The All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Delhi is expected to hold the National Exit Test (NExT) later this year, a two-part examination that will serve as a qualifying test for granting registration to doctors as well as the basis for post-graduate admissions.

The Indian Express has learned that teachers from various departments at AIIMS are currently working on developing multiple-choice questions for the first part of the test , which will focus on assessing clinical learning. 

The new two-part NExT will replace the MBBS students' current final theory paper. The first part (or NExT 1) will take the place of university-level final exams. NExT 1 will serve as the foundation for provisional registration with medical councils, which is required for the mandatory one-year internship. This exam will consist of multiple-choice questions from medicine, surgery, obstetrics and gynaecology, paediatrics, ENT, and ophthalmology.via operational modification:

The examination will be oriented towards judging the clinical skills of the students; this is to resolve the problem of students skipping classes to study for NEET-PG. Attendance in final-year courses in many institutes is abysmal because of this. But the NExT pattern will ensure that students will not be able to answer if they do not have practical knowledge gained by attending classes,” said an official from the health ministry.

The second part (or NExT 2) will be a practical paper that will be held after students have completed their internship. It will be a practical test also focused on assessing clinical skills.

The National Medical Commission Act of 2019 proposed an exit test to evaluate the skill levels of doctors across the country on the same standard. The test was to be carried out within three years of the act's implementation in 2020. The National Medical Commission pushed the dates back by a year through a gazette notification.

"The exam pattern may differ, but the questions will cover the same material as the final MBBS exams." Students who have attended classes and studied for finals should be able to take NExT as well, according to the dean.