News & Updates
NMC Mercy Attempt 2026: Fifth Attempt for First Year MBBS
22 Oct 2026
15 min read
The NMC notice of 15 October 2026 gives MBBS students admitted from 2019-20 onwards a fifth attempt at the First Professional exam. Who qualifies, who is excluded, the ten-year limit and what to do now.
The NMC mercy attempt notice of 15 October 2026 gives MBBS students admitted from the 2019-20 academic year onwards one extra attempt, a fifth attempt in total, to pass the First Professional MBBS examination. The extra attempt applies even if the four-year window for first year has already closed, as long as the admission has not been cancelled.
Key takeaways from the NMC mercy attempt notice
The notice is NMC file number N-U013(21)/1/2026-UGMEB-NMC, dated 15 October 2026, signed by the Secretary of the NMC and the President of the Undergraduate Medical Education Board. The decision was taken at the NMC's 18th meeting on 23 September 2026.
It covers students admitted to MBBS in 2019-20 "and onwards", so the 2020-21, 2021-22, 2022-23, 2023-24 and 2024-25 batches are included as well, not only the COVID batches.
It applies to the First Professional (first year) examination only. Second and third professional examinations are not mentioned and are not covered.
A student who has already used a fifth attempt, under the 2023 mercy decisions or a court order, gets nothing more. There is no sixth attempt.
The ten-year outer limit to finish MBBS including internship still stands and is not extended by this notice.
The notice sets no application form, no fee and no deadline. Your university and college apply it to "eligible pending cases".
What the NMC mercy attempt 2026 actually says
The full notice is four pages and is the only source that matters. You can read it on the NMC What's New page under the entry dated 15 October 2026, or open the NMC public notice on the mercy attempt (PDF, 15 October 2026) directly. The title reads: "Grant of One Additional Attempt (Mercy Attempt) to eligible MBBS students admitted from Academic Years 2019-20 and onwards for passing the First Professional MBBS Examination, one-time transitional relaxation in pending cases."
The operative clause is clause A. Students admitted "from AY 2019-20 and onwards shall be permitted one additional attempt over and above the prescribed 4 attempts (i.e., total 5 attempts) for passing the First Professional MBBS Examination". Three conditions follow. The attempt "shall be available even where the student has crossed the prescribed four-year period for completion of the First Professional MBBS Course", provided that "the student's admission continues to remain valid" and "has not been cancelled by the concerned University/College".
The NMC calls this "a one-time exceptional transitional measure intended to provide relief in eligible pending cases before the Commission". It adds that the relaxation "shall not be treated as a precedent for subsequent academic batches". In plain words: this is a clean-up of cases that have piled up, not a permanent change to the rules.
NMC mercy attempt at a glance
Item | What the 15 October 2026 notice says |
|---|---|
Who is covered | MBBS students admitted from academic year 2019-20 onwards, with a valid, uncancelled admission |
Which exam | First Professional MBBS examination only |
What is granted | One additional attempt, making five in total instead of four |
Four-year rule | Relaxed: the attempt is available even after four years in first year have passed |
Ten-year rule | Not relaxed: MBBS including internship must still finish within ten years of admission |
Already had a fifth attempt | Not eligible; no sixth attempt under any circumstances |
Fee, form, deadline | None stated in the notice; universities and colleges handle eligible cases |
Nature | One-time, transitional, not a precedent for later batches |
What the First Professional MBBS examination is
The First Professional examination is the university exam at the end of the first phase of MBBS in India. It covers Anatomy, Physiology and Biochemistry, each with a theory and a practical component. A student who clears it moves to second year. A student who fails sits a supplementary exam, and if that is failed too, joins the junior batch and repeats the year. Our guide to the MBBS subjects year by year walks through what each phase contains. To pass a subject, a student needs a cumulative 50% in the university examination across theory and practical, with at least 40% in theory and 40% in practical separately. To be allowed to sit the exam, a student needs at least 75% attendance in theory and 80% in practicals.
