NEW DELHI: The National Medical Commission (NMC), for the first time, on Tuesday shared a tentative timeline for conducting the National Exit Test (NExT), a common qualifying exam for medical graduates.

Officials said NExT will be held in India in two phases.

The first phase, likely to be held in May next year, will be based on Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs).The second phase, to be conducted in November, after the completion of internship, will be a comprehensive practical/clinical examination.

It will evaluate competencies in clinical diagnosis, patient examination and clinical decision-making, practical and communication skills necessary for practice of the modern system of medicine.NExT will act as a licentiate exam to practice modern medicine and for merit-based admission to postgraduate courses and a screening exam for foreign medical graduates who want to practice in India.According to Dr S C Sharma, chairman of NMC, a mock test is planned on July 28 to test the system.

Registration for the mock test, which will be conducted by AIIMS Delhi, will start on June 28 (Wednesday), Dr Sharma said, while addressing an online meet called to address the concerns of final year medical students and faculties of medical colleges regarding the common qualifying exam."Only final year students pursuing MBBS courses are eligible for such mock tests," he added.

The aim of the test, the NMC chairman explained to students, is to familiarise the prospective candidates with Computer-Based Test (CBT), software interface and process flow in the examination center."The sample questions in the mock test will only exemplify the pattern and format of the NExT-Step 1 examination.

Still, they may not represent the complete NExT-Step 1 examination or syllabus coverage," he added.Until now, all MBBS graduates had to clear a final exam which included both theory and practical.

It was conducted by colleges/universities.

NExT will be a centralised exam.

"It is a good decision by the NMC to take medical students in confidence and discuss the modality of the new examination system before launching it.

There may be some teething issues but the discussions and mock tests planned are meant to address them only," Dr Rishiraj Sinha, national executive member of the Federation of All India Medical Association (FAIMA), said.NExT has been under preparation for over a decade.One of the members of the Supreme Court-appointed committee to suggest ways to reform medical education in the country in 2016 told TOI recently that NeXT was envisaged as a common final year undergraduate examination that shall be the basis for registration to practice medicine, for admission to postgraduate courses and even screening the foreign medical graduates who want to practise in the country.

"The idea was to assess the product (medical graduates) and not the process alone as is the case under the current system," he said.

The doctor added that NeXT will provide a level playing field to medical graduates from across the country.