INI-CET
Common entrance for MD, MS, MCh (6-year), DM (6-year) and MDS seats at AIIMS (all campuses), JIPMER Puducherry, PGIMER Chandigarh, NIMHANS Bengaluru and SCTIMST Thiruvananthapuram.
Eligibility
MBBS (for MD/MS/DM/MCh) or BDS (for MDS) from a recognised university with permanent or provisional NMC/DCI or state council registration. The compulsory internship must be completed by the session's cut-off date given in the prospectus. Foreign medical graduates need FMGE and Indian registration. There is no upper age limit.
Age limit: No upper age limit
Exam pattern
Computer-based test of 3 hours with 200 objective questions in a single shift. Marking is +1 for a correct answer and -1/3 for a wrong one, with no marks for unanswered questions. Questions include single-best-answer, multiple-statement, assertion-reason and image or clinical-vignette items, often from recent research and guidelines. Results are released as percentile ranks; the minimum qualifying level is the 50th percentile for unreserved candidates (lower for reserved categories), and fewer negative marks breaks ties.
Syllabus at a glance
No separate syllabus: questions span the full MBBS (or BDS for MDS) curriculum, from Anatomy, Physiology and Biochemistry through the para-clinical subjects to Medicine, Surgery, OBG, Paediatrics and allied specialities. Compared with NEET-PG, it puts more weight on concept-based reasoning, recent advances, clinical vignettes and images.
Upcoming dates
| Event | Date | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Final registration status and admit card (January 2027 session) | 26 Oct 2026 | confirmed |
| INI-CET January 2027 session exam (CBT, 9 am-12 noon) | 1 Nov 2026 (Sunday) | confirmed |
| Result (January 2027 session) | Around 7 Nov 2026 (expected) | expected |
| July 2027 session registration | Mar-Apr 2027 (expected) | expected |
| INI-CET July 2027 session exam | May 2027 (expected) | expected |
Expected dates follow the usual calendar; confirm on the official notification before planning.
Free prep material
Standard books
- Self Assessment and Review series (Medicine, Surgery, etc.) - Mudit Khanna and others (Jaypee)
- Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine (reference for recent advances)
- Robbins and Cotran Pathologic Basis of Disease - Kumar, Abbas and Aster
- Guyton and Hall Textbook of Medical Physiology
- Essentials of Medical Pharmacology - K.D. Tripathi
- Park's Textbook of Preventive and Social Medicine - K. Park
How toppers play it
- With +1/-1/3 marking, a guess between two options still has positive expected value; attempt most questions where you can eliminate two options, but avoid wild guesses because negatives also break ties.
- Seats are very few, so ranks within the top few thousand matter; go beyond standard notes into recent guidelines (WHO, ICMR, national programmes) and landmark trials, which INI-CET favours.
- Practise multi-statement and assertion-reason items specifically; they take longer, so plan about 50 seconds per question and flag lengthy vignettes for a second pass.
- Use both sessions: prepare once and take the November and May papers alongside NEET-PG, as each gives a fresh chance at AIIMS-system seats.
- Revise images (radiology, histopathology, instruments, dermatology) thoroughly; AIIMS papers have a higher share of image-based questions than NEET-PG.