The NMC's Competency Based Medical Education guidelines of 12 September 2024 spell out the sequence: "If the student fails in the supplementary examination in phase 1 of MBBS, the student goes to the junior batch for teaching learning as well as for university examinations. There shall be no supplementary batches." The same page carries the limit that the mercy notice relaxes: "No more than four attempts shall be allowed for a candidate to pass the Phase 1 examination. The total period for successful completion of phase I course shall not exceed four (4) years." Both quotes are from the NMC CBME Curriculum Guidelines 2024 (PDF, 12 September 2024).
What counts as an attempt in first year MBBS
This is where most families get caught. An attempt is counted whenever the student appears for the university examination, main or supplementary. The CBME 2024 guidelines put it this way: "If a candidate has not appeared for university examination (both theory and practical) for a subject then it shall not be counted as an attempt for that subject. Partial attendance in examination (only theory or only practical) in any subject shall be counted as an attempt."
So four things follow, and our web story on failing a year in MBBS puts them on one screen. Sitting the main exam and failing is one attempt. Sitting the supplementary and failing is a second attempt. Turning up for theory only, or practical only, is still a full attempt. Not turning up at all, for example because the college detained the student for attendance, is not an attempt.
The four-attempt limit itself sits in clause 21 of the Graduate Medical Education Regulations 2023 (PDF, gazette dated 2 June 2023), notified in the Gazette of India and searchable on the e-Gazette portal: "under no circumstances the student shall be allowed more than four (04) attempts for first year (First Professional MBBS)".
Who is eligible for the mercy attempt and who is not
The notice does not split students into named categories, so we have done it from its wording. Each row below is taken from a clause in the notice.
Your situation | Covered? | Why |
|---|---|---|
Admitted in 2019-20 or 2020-21, used four attempts, never had a mercy attempt | Yes | Clause A: one additional attempt, total five |
Admitted in 2019-20 or 2020-21, already used a fifth attempt under the 2023 decisions | No | Clause B: no sixth attempt |
Admitted in 2021-22, 2022-23, 2023-24 or 2024-25 and have exhausted four attempts | Yes | "2019-20 and onwards" has no upper limit |
Admitted from 2019-20 onwards and still have attempts left | Yes, in principle | The fifth attempt exists for you too, once the first four are used |
Got a fifth attempt through a court order and failed it | No | Clause B treats court-ordered fifth attempts the same as NMC-granted ones |
Admission cancelled by the university or college | No | Clause A(c): admission must remain valid |
Failing second or third professional | No | The notice names the First Professional examination only |
Admitted before 2019-20 | No | The notice starts at 2019-20 |
Source: clauses A and B of the NMC public notice dated 15 October 2026.
Does the ten-year limit still apply after the mercy attempt?
Yes, and this is the clause the notice puts in bold. "The overall duration for completion of the MBBS course, including the applicable period of Compulsory Rotating Medical Internship (CRMI), shall not exceed ten years from the date of admission. Grant of the additional attempt shall not be construed as extending or relaxing the aforesaid maximum overall duration."
Work it through for each batch. MBBS is four and a half years of study plus a one-year internship, so a student who passes first year late still needs roughly four and a half to five years to finish. Our post on MBBS course duration in India explains how the years add up.
Admission year | Ten-year limit ends | Latest realistic year to clear first prof |
|---|---|---|
2019-20 | 2029-30 | Academic year 2026-27 at the very latest, leaving about three and a half years for three professional phases and internship |
2020-21 | 2030-31 | 2026-27 or 2027-28 |
2021-22 | 2031-32 | 2027-28 or 2028-29 |
2022-23 and later | 2032-33 onwards | Comfortable, if the fifth attempt is used at the next available sitting |
The practical point for a 2019-20 student: the fifth attempt only helps if it is taken at the very next university examination and passed. There is no room left for another repeat year.
One detail worth knowing. The 2023 regulations say nine years, while the CBME 2024 guidelines and this notice say ten years including internship. The mercy notice uses ten, so ten is the figure your university will apply.
