Will There be NExT 2023? Lack of Clarity Over National Exit Test Leaves Medical Aspirants Confused

The National Exit Test (NExT) was introduced to medical education by the government in 2020. It is a final-year exit exam, that will be necessary to pass in order to obtain a practising license. In a July 2021 notification, the medical education regulator, NMC, said that the test would be conducted in the first half of 2023 and that there would be a mock-test before it to get students used to the pattern.

To be conducted by the National Board of Examination (NBE), the NExT will act as a single-window entrance exam that will replace the NEET PG and MCI screening exam or Foreign Medical Graduate Examination. There, however, has been no new update on the same.

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In the absence of an official timeline or guidelines, there are rumours, gossip and fleeting social media posts over the timeline of the test. This has created confusion among scores leaving scores of students in panic. Several aspirants have take to Twitter demanding a clarification on the exam pattern and exact date of the test.

NExT is going to be implemented from 2023. The Medical Council of India was replaced by the NMC in 2019, the law establishing it includes provisions for the NExT. It was also announced that once it is in place, NExT will act as both a graduation exam for students seeking licences and an examination for entry into postgraduate medical programmes. Only once graduating students pass the NExT will they receive their diplomas. In addition, it will take the place of the Foreign Medical Graduate Examination as a licensure examination for students who obtained their undergraduate medical degrees abroad (FMGE).

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