NEET Qualifying Examination Codes 01 to 07: Which to Fill

The NEET qualifying examination code is a number from 01 to 07 that you select in the NTA application form to say which exam makes you eligible. Code 01 is for candidates appearing in Class 12 this year, code 02 for anyone who has already passed Class 12 with Physics, Chemistry, Biology and English, and codes 03 to 07 cover intermediate, pre-medical, first-year degree, B.Sc and foreign board routes.

Key takeaways

• Most candidates fit code 01 or code 02. The NEET (UG) 2026 information bulletin tells candidates appearing in Class 12 in the exam year to select code 01, and candidates who have already passed to fill a code from 02 to 07.

• Code 01 comes with a condition: you may sit the exam with your result awaited, but you are not eligible for admission if you have not passed Class 12 by the time of the first round of counselling.

• Candidates who studied Physics, Chemistry, Biology or Biotechnology and English as additional subjects after passing Class 12 are eligible under the NMC decision of 14 June 2023, and the bulletin repeats this under codes 01 and 02.

• Foreign and international board students must satisfy code 07 and, where asked, produce an equivalence certificate from the Association of Indian Universities.

• The qualification details are among the fields that become final after payment, so the code is a decision to make before the form opens, not during it.

What is the NEET qualifying examination code?

Chapter 6 of the NEET (UG) 2026 information bulletin, section 3, is headed Qualifications and Qualifying Examination Codes. It lists seven routes, each with a code, that count as the qualifying examination for admission to MBBS, BDS and the other courses that use NEET. When you fill the application, the form asks for the code first and then for the details of that examination: board or university, year of passing or appearing, roll number and marks. The code you choose decides which details the form asks for and which documents you may be asked to prove later. The scale is large: NTA's result notice for NEET (UG) 2025 recorded 22,09,318 candidates appeared and 12,36,531 qualified, about 56 per cent, and every one of them had filled one of these seven qualifying examination codes.

The bulletin's important instructions say it in two lines: candidates appearing in Class 12 in 2026 should select qualifying code 01, and those who have passed should fill a code from 02 to 07. NEET 2027 will carry the same structure unless the NMC changes the regulations, and the 2026 codes are themselves based on NMC letters of 5 December 2025, 13 January 2026 and 28 January 2026 cited at the top of the section.

Which NEET qualifying examination code applies to you?

Two points matter more than the rest of the table. Codes 05 and 06 do not replace Class 12: both require that you passed the earlier qualifying examination with the science subjects and English. And code 07 is where the bulletin sends foreign and international board candidates, with a note that they must make sure their examination matches it in scope and standard.

Qualifying examination code 01: what happens if your Class 12 result is awaited?

The bulletin's code 01 wording is specific. A candidate appearing in the qualifying examination, whose Class 12 result is awaited, may apply and appear in the test, but shall not be eligible for admission to undergraduate medical courses if he or she does not pass the qualifying examination at the time of the first round of counselling. In practice this means three things:

1. You apply in February or March with code 01 and your board roll number, before the board result exists.

2. You sit NEET in May and get a rank in June whether or not your board result is out.

3. By the time MCC or your state opens Round 1 registration in July, you must hold a pass in Class 12 with the required subjects. A compartment or supplementary result that arrives after Round 1 begins does not rescue the first round.

Our guide to NEET eligibility criteria 2027 covers the subject and marks rules behind this, and NEETsheet's guide to preparing for Class 12 boards alongside NEET 2027 is written for the same candidates.

Code 02: repeaters, droppers and additional subject candidates

Qualifying examination code 02 is the ordinary route for anyone who has already passed Class 12 from a board recognised by the relevant government. It covers CBSE, CISCE and every state board, and it covers a drop year without any special paperwork: the bulletin asks for the year of passing, not for a gap certificate. Our note on the gap certificate for NEET explains when a state counselling body may still ask for one.

Code 02 also carries the additional subject rule. The bulletin quotes the NMC public notice of 22 November 2023, paragraph 7: the Commission decided on 14 June 2023, taking the flexibility of the National Education Policy into account, to permit candidates who studied Physics, Chemistry, Biology or Biotechnology and English as additional subjects after passing Class 12 from a duly recognised board to appear in NEET and to receive an eligibility certificate. The condition is documentary evidence of having passed the qualifying examination with the required subjects, which in practice means the marks sheet showing the additional subjects as passed. NEETsheet's note on Class 11 backlogs and NEET 2027 deals with the related case of a subject cleared late.

Codes 05 and 06: B.Sc students and graduates

A first year B.Sc student who has passed the university examination in Physics, Chemistry and Biology or Biotechnology, including practicals, can fill qualifying examination code 05. A B.Sc graduate who passed with at least two of Physics, Chemistry, Biology (Botany, Zoology) or Biotechnology can fill code 06. In both cases the bulletin adds the same condition: the candidate must also have passed the earlier qualifying examination with Physics, Chemistry, Biology and English. A graduate who did Class 12 in commerce and then a B.Sc in biotechnology does not qualify under code 06, because the Class 12 condition fails.

