The National Testing Agency (NTA) has released the category-wise qualifying cut-off marks for NEET UG 2026. A comparison with the previous two years shows that while qualifying percentiles remain unchanged annually, the actual cut-off marks have fluctuated – falling in 2025 before rising sharply in 2026.
NEET UG 2026 Category-Wise Cutoff PDF
Category-Wise Cut-Off: NEET 2024 vs 2025 vs 2026
| Category | Qualifying Percentile | 2024 Marks Range | 2024 Qualified | 2025 Marks Range | 2025 Qualified | 2026 Marks Range | 2026 Qualified |
| UR/EWS | ≥50th percentile | 720–162 | 11,65,334 | 686–144 | 11,01,151 | 715–213 | 9,96,935 |
| OBC | ≥40th but <50th percentile | 161–127 | 1,00,876 | 143–113 | 88,692 | 212–177 | 81,111 |
| SC | ≥40th but <50th percentile | 161–127 | 34,420 | 143–113 | 31,995 | 212–177 | 29,947 |
| ST | ≥40th but <50th percentile | 161–127 | 14,414 | 143–113 | 13,940 | 212–177 | 12,452 |
| UR/EWS & PwBD | ≥45th but <50th percentile | 161–144 | 473 | 143–127 | 472 | 212–194 | 480 |
| OBC & PwBD | ≥40th but <45th percentile | 143–127 | 269 | 126–113 | 216 | 193–177 | 185 |
| SC & PwBD | ≥40th but <45th percentile | 143–127 | 54 | 126–113 | 48 | 193–177 | 64 |
| ST & PwBD | ≥40th but <45th percentile | 142–127 | 13 | 126–113 | 17 | 191–177 | 11 |
| Total Qualified | 13,15,853 | 12,36,531 | 11,21,185 |
Cut-Off Marks Rise Sharply in 2026
The UR/EWS cut-off, which dropped from 720–162 in 2024 to 686–144 in 2025 due to a tougher paper, climbed back up to 715–213 in NEET UG 2026. OBC, SC and ST categories followed the same pattern, with marks range rising from 143–113 in 2025 to 212–177 in 2026.
Join NEET News 2026 Total Qualified Candidates Decline for Third Straight Year
The number of candidates qualifying NEET UG has fallen consistently over the past three years – from 13,15,853 in 2024 to 12,36,531 in 2025, and further to 11,21,185 in 2026 – a decline of nearly 2 lakh candidates over two years, even though the qualifying percentile criteria has stayed the same.
Qualifying Percentile Remains Fixed Every Year
NTA fixes the qualifying percentile for each category under NEET regulations – 50th percentile for UR/EWS, 40th percentile for OBC, SC and ST, and 45th/40th percentile respectively for PwBD candidates across categories. The actual marks corresponding to these percentiles change every year based on the difficulty level of the exam and the overall score distribution of candidates.
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