How to use the mercy attempt: what to do now
There is no NMC portal and no NMC form for this. The notice ends by telling universities, colleges and "other stakeholders" to "take note of the above decision and deal with eligible cases accordingly". That means the work happens at your college and your university's examination section.
Download the NMC notice PDF and keep a copy. Colleges have received it directly, but you should carry it to every conversation.
Check your own attempt count against your university mark sheets. Count every main and supplementary sitting, including partial ones. If you have four, you qualify for a fifth. If you already had a fifth in 2023 or 2024, you do not.
Write to the Dean or Principal of your college, with a copy to the Controller of Examinations of your university, asking to be registered for the next First Professional examination under the NMC notice dated 15 October 2026. Quote the file number N-U013(21)/1/2026-UGMEB-NMC.
Confirm in writing that your admission is still valid on the college rolls. If the college had struck your name off after the fourth failed attempt, ask for it to be restored under clause A(c), since the notice protects only admissions that have not been cancelled.
Ask for the date of the next First Professional university examination and whether it will be the regular sitting with the current first-year batch or the supplementary sitting. The CBME guidelines require supplementary results within six to eight weeks of the main result, so the next sitting is usually within a few months.
Ask the college what classes you can attend before the exam. The guidelines allow remedial classes for students who missed the regular sitting, and a student who has been out of the classroom for a year or more needs them.
Pay the university examination fee when the examination form opens. The notice sets no NMC fee; the normal university exam fee applies.
What happened in 2023: the earlier mercy attempts
This is the third mercy decision in three years, and the notice refers back to the earlier two. In 2023 the NMC granted a one-time fifth attempt to the 2019-20 batch, the batch whose first year ran into the first lockdown. On 11 December 2023, by notice number U.13021/01/2023/UGMEB, the Undergraduate Medical Education Board extended the same one-time fifth attempt to students admitted in 2020-21, again citing COVID-19 disruption and again stating that it was not to be treated as a precedent.
Students from those two batches who used that attempt are the ones clause B now excludes. Students from the same batches who, for whatever reason, never took the earlier attempt and still have four failed attempts on record are back inside the net.
The notice also explains why the net is now "2019-20 and onwards" rather than one batch. It mentions "representations received from students, universities and other stakeholders" and "health-related issues and other personal difficulties", which is a wider set of reasons than the pandemic alone.
How the mercy attempt differs from the normal rules
Rule | Normal position (GMER 2023 and CBME 2024) | Under the 15 October 2026 notice |
|---|---|---|
Attempts for first professional | Four | Five, for admissions from 2019-20 onwards |
Time to clear first professional | Four years from admission | Four-year cap waived for the fifth attempt |
Time to finish MBBS with internship | Nine years in GMER 2023; ten years including internship in CBME 2024 | Ten years, unchanged |
Partial attendance at an exam | Counts as an attempt | Unchanged |
Supplementary timing | Within six to eight weeks of the main result | Unchanged |
Applies to later batches automatically | Not applicable | No: "shall not be treated as a precedent" |
What if the fifth attempt is also failed
The notice is explicit that there is no sixth attempt. A student who fails the fifth attempt cannot continue in the MBBS course at that college. The options at that point are outside MBBS in India: an allied health or AYUSH degree, which we cover in allied health courses after NEET, or a fresh start through NEET UG and a new MBBS admission, in India or abroad. A new admission starts a new ten-year clock and a new set of four attempts, because the limits attach to the admission, not to the person. Students in this position who are weighing a fresh MBBS admission abroad should check the NMC's 2021 foreign degree rules before choosing a country, and confirm the university is listed in the World Directory of Medical Schools (WDOMS).
What this notice does not do
The short version is in our web story on the NMC mercy attempt. It does not give an extra attempt in second or third professional. It does not extend the ten-year limit. It does not reinstate a cancelled admission. It does not create a national exam date; each university runs its own First Professional examination. It does not apply to students admitted before 2019-20. And it says nothing about students who were detained before the exam for attendance shortage, because those students never used an attempt in the first place and are governed by the attendance rules, not by this notice.
Related Topics
- NMC mercy attempt
- MBBS first professional exam
- NMC rules
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