MBBS Subjects Year Wise: Syllabus, Books and Exam Pattern

MBBS subjects run across four and a half years of study plus a twelve month internship. Phase 1 is Anatomy, Physiology and Biochemistry. Phase 2 adds Pathology, Pharmacology, Microbiology and Forensic Medicine. Phase 3 is the clinical subjects. Here is the full year wise list with the exam pattern for each.

MBBS subjects year wise: key takeaways

• The course is 54 months plus 12 months of internship. Phase 1, Phase 2 and Phase 3 Part 1 are 12 months each, Phase 3 Part 2 is 18 months, and the internship follows the final exam.

• Each phase carries 1,521 teaching hours, except the last. Phase 3 Part 2 carries 2,418 hours across 18 months, which is why the final stretch feels heavier than the rest.

• There are four university examinations, not five. Phase 1, Phase 2, Phase 3 Part 1 and Phase 3 Part 2, each at the end of its own phase.

• The pass mark is 50 per cent combined, with 40 per cent separately. You need 50 per cent across theory and practical together, and never below 40 per cent in either one.

• There are no grace marks. The 2024 curriculum removed them, and Phase 1 now carries a hard limit of four attempts.

• Attendance is a gate, not a formality. 75 per cent in theory, 80 per cent in practical, 75 per cent in AETCOM and 80 per cent in family visits, or you do not sit the exam.

MBBS subjects year wise: the full list

This is the whole course on one screen, as the current curriculum sets it out.

All of it comes from the Competency Based Medical Education curriculum of September 2024, which is in force for everyone admitted from 2024 onwards. Our page on the MBBS course duration in India covers the timeline, and the MBBS in India hub covers admission.

What are the first year MBBS subjects?

Three subjects, twelve months, and the heaviest reading load of the whole course sits in Anatomy.

Anatomy takes more hours than Physiology and Biochemistry put together. That one figure should shape how a first year student plans the week.

The year opens with a two week Foundation Course of 80 hours, covering orientation, basic life support, communication, medical ethics and the history of Indian medicine. It cannot be used for any other teaching, and it needs 75 per cent attendance. Our MBBS freshers first week web story covers what those days actually look like.

Second year MBBS subjects

Phase 2 is where the course turns towards disease, and where clinical postings begin.

These MBBS subjects are where the course turns clinical. Postings run three hours a day from Monday to Friday, fifteen hours a week. Only three of these subjects are examined at the end of the year: Pathology, Microbiology and Pharmacology. Forensic Medicine and Community Medicine are taught here but examined in the third year.

Third year MBBS subjects

Phase 3 Part 1 is the year with the most exams relative to teaching hours, because four subjects are assessed.

Twenty one of the Forensic Medicine hours, seven days of three hours each, must be used for demonstration of post mortem examinations. Clinical postings move to six days a week here, eighteen hours in total.

Final year MBBS subjects

Phase 3 Part 2 runs 18 months and carries 2,418 teaching hours, which is more than any other phase by a wide margin.

Half the time in this phase is clinical posting. The electives, one month in two blocks of fifteen days, are compulsory and sit inside these 18 months.

Clinical postings across the MBBS subjects

Postings total 134 weeks. Medicine and Surgery carry 24 weeks each, which is why they dominate the final year.

One safeguard runs through all of it. No student is given independent charge of a patient as the primary physician at any point in the course.

MBBS exam pattern: papers, marks and the pass mark

Four university examinations, each at the end of its phase. Every subject carries 100 marks for practical, and either one or two theory papers of 100 marks each.

The allied papers are split by weight. Medicine Paper 2 is 50 per cent Medicine, 25 per cent Psychiatry and 25 per cent Dermatology. Surgery Paper 2 is 40 per cent General Surgery, 40 per cent Orthopaedics, 10 per cent Anaesthesia and 10 per cent Radiodiagnosis.

To pass a subject you need 50 per cent across theory and practical combined, and at least 40 per cent in each separately. Multiple choice questions carry a minimum of 20 per cent of each theory paper, and every theory paper carries one AETCOM question worth about 5 per cent.

Attendance, internal assessment and attempts

These three rules end more MBBS years than the exams do, and they apply to every one of the MBBS subjects separately.

• Attendance. 75 per cent in theory, 80 per cent in practical and clinical, 75 per cent in AETCOM, 80 per cent in family visits. Below that you cannot sit the university exam for that subject.

• Remedial classes. A student with 60 per cent attendance or above may attend remedial classes and then sit the supplementary exam. Below 60 per cent there is no route back into that cycle.

• Internal assessment. You need 50 per cent combined and 40 per cent in each part just to be eligible for the university exam. Internal marks are not added to the final result, they only gate entry.

• Attempts in Phase 1. No more than four, and Phase 1 must be completed within four years. Not appearing at all does not count as an attempt, but appearing for only theory or only practical does.

• Progression. Fail Phase 1 and you cannot join Phase 2. Fail Phase 2 or Phase 3 Part 1 and you may join the next phase for teaching, but you cannot sit its exam until you clear the one behind you.

