NEET answer key helps all the aspirants to get a rough estimate of how they are going to score in the examination. The National Testing Agency (NTA), an autonomous organisation for conducting the NEET examination from 2021 onwards, has displayed the official NEET answer key before the declaration of results. Besides NTA, there are several other reputed coaching institutions as well that provide unofficial answer keys for the students just after the completion of the examination based on the question papers. However, it is advisable to rely only on the official answer keys for any reference.
Adding to this, the NTA also provides the provision of challenging the NEET answer key in case of any doubt or discrepancy. It has set an online process for the same. The NTA verifies the challenges that are made through its experts and if the challenges are found correct, the answer key is revised on the basis of which further results will be announced. When and how you can download the answer key? What is the procedure to challenge the answer key? Is there a fee charged for challenging the answer key? Get the answers to all these questions in detail in this article. It highlights every significant detail related to NEET answer key including its key dates, steps to download and challenge it, and more.
NEET Answer Key 2021 – Key Dates
Every year, the NEET answer key is displayed on the official website for the students within a month of the date of the examination. Generally, it is released by the last week of September. For the year 2021, the answer key for all the sets was released on 12th September 2021. What are the final answer key release date for the year 2021? When can a student challenge the answer key? Find the answer to all these questions in the table below. It acquaints you with the key dates of the NEET exam, answer key, and results.
Important Dates for NEET Answer Key
| S.No. | Event | Date |
| 1. | NEET Exam Date | 12th September 2021 |
| 2. | Display of the answer key and recorded responses | 15th September 2021 |
| 3. | Timeline to challenge the NEET answer key | 17th September 2021 |
| 4. | Declaration of Result | 1st November 2021 |
Also Read: NEET EXAM DATE – ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW
NEET Answer Key – Exam Overview
Before heading on to know more details about NEET answer key, here is a brief overview of the examination for your understanding. While the examination is conducted offline, the question paper is available in different sets for which the answers have to be marked in the OMR sheet provided. The students can get detailed information about the OMR sheet and the test booklet while downloading the admit card from the NTA website. The table below provides you with all relevant information related to the NEET examination.
Detailed Overview of NEET Exam
| S.No. | Particulars | Details |
| 1. | Name of the Examination | National Eligibility Cum Entrance Test (NEET) |
| 2. | Examination type | Multiple choice question type (pen and paper-based) |
| 3. | Subjects covered | Chemistry, Physics, and Biology |
| 4. | Total number of questions | 180 (Chemistry: 45, Physics: 45 & Biology: 90) |
| 5. | Maximum marks allotted to each question | 4 marks (180*4 = 720) |
| 6. | Negative Marking | 1 mark |
| 7. | Language of question paper | English, Hindi, Marathi, Assamese, Bengali, Urdu, Gujarati, Odia, Tamil, Telugu and Kannada |
| 8. | Duration of the exam | 3 hours |
Also Read: NEET SYLLABUS – WHAT YOU MUST PREPARE?
NEET Answer Key – How to Download?
What are the steps to be followed to download the answer key? Where can a student get the answer key? These are some common questions that may occur in your mind while discussing the NEET answer key. The answer to all your questions is covered in this section. Here is a step-wise description of how you can download the official answer key and your recorded responses.
Step 1: Visit the official NTA website.
Step 2: Under the ‘Downloads’ section, the option for NEET answer key will appear. Click on it.
Step 3: A PDF file will open containing the answer key for all the sets of the test booklet. Download it for future reference.
Step 4: In order to download your recorded responses, you need to login to your respective user dashboard.
NEET Answer Key – Predicting the Score
Once you have both your recorded responses and the official NEET answer key in your hand, predicting your scores for the examination becomes very simple. However, before you begin the calculation, you need to pay attention to the following things on the answer key –
- Since a consolidated answer key is released for all the sets of test booklets, make sure you refer to your set of test booklets only.
- Check whether all 180 answers are given.
- Also, ensure that the set is available in the language of your choice.
- Avoid referring to any unofficial answer key.
Once you are all set with your respective set of answer key and recorded response. You can calculate your scores with the help of following formula –
Total score = (Total number of correct answers*4) – (Total number of incorrect answers*1)
Also Read: NEET COUNSELLING – KEY DATES, QUALIFYING CRITERIA, PROCEDURE AND SEAT ALLOTMENT
NEET Answer Key – How to Challenge?
In case you come across a doubt or discrepancy in the answer, the NTA also provides a provision to challenge it online within a stipulated time duration by simply paying a processing fee of INR 1000 per answer (non-refundable). Under such circumstance, the NTA verifies the challenges made by the student with its experts in respective subjects. If the challenge proves to be correct, the answer key gets revised. However, the NTA does not inform any individual student about the result of the challenge made. The students can challenge the answer key online only through the official NTA website.
Also Read: NEET RESULT – IMPORTANT DATES, CUT-OFF, MERIT LIST AND SCORE CARD
