MBBS students 2023 joining medical colleges will likely give NExT exam in February 2028; here’s what to know

According to the academic calendar published by the National Medical Commission (NMC) in its Competency-Based Medical Education (CBME) regulations 2023, the new batch of MBBS students enrolling in medical colleges this year will take the National Exit Test (NExT) Step 1 in February 2028 and the NExT Step 2 in February 2029.

According to NMC, “The thrust in the new regulations is continuation and evolution of thought in medical education making it more learner-centric, patient-centric, gender- sensitive, outcome -oriented and environment appropriate. The result is an outcome driven curriculum which conforms to global trends.”

Originally, the MBBS batch joining this year was to appear for the NExT examination in December 2027 or January 2028.

But the Graduate Medical Education Regulations (GMER) 2023 in which the schedule was given had been withdrawn by the NMC.

The new schedule was announced by the NMC’s Under Graduate Medical Education Board (UGMEB) on Tuesday in its CBME regulations 2023 document. The NMC NExT exam for the 2023 MBBS admissions will be held in FEbruary 2028. The schedule of university-level examinations has also been changed

Guidelines for CBME: MBBS subjects

An MBBS course will be divided into three phases over the course of its four and a half-year duration, with the first and second phases lasting 12 months each and the third phase lasting 30 months, with Part I lasting 12 months and Part II, 18 months.

Both the revised CBME 2023 recommendations and the cancelled GMER 2023 guidelines share the same first and second professional-year MBBS curriculum.

The following is a list from the CBME guidelines:

Part I

Forensic medicine and toxicology
Community medicine
Otorhinolaryngological (ENT)
Opthalmology

Part II

General medicine
Pediatrics
Dermatology
Psychiatary
General surgery
Obstetrics and gynaecology
Orthopaedics (including trauma)
Anesthesiology
Radiodiagnosis

2023 CBME Guidelines: Revised academic year

The first and second year MBBS professional exams and results were scheduled for July according to the academic calendar published in the withdrew GMER recommendations, however the new CBME rules suggest holding the exams in August.

The NExT step 2 exam has been proposed for the incoming MBBS batch students in February 2029 by CBME recommendations, contrary to the withdrawn GMER standards, which did not include it in their academic calendar.

MBBS curriculum and course requirements

The 98-page CBME regulations for 2023 provide rules and guidelines that are comparable to those in the GMER regulations for the same year. The GMER 2023 recommendations were released by NMC on June 12 but were abruptly withdrawn on June 23.

The GMER 2023 guidelines had new regulations on competency-based medical education (CBME) curriculum, family adoption programme, manpower recruitment for research facilities in a medical college, admission of students under the category of disabilities, and format for submitting information about admissions in medical colleges.

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