By Alisha Shah 
NEET UG 2025 has tested 22.7 lakh candidates with only four paper sets and tougher Physics and Biology questions. Experts expect cut-offs to shift due to the tougher Physics section.
The NEET UG 2025 examination, held on May 4 by the National Testing Agency (NTA), turned out to be one of the toughest editions yet — not just because of difficult questions, but because of the shift in pattern and paper structure. With over 22.7 lakh candidates appearing at 5,453 centers across 500+ cities, it was India’s largest undergraduate medical entrance test to date.
But what really standing out was the major change in NEET 2025 paper pattern. Rather than the usual 24 paper sets, students faced just four sets, all designed with a consistently tough and concept-heavy format. The test focused more on application-based learning and pushed students to think deeply, rather than simply recall facts.
With the reduced number of sets and a jump in question complexity, NEET 2025 felt like a new challenge overall. Most students and experts described the paper as harder than the last few years, especially in Physics and Chemistry. While the Biology section mostly stuck to the NCERT syllabus, it still leaned heavily toward conceptual understanding rather than factual recall.
Thank you for touching Physics sections, experts are expecting a shift in NEET UG 2025 cut-offs.
Nitin Vijay, CEO and Founder of Motion Education, explained: “NEET 2025 saw a definite change in philosophy, it’s no longer a question of memorizing textbook lines. The paper called for maturity, clarity of thought, and an ability to think like a doctor, right at the entry gate.”
less time, more thinking
NEET UG 2025 carried the same total marks — 720 marks for 180 questions, with 4 marks for each correct answer and -1 for each incorrect one. But this time, all questions were compulsory and Biology wasn’t split into Botany and Zoology, making it harder to compartmentalize preparation.
The lack of internal options and the way questions were framed added pressure. Many students struggled to finish the paper within the 3-hour time frame, mainly because Chemistry required much more working out than usual.