pattern will include questions that look a lot like USMLE STEP 1 and STEP 2 Clinical Knowledge pattern. It will have some similarities with the clinical questions asked in the recent AIIMS-PG and NEET-PG tests.
It will have two exams:
NExT 1 will be an MCQ-based test that graduating doctors will require to take before their internship. It will be an online test conducted once a year and doctors will not be able to take it again for a year after taking it.
If they accept the score, they can go ahead and start their internship. If they don’t accept it, they will have to drop the entire year and reappear in the NExT test the following year.
Doctors can’t start their internship without clearing NExT.
NExT will also determine which PG branches and colleges they qualify for. The score, likely graded in percentiles, is proposed to be valid for three years.
Pre-PG will help you prepare for the NExT 1 test.
NExT 2 will be a test to test the doctor’s practical knowledge that will be pass or fail. The local college or university will conduct this clinical test.
Pre-PG does not intend to help you prepare for NExT 2, at least not yet.
Going forward, whenever we talk about NExT, we are talking about NExT 1.
NExT Pattern
NExT will have a total of 540 questions, and will be conducted over 14.5 hours over three days:
Day1: Medical & Allied – 120 items (3 hrs)
+ Pediatrics – 60 items (1.5 hr post-lunch)
Day2: Surgery & Allied – 120 items (3hrs)
+ ENT – 60 items (1.5 hr post-lunch)
Day3: Obstetrics & Gynecology – 120 items (3 hrs)
+ Ophthalmology – 60 items (1.5 hr post-lunch)
About 10% of each stream will focus on the basic sciences. Also about 10% of the questions will be on Preventive & Public Health. These questions will be split across all subjects.
On average, doctors get 97 seconds per question. Compare that to 42 seconds per question in the current NEET PG. These numbers should give you a hint of the direction the test is going on the complexity of problems.
The approximate split of content will be:
- 60% Problem Solving
- 30% Comprehension/Analysis
- 10% Recall
The results will be percentile. NMC has not yet announced the cutoff for qualifying and getting an MBBS degree.
What this means for you
This change impacts you a lot if you intended to take any test after 2021. But the change also impacts everyone, even if you are planning to take the 2021 tests.
Why? NExT is going to highlight the importance of understanding the concepts, deliberate practice, and regular revision. But that’s not different from the past.
What’s different here? Besides practicing questions questions from old tests on Pre-PG, you have to purposefully practice some new clinical questions more thoroughly, and build mental models that help you solve clinical questions.
If you are planning on 2022 tests
If you are planning on taking 2022 tests, you need to start by identifying your weak topics where you lack understanding.
Use Pre-PG’s PrepDNA to find topics where you are in the orange or red zone. Strengthen your fundamental concepts through deliberate practice.
Example of Deliberate Practice in Medicine
Most young doctors like you have similar or sometimes better knowledge of medicine than the older, experienced doctors. But you must have come across some veteran doctors who are the real experts in their fields and are known to diagnose complex cases accurately.
How do they do it? These experts assimilate facts of the patient’s condition, recall relevant medical knowledge, and use the facts and knowledge together to identify several diagnoses. They then eliminate unlikely diagnoses based on further exploration and follow-up questions, finally honing in on the correct diagnosis. A doctor right out of medical school may come to the most obvious diagnosis for a medical condition but may end up ignoring critical but seemingly irrelevant information to come up with the correct diagnosis.
Getting to this level of expertise requires building mental models through deliberate practice. It does not mean that expert doctors have just been practicing for a longer time. It says that they have been challenging themselves with complex cases, getting insights on their mistakes, thereby improving their skills.
This is the kind of practice that helps you do well in any test. And its significance increases with a test like NExT.
Why does it matter for 2021 aspirants? If you are planning to take any of the tests in 2021, you can expect an increasing share of clinical questions.
Pre-PG’s NExT Manifesto
We are dedicated to our purpose.
Pre-PG’s purpose is to help every hardworking doctor be successful.
If you are a hardworking doctor, you don’t need to shell out tens of thousands to practice the new pattern of clinical questions. We will give you access to thousands of clinical questions for FREE!
At least 25,000 NExT-standard MCQs by Dec 2020
To be prepared for NExT you need to practice thousands of clinical questions. The explanations should not only provide the concepts to train your mind, but also give you insights into the usual traps.
Clinical questions are NOT HARD. You need to train your brain to get to the question the test makers are testing you on.
Should you also be solving previous years’ test papers? YES! Many of the clinical questions finally test you on the age-old concept-based factual questions.
PrepDNA to find weaknesses for the new NExT pattern
PrepDNA has always been your trusted source to figure out strengths and weaknesses.
Based on our preliminary analysis, we have found PrepDNA to be predictive of NExT question analysis. We will update the PrepDNA algorithms to account for your performance in NExT-standard questions.
Daily Clinical Quiz starting Late-June 2020
We recognize the importance of clinical questions not just for NExT 2022 but also for NEET PG and AIIMS PG 2021.
We have started a FREE DAILY CLINICAL QUIZ with 10 questions. This test will run in parallel with the Pre-PG Daily Test.
New NExT-focused Flashcards
We will add about 5,000 NExT-focused flashcards that will help you grasp the high-yield concepts
Why flashcards? Not all high-yield facts can be covered in explanations of MCQs and can fit better as flashcards. We looked into research that evaluated the impact of teaching methods on recall, and along with MCQs, flashcards ranked highest.
Please write to us if you have any questions related to NExT. Pre-PG will continue to be your companion in your journey towards NExT.
What about FMGEs how they will give step 1 nd how they will start internship if they already finished if they need to do it again than how they will give step 2 which colleges will take their step 2 if their colleges from where they get their degree is outside of our country
The last FMGE test will be in 2021. If you can attempt it at that stage, you should be fine. But if you intend to take the test after 2021, you need to take the NExT. We don’t have clarity on who will conduct the NExT Step 2 for foreign graduates.
We do not have clear answers on everything right now, but we are trying to get the latest information and will keep updating it.
What for the doctors who completed their internship?
If you completed your intership, the test you take will depend on the year. From what we know so far, you will have to take NExT 1 in 2022.
We recommend focusing on tests in 2021 if you have finished your internship. There are too many unknowns in 2022. It might work in your favor but your effort should be to minimize the uncertainity.
Want to know how NEXT works on an MBBS graduate before 2017 already completed internship but not cleared NEET PG or joined a PG course
For doctors who graduated before 2017 and have completed their internships, what matters as far as NExT 1 is concerned is when you take the test. If you take the test after 2021, you will need to take the NExT. We strongly recommend focusing on the 2021 tests since you still have time to prepare well and crack the tests.
Respected Sir,
I thank you very much for building such an amazing app to help us crack pg entrance teats.I am an MBBS student of Batch 2016.
I will complete my Internship by Dec 2021.
My question to you is how will I get admission in PG, through NEXT 1 (in March 2022) or through NEET PG in May 2022 ??
If things go as planned, you will need to take NExT 1 in March 2022. Good luck with your prep — you already have a head-start over competition if you are practicing on Pre-PG.
Stay focused and you will surely be successful. EVERY doctor who followed our advice has been successful so far. Good luck!
Yeah absolutely…but what is the exam pattern for pg aspirants who completed mbbs before 2017??
It depends on when you take the test. If you take the test before the end of 2021, you can take the historical pattern tests.
Things will change in 2022 even if you completed your MBBS before 2017. We will not be surprised if tests like AIIMS PG also merge with NExT.
Does the videos of prepg enough? Or we have to try new source?..for videos….As no notes r their.
Yes, the videos on Pre-PG are enough. We regularly hear from doctors that they are crisp and exactly what they need to prepare.
We strongly recommend preparing your own notes. We will be providing the presentation slides used in the videos for your reference, but you should focus on your own notes.
It is great that PrePG will prepare us for NEXT.
Thanks for your feedback. We focus on helping hardworking doctors be successful, and will continue to work towards our goal.
what about people who have already completed the internship and also appeared for neet pg but couldnt get seat,will they also be needed to give NEXT 1 and 2 or what? any info
Will the next exam (nmc) which was proposed to be started from 2022 for 2017 batch be postponed due to corona pandemic? Are there any recent updates about the same?
We have not heard any recent updates on the topic. Our best guess is that NExT will not be postponed unless things get a lot worse.
In any case, you should assume that the 2022 test will be in the NExT pattern. It is a tougher test and you will only prepare better if you make this assumption.
kindly tell ur source of information is there any recent guidelines in regard of NEXT 2022
We have talked with relevant authorities and gone through available documents. There have been on additional updates since early this year.
Based on our conversations, we recommend assuming that what we heard in February/March 2020 still holds true.
We will keep you updated as we get more information. Good luck!
Sir. As u said tht clearing NEXT1 will b valid for 3 years.. whtr it holds for even opting of seat also. ? Cz u mentioned v cannot reappear for exam .
You can reappear for the test if you ACCEPT the NExT results. If you do accept the results, your score will be valid for 3 years and you cannot reappear in NExT.
You can also choose to NOT ACCEPT the NExT results and reappear in the test the following year. But there’s a catch. You can’t start your internship until you accept your NExT results.
Batch 2015 have to give only next 1 or has to give both next 1 and 2
If you are from any batch before 2017, you just need to focus on NExT 1.
Does AIIMS may 2021 will be conducted??
what about people who have already completed the internship,will they also be needed to give NEXT 1 and 2 or what?
What ll be the procedure for diploma candidates?! NEXT 1 or 2?!
What about 2016 batch will they have neet or next?
What changes NEXT Test is going to bring for FMGE aspirants?
“Clinical Tests are helping me lot to prepare as per the latest pattern. Gr8 help”
Thanks for providing daily free clinical Quiz.Helping me a lot
“I am a 2017 batch student..will be appearing in NEXT. This article cleared all my doubts. Thank you so much”
“Clinical Tests are helping me lot to prepare as per the latest pattern. Gr8 help”
Clinical Tests are helping me lot to prepare as per the latest pattern. Gr8 help”
good morning maam/sir
.my rank was 33000-neet 2018-I had taken DA in 2018 in private college in karantaka (which I have completed in august 2020). I now planned of giving neet again in 2022 for MD seat as I have less time for preparation for neet 2021 as my DA exams got postponed due to covid situation.but there is a high probability of NEXT exam in 2022.
what should I do sir?should I try for secondary dnb in dec,2020?or neet 2021?will there be difference in the future -regarding MD/sec DNB?
kindly help sir-really in dilemma.
Absolutely amazing app. Hav recommended it to all my friends
What about the final exam we write in 3rd year.. I meant the writing exam and clinical practicals.?
Sir is competition increase very much as number of students are more
Denge students are also included
Plz clear my doubt
Jai shree Krishna. I am a 2017 batch student studying in China. I will complete my graduation in 2022 june. So,Are we able to appear for NEXT-1(In March) before completing graduation?
Or we can only give exam after completing graduation in 2023 March?