For candidates who did a nursing or allied health degree, the codes do not apply unless the degree is a B.Sc under code 06 with the Class 12 condition met. Our guide on becoming a doctor after B.Sc Nursing walks through that case.

Code 07: foreign and international boards

Students from the IB, Cambridge, American and other foreign boards select qualifying examination code 07 and must satisfy its wording: an examination equivalent in scope and standard to the Intermediate Science examination of an Indian university or board, covering the last two years of 10+2 study, with Physics, Chemistry and Biology or Biotechnology including practicals, and English. The bulletin also says that where an institute has to consider an examination of an Indian or foreign university as equivalent to Class 12, the candidate must produce a certificate from the Indian university concerned or from the Association of Indian Universities stating that the examination is equivalent.

Two practical consequences. First, "practicals" is a real requirement: a board that assesses science without laboratory work can fail the equivalence test. Second, the equivalence certificate is for counselling and admission, not for the NEET form itself, so apply for it from the Association of Indian Universities early in the year rather than after the result. Students planning MBBS abroad instead of in India should note that the NMC eligibility certificate has its own rules, set out in our guide to the eligibility certificate for MBBS abroad.

What details does the form ask for after the code?

The qualification section of the form takes the examination details for the code you chose: the name of the board or university, year of passing or appearing, roll number, school or college name and address, the result mode (marks or CGPA) and the subject marks where available. The bulletin lists qualification details among the particulars that become final and non editable after payment of the fee and generation of the confirmation page, alongside personal, identity and examination city details, with changes allowed only in the permissible fields during the correction window. In 2026 that window ran from 10 to 12 March. Our guide to NEET UG registration documents, fees and steps covers the rest of the form.

One detail from the 2026 bulletin shows how specific the form logic is. Candidates who passed Class 10 from the Tamil Nadu state board in 2021, when no examination was held and all candidates were declared passed, have the result mode field disabled and the marks fields hidden when they select that board and year. Rules like this sit inside the form, so read the bulletin's chapter on filling the application before you start.

What documents back up each code?

The MCC UG counselling bulletin's reporting list asks every allotted candidate for the Class 10 certificate, the Class 12 certificate and marks sheet, and a date of birth certificate if the Class 10 certificate does not carry the date. Whatever code you filled, those three are checked at the college.

What if you fill the wrong NEET qualifying examination code?

If you filled the wrong qualifying examination code and notice before paying, go back and change it; nothing is final until the confirmation page is generated. If you notice after payment, the only chance is the correction window, and only if the qualification fields are among those NTA opens that year. If the wrong code survives to counselling, the college verifies your actual certificates against the eligibility rules, not against the code, so a candidate who is eligible on paper is not usually rejected for a wrong code. The risk runs the other way: a candidate who chose code 02 while still appearing in Class 12 has declared a pass that does not exist, and the bulletin says applications not in accordance with its instructions are liable to be rejected without further intimation. When in doubt, the appearing code is the honest one.

A worked example

For example, take Sana. She passed Class 12 from the Maharashtra board in 2025 with Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics, then sat Biology as an additional subject through the board's supplementary examination in 2026 and passed.

When the NEET 2027 form opens she selects qualifying examination code 02, enters the Maharashtra board, year of passing 2025, and her roll number. In the subject marks fields she enters Physics, Chemistry and English from her 2025 marks sheet and Biology from her 2026 additional subject marks sheet.

She keeps both marks sheets together, because at counselling the college will want to see the Biology pass as a separate document. Her candidature rests on the NMC decision of 14 June 2023 that the bulletin reproduces under code 02.

Three things to notice from Sana's case. She is a code 02 candidate even though her Biology came a year later. The proof is the additional subject marks sheet, not a letter from the school. And she did not need a gap certificate to fill the form, though her state counselling body may ask for one later.

Conclusion

The NEET qualifying examination code is a one line choice with a long tail: it fixes the details the form asks for, the documents you prove at counselling and, for code 01, the deadline by which your Class 12 pass must exist. Decide it from your certificates before the form opens, keep the certificates that back it, and check the bulletin's chapter 6 for the exact wording in the year you apply. For the other fields that lock after payment, our post on Aadhaar and APAAR ID for NEET 2027 covers the identity side, and the NEET UG eligibility rules web story gives the age and subject rules in eight slides.

If you are preparing for NEET 2027, NEETsheet has chapter notes and mock tests built on the NTA pattern.

Sources

• NTA, information bulletin for NEET (UG) 2026, chapter 6 section 3 and important instructions 9 and 10

• MCC, revised UG counselling 2026 information bulletin, documents required at reporting

• NTA, NEET (UG) website