NEET-UG 2025: Tough Paper, reduced exam time may push cut-offs down
Nitin Vijay, Founder and CEO of Motion Education, said the paper was tough, especially with a lengthy Biology section along with Physics. Under the new pattern, students had 20 minutes less to solve the paper, and all 180 questions were mandatory with no internal choices. He said the cut-off for government medical colleges is expected to be lower. A safe score is projected to be around 595–605 for the General category, 595–600 for OBC, 580 for EWS, 470 for ST, and 460 for SC.
Rohit Gupta, Chief Academic Officer at PhysicsWallah, said, 'Considering the overall difficulty level of NEET 2025 and trends from previous years, we expect the general category cut-off to fall between 540 and 560 marks.' He said the paper was concept-heavy. Biology was the most accessible and NCERT-centric. Chemistry had standard and application-based questions. Physics was the most challenging due to numerical and time-intensive problems.
Mr. Gupta added that in previous years, cut-offs rose when papers were predictable and NCERT-aligned. But this year's increased conceptual load and the 20-minute reduction in exam time may affect performance. Also, NEET aspirants declined by nearly one lakh. Combined with more medical colleges and seats, this may help improve admission chances.
Harish Butle, Founder, Deeper, an NGO that conducts mock tests for competitive exams, explained that cut-offs vary state-wise. In Maharashtra, the cut-off may be 490 to 500 for 85% state quota seats. For the 15% All India Quota (AIQ) seats, it may be around 530-540. He said state merit lists are based on All India Ranks (AIR). Higher AIR means higher merit.
Dhruv Chavan said, 'This year's exam was the most difficult to date – students had told me this and I saw the physics paper.' He added that the calculations in physics were tougher and more time-consuming than last year. Numerical questions were lengthy. He expects the cut-off to be between 550–575 because of the tough physics section.
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