All you need to know about NEXT (National Exit Test)

NEXT/National Exit Test

• NEXT or National Exit Test will be a common exit exam (FMGE + Exit for Indian graduates & NEET-PG)  conducted for the medical students to both practice medicine across India and pursue higher education in India as per the NMC Bill 2019.

1. 1. Mandatory for all FMGs & IMGs to qualify in this exit exam to gain their license to practice medicine in India
   2. PGMEE aspirants will be required to sit for this exam to acquire a PG seat.

• NEXT is expected to be implemented from 2022:
  • Screening: The NEXT shall replace FMGE
  • Licensure: The licensure exam for IMGs
  • Entrance: The NEXT shall replace NEET-PG

Purposes of NEXT

• Creating highly qualified and skilled doctors: NMC is on the path to standardize medical education in India & producing a more highly qualified and skilled batch through NEXT by implementing:

1. 1. the conceptual + analytic questions that can be solved only through a deeper understanding of the concepts  & critical understanding (conceptual understanding and problem-solving skills).
   2. Structures clinical examination to enhancing the clinical skills, instrumentation & communication skills

• The licensure exam for Indian (Licensure) & foreign medical graduates (Screening): foreign medical graduates & Indian medical graduates will sit for the single common standard next exam in order to licensure the graduates before starting their internship.

• Common PGMEE exam (entrance): NEET-PG will be subsequently replaced by NEXT where Scores (ranks) will also be used for granting admissions to the PG/Masters medical courses (MD/ MS/ DNB/ Diploma in Government and private medical college) in India.

• Improve rural medical services; MBBS graduates who clear the exam will be required to work for 3 years in a rural or tribal area & PG(MD/MS) aspirants who secure PG seats will further be asked work for another 3 years in similar difficult areas in their respective specialties in order to Improve rural medical services.

Pros & Cons of NEXT (NEXT exam)

NEXT in a nutshell

• NEXT will be conducted in two parts.

1. 1. NEXT Part -1: Online MCQ Based Exam (Still written exam is under consideration).
      • MBBS students will start the internship after passing the NEXT-1.
      • The score obtained in NEXT-1 determines the PG admission after the internship.
      • The score of the NEXT-1 is valid for 2-3 years for the purpose of PGMEE ranking.
   2. NEXT Part -2: Practical Based Exam (expected to be OSCE type as per the CBC).

• • • NEXT-2 is a pass/ fail type of exam.
    • NEXT-2 has to be cleared separately at the end of the internship.
    • NEXT-2 marks will not contribute to the PGMEE ranking/scores/admission.

NEXT Part -1

• NEXT Format:

• Subject distribution of NEXT:

• NB: Uneven distribution of the 19 subjects where the clinical subjects will carry disproportionately more marks than pre- & para-clinical subjects.
  • 10% MCQs from each stream will be from basic applied sciences (anatomy, physiology, biochemistry, microbiology, pathology & pharmacology)
  • 10% MCQs will be from Preventive & Social Medicine (PSM)
• MCQ pattern of NEXT:
  • 10% simple recall questions
  • 60% will be problem-solving questions
  • 30% comprehension & analytic questions
• NB: The above-mentioned details are only tentative & the official announcement about the exact NEXT question paper pattern is yet to come from NMC (National Medical Commission), NBE (National Board of Examination) or NTA (National Testing Agency).

FMGE vs NEET-PG vs NEXT

NEXT vs USMLE

Also Watch :

1. NEXT Exam from the youtube channel “Ranjan Kumar Patel”

Also read:

1. All you need to know about FMGE
2. All you need to know about USMLE
3. All you need to know about PLAB
4. All you need to know about AMC