INI-CET
Entrance for MD, MS, MDS and DM/M.Ch (6-year) seats at India's Institutes of National Importance — all AIIMS campuses, JIPMER Puducherry, PGIMER Chandigarh, NIMHANS Bengaluru and SCTIMST Thiruvananthapuram.
Eligibility
An MBBS (or BDS for MDS seats) degree from a recognised university with a minimum of 55% aggregate marks (50% for SC/ST/PwBD), plus registration with the NMC/State Medical Council or Dental Council. The rotating internship must be completed by the cut-off date specified in the session's bulletin. There is no age limit and no restriction on attempts, and candidates may appear in both sessions of a year.
Age limit: No age limit
Exam pattern
Computer-based test of 3 hours with 200 single-best-answer multiple-choice questions, divided into four time-bound sections of 50 questions with 45 minutes each. Marking is +1 for a correct answer and −1/3 for a wrong one. The paper is noticeably more applied than NEET-PG, with many image-based, data-interpretation and multi-step clinical reasoning questions. Results are percentile-based with category-wise minimum qualifying percentiles, and seat allocation is through AIIMS's own online counselling on aiimsexams.ac.in — INI seats are outside MCC counselling.
Syllabus at a glance
The full MBBS curriculum — pre-clinical, para-clinical and clinical subjects — but weighted towards clinical application, recent advances and laboratory/radiology image interpretation. Physiology, Pathology, Medicine, Surgery, Obstetrics and Gynaecology and Paediatrics dominate, with short subjects contributing quick-win questions.
Upcoming dates
| Event | Date | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Registration for January 2027 session (aiimsexams.ac.in) | Sept–Oct 2026 | expected |
| Admit card release | Late Oct 2026 | expected |
| INI-CET exam (January 2027 session) | 1 Nov 2026 (Sunday) | confirmed |
| Result declaration | 7 Nov 2026 | expected |
| Online seat allocation / counselling | Nov–Dec 2026 | expected |
Expected dates follow the usual calendar; confirm on the official notification before planning.
Free prep material
Standard books
- Review of Pharmacology — Gobind Rai Garg and Sparsh Gupta
- Complete Review of Pathology — Devesh Mishra
- Review of Preventive and Social Medicine — Vivek Jain
- ACROSS: A Complete Review of Short Subjects — Saumya Shukla
- Self Assessment and Review of Medicine — Mudit Khanna
How toppers play it
- Respect the −1/3 negative marking with +1 scoring: the penalty is proportionally harsher than NEET-PG's, so attempt only when you can eliminate two options confidently.
- Drill the four 45-minute sections in mock conditions — with no cross-section navigation, pacing errors in one block cannot be recovered later.
- INI-CET loves images and applied basic sciences: revise histology slides, radiographs, instruments, ECGs and physiology graphs, not just clinical one-liners.
- Solve AIIMS PG and INI-CET recall banks from the last five sessions; question styles and favourite topics (e.g. biostatistics, recent advances) repeat across sessions.
- Appear in both the November and May sittings — the syllabus is identical, the exam is only weeks of extra revision away, and each attempt sharpens exam temperament.