Good news for medical aspirants! Now, students can appear in NEET thrice till they become 25

Mumbai: In a pleasant development for thousands of medical aspirants across the country, it has been decided that they can now appear in the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) thrice till they are 25 years old.

The move is aimed at discouraging the thousands of non-serious applicants who keep trying their luck at the examination. 

During a University Grants Commission (UGC) meeting in Delhi it was decided that the interested candidates must fulfil a new age criterion if they wish to appear in the medical and dental exam.

The minimum age to appear for NEET is 17 years, however, the maximum age for open category students is 25 years, and 30 years for the reserved category. 

To date, there has never been a maximum age defined to take NEET, nor has there been a limit on the number of attempts. "This is a good decision," Dr Pravin Shingare, director at the Maharashtra directorate of medical education and research (DMER), was quoted as saying by the Times of India.

Shingare said that the NEET information brochures contain this information and will be distributed soon.