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NEET PG Study Schedule

A dated plan that mixes subjects every day so studying doesn't get monotonous, while each subject still stays in one block so revision is straightforward. Choose Full-time or Working doctor, fill in your dates and hours, and the plan recalculates.

Full-time aspirant Working doctor

Start date Exam date Study hours / day Weekly light day Hours on a work day Hours on day off Weekly day off Video speed

The NEET PG 2027 date has not been announced. The default (22 Aug 2027) assumes an August exam like 2024–2026. Settings are saved in this browser.

The plan at a glance

Subject-by-subject timeline

Every phase runs two tracks at once. The main track carries the big, high-weightage subjects. The side track carries the shorter subjects, timed to run alongside a related main subject. Each block shows which main subject it runs alongside. Dates are approximate.

A typical study day

How subjects are mixed (and why revision stays easy)

Two tracks, never more. Each day has one big subject (the main track) and one short subject (the side track). Switching between two different subjects keeps the day fresh. Limiting it to two avoids the scattered feeling of studying five things at once.
Each subject still stays in one block. A subject is started and finished in one continuous run in its track, with clear dates. Your notes, QBank modules and revision therefore stay organised by subject, exactly as they would in a one-subject-at-a-time plan.
Pairings reinforce each other. The side subject is timed to run alongside a related main subject: Derm and Psych with Medicine; Ortho, Anaesthesia and Radiology with Surgery; Paediatrics with OBG (neonatology); ENT and Ophthalmology with Anatomy (head & neck, neuro); Physiology and Biochemistry with Pathology and Pharmacology. The 2026 paper was heavily integrated, so these pairings match how questions are asked.
Mixed questions every day. A short daily set of 20–30 MCQs drawn from all subjects finished so far provides interleaved practice. Research on interleaving shows better long-term retention and better ability to tell similar problems apart than blocked practice (one study found 47% vs 30% accuracy). It also brings back older subjects before they are forgotten.
Spaced recap. Each day ends by revising notes from 1, 3 and 7 days ago. Spaced, test-based revision is the best-supported study technique for long-term memory.

How to study for a big MCQ exam

NEET PG covers 19 subjects and is tested only through MCQs. Research on large medical MCQ exams such as USMLE Step 1, and learning-science reviews, point to the same few methods. Every phase of this schedule is built around them.

Method	Evidence	Where it is in this schedule
1. Learn by answering questions (retrieval practice)	Practice testing is rated “high utility” in Dunlosky et al.'s review of 10 study techniques. The number of practice MCQs done independently predicted licensing-exam scores.	Topic MCQs are done straight after each topic is studied, the whole QBank is done in phase 2, and there's a daily question target (see “MCQs to exam” above).
2. Spaced repetition	Spacing is the other “high utility” technique. Students who used Anki daily or regularly scored higher on Step 1 in several studies, though one study found no significant difference.	A daily recap of notes from 1, 3, 7 and 21 days ago, plus 15–30 minutes of flashcards. Three revision passes are spread over the year.
3. Interleaving (mixed practice)	Mixing problem types improves the ability to tell similar problems apart (47% vs 30% accuracy in one study), even though it feels harder at the time.	Two subject tracks every day, a daily set of mixed MCQs from all finished subjects, and a weekly mixed test.
4. Review every explanation, and keep an error log	Retrieval only helps if you get feedback afterwards. Toppers repeatedly say that analysing a test matters more than taking it.	Read the explanation for every wrong and every guessed question. Log the underlying fact, not the question. The log is revised every week and is the main material in the final week.
5. PYQs as their own pass	Recall-based analyses keep finding repeated PYQs, and 2026 had a strong PYQ flavour.	End each subject block with its PYQs (about half a day). Do a full PYQ revision in phase 3.
6. Practise in the exact exam format	The exam is 5 sections × 36 questions × 42 minutes, about 70 seconds per question, with no going back to a closed section. In 2026, 32% of students said they ran short of time.	Questions are timed from phase 2. Grand tests use exactly this format. Track your score, accuracy and time per question in every test.
7. Image-based practice	Image questions vary a lot by year (many in 2024–25, few in 2026). They are cheap to prepare for.	A short image-bank session in the evening slot in phases 2–3: Pathology, Microbiology, Dermatology, Ophthalmology, Radiology, Anatomy, FMT.
8. Protect sleep	Sleep consolidates memory. Cutting it to gain study hours works against spaced learning.	The planned hours assume 7 or more hours of sleep. If you're short on time, reduce hours, not sleep.

Guessing rule for NEET PG's marking (+4 / −1)

Expected marks from guