The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has said, the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) Under Graduate 2017 for admission to medical colleges across the country will be considered as the first out of three available attempts for all candidates. In a statement, the Board said, the Medical Council of India has clarified that the attempts made by candidates for All India Pre-Medical Test/NEET prior to 2017 should not be counted.

The confusion mounted after CBSE released a notification on Tuesday, saying that aspirants who had already given AIPMT and NEET 2016 over three times are ineligible to appear for NEET. The CBSE said, all candidates who could not fill up the application form due to the condition of three attempts at AIPMT/NEET will now be able to fill up their application form.

This year admission to MBBS/BDS course in medical/ dental colleges, which operate with the approval of Medical Council of India/ Dental Council of India, will be made through NEET. The registration process began on Tuesday and will continue till the 1st of next month. The exam will be conducted in 10 different languages on 7th May.