National Testing Agency, the newly formed entrance examinations conducting authority has taken over the charge of coordinating and conducting the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) Main and National Eligibility cum Entrance Examination (NEET) tests starting 2019. Both these exams will be conducted twice every year in two different sessions.
Each of the two sessions of JEE Main 2019 and NEET exams every year will be conducted in around 4-5 days. The aspirants will be able to specify their choice of dates during the registration process. When earlier, the NEET exam was conducted only once every year, NTA would be providing the medical aspirants with a wider range of 4-5 days for selecting a date of their choice.
The Honorable Education Minister, Mr. Prakash Javadekar, had made these official announcements in a press conference held at New Delhi on July 07, 2018. The JEE Main and NEET exams were earlier conducted by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) only once every year for the engineering and aspirants respectively, who like to get admissions to the reputed colleges across the country offering the related courses.
The transition of this vital responsibility from CBSE to NTA would surely bring multiple benefits to CBSE and the students as well. CBSE was earlier required to spend considerable effort in conducting these premium entrances, since each of those were attempted by lakhs of candidates.
The handover of the same to NTA would let CBSE focus completely on its core responsibly, which includes conduction of CBSE board examinations and management of NCERT syllabus. The aspired students of the JEE Main and NEET exams are also overwhelmed with this decision.
The reason being, they will now be provided with two chances of bringing out their best performance. Candidates could now attempt either one or both the exams conducted in a year. Their one of the best scores of both of their attempts would be used in the counseling process for the allocation of the college of their choice.
In case some aspirants, due to any reason, would miss attempting the first session of the JEE Main or the NEET exam on the due date, they will have another chance in the second round for proving their excellence. Their score in the second round will also hold the same weightage for the admission counseling.
With another major change, NTA would conduct all two sessions of both the JEE Main and NEET exams in the online or computer-based mode starting 2019. When the candidates were given a choice to attend the JEE Main 2018 exam in either online or offline mode, the NEET exam had always been conducted only in the offline mode.
Considering the criticality of these exams, NTA would bring more transparency, robustness and error-free methodology through the introduction of online mode. In addition to the JEE Main and NEET exams, NTA would also be responsible for organizing the National Eligibility Test (NET), Common Management Admission Test (CMAT), and Graduate Pharmacy Aptitude Test (GPAT) entrances going ahead.
Tentative Schedule of Upcoming Examinations to be Conducted by NTA
The first exam to be conducted by NTA will be UGC-NET 2018, which will be scheduled in December 2018. Following are the tentative dates of the upcoming exams to be conducted by NTA.
UGC-NET 2018
| Event | Tentative Date(s) |
| Registration Process | September 01 to 30, 2018 |
| Examination Dates | December 02 to 16, 2018 |
| Result Declaration | Last week of January 2019 |
JEE Main 2019 – Session I
| Event | Tentative Date(s) |
| Registration Process | September 01 to 30, 2018 |
| Examination Dates | January 06 to 20, 2019 |
| Result Declaration | First week of February 2019 |
JEE Main 2019 – Session II
| Event | Tentative Date(s) |
| Registration Process | Second week of February 2019 |
| Examination Dates | April 07 to 21, 2019 |
| Result Declaration | First week of May 2019 |
NEET 2019 – Session I
| Event | Tentative Date(s) |
| Registration Process | October 01 to 31, 2018 |
| Examination Dates | February 03 to 17, 2019 |
| Result Declaration | First week of March 2019 |
NEET 2019 – Session II
| Event | Tentative Date(s) |
| Registration Process | Second week of March 2019 |
| Examination Dates | May 12 to 26, 2019 |
| Result Declaration | First week of June 2019 |
CMAT and GPAT 2019
| Event | Tentative Date(s) |
| Registration Process | October 22, 2018 to December 15, 2018 |
| Examination Dates | January 27, 2019 |
| Result Declaration | First week of February 2019 |