• Overall limit. Nine years from admission to finish the course, and ten years including internship.

Supplementary exams and results must be processed within six to eight weeks of the main result, so a student who clears can rejoin the main batch. There are no supplementary batches.

Foundation Course, AETCOM, electives and the Family Adoption Programme

These four are not optional extras. Each one gates your exam eligibility.

• Foundation Course. Two weeks, 80 hours, at the very start. Orientation, skills, ethics, language and computer skills, sports. 75 per cent attendance is mandatory and certified by the Dean.

• AETCOM. Attitude, Ethics and Communication, 146 hours spread across all four phases and into internship. It has no paper of its own. One question in every theory paper comes from it, worth about 5 per cent.

• Electives. One month in two blocks of fifteen days, inside Phase 3 Part 2. Compulsory, with a log book and 75 per cent attendance, and the time cannot be used to make up missed postings.

• Family Adoption Programme. Each student adopts at least three families, preferably five, and follows them from Phase 1 to Phase 3 Part 1. Attendance at family visits must reach 80 per cent.

The AETCOM module book colleges use is the AETCOM competencies document, which is still the current version.

Which books cover the MBBS subjects?

These are the texts Indian medical students most commonly work from, subject by subject.

Buy one standard text per subject and use the competency list in the curriculum as the checklist beside it. Colleges must hold at least thirty books per annual intake, with two copies of each textbook for every fifty students. The library usually covers the second reference you need.

Worth saying once. The regulator sets the competencies and the library stock, not the titles, so any list presented as an official book list is somebody's editorial pick rather than a published document.

What changed in the 2024 MBBS curriculum

If you are reading an older guide, these are the differences that matter.

• The Foundation Course shrank. One month and 175 hours became two weeks and 80 hours, and it now sits inside Phase 1 rather than before it.

• The final year grew. Phase 3 Part 2 went from 13 months to 18, and its teaching hours from 1,780 to 2,418.

• Electives halved and moved. Two months between the two parts became one month inside Phase 3 Part 2.

• Grace marks went. The old rule allowed up to five marks at the university's discretion. The current curriculum states there shall be none.

• The pass rule changed shape. It used to be 50 per cent separately in theory and practical. It is now 50 per cent combined with 40 per cent separately.

• Four subjects lost their own competency chapters. Respiratory Medicine, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Dentistry and Radiotherapy, with Respiratory Medicine absorbed into General Medicine.

• The Family Adoption Programme became part of the curriculum with its own annexure, log book and attendance requirement.

• Teaching may now be bilingual in eleven Indian languages alongside English.

The current version is dated 12 September 2024. An earlier version published on 31 August 2024 was withdrawn and cancelled within a week, so a guide quoting the August document is quoting a cancelled one.

How to plan one MBBS year

The same six steps work for every phase, because every phase is built the same way.

1. Count the exam subjects, not the taught ones. Phase 2 teaches seven things and examines three. Knowing which three decides where the revision hours go.

2. Put the heaviest subject first in the week. Anatomy in year one, General Medicine in the final year. Give them your best hours rather than your leftover ones.

3. Treat attendance as a deadline, not a target. Track it monthly. By the time a shortage is visible in March it usually cannot be fixed.

4. Keep the log book current from week one. It carries 10 to 20 per cent of internal assessment, and it cannot be reconstructed later.

5. Use the three internal tests as mock exams. Phase 1 and 2 have at least three, Phase 3 has at least two, and they are the only real feedback before the university paper.

6. Plan the internship year early. Our page on the MBBS internship covers the rotations, and internship salary in MBBS covers the stipend by state.

If you are still choosing a college, our medical universities in India directory and the NEET hub cover admission and cutoffs.

How the Indian course compares with Europe

The MBBS subjects themselves are close. The main differences are length and the internship.

India runs four and a half years of study plus a twelve month internship, giving five and a half years in total. Most European medical programmes run six years with clinical training built into the final years. Our page on the MBBS syllabus in Europe sets the two side by side, and the career options after MBBS page covers where each route leads.

MBBS subjects year wise: the bottom line

Three subjects in the first year, four new ones in the second, and clinical medicine from the third onwards. Anatomy takes 620 hours and dominates year one. Medicine and Surgery take 24 weeks of posting each and dominate the end.

Plan around the four university exams rather than around five academic years. Keep attendance above the gates, and treat AETCOM, electives and the family visits as exam requirements rather than as extras.

MBBS subjects: frequently asked questions

Sources

• National Medical Commission, Competency Based Medical Education Curriculum 2024, with subjects, hours, exams and annexures

• National Medical Commission, Graduate Medical Education Regulations, 2023

• National Medical Commission, Compulsory Rotating Medical Internship Regulations, 2021

• National Medical Commission, Minimum Standard Requirements for Undergraduate Courses, 2023, with the library book requirement

• AETCOM, Attitude, Ethics and Communication competencies for the Indian Medical Graduate

• National Medical Commission, index of rules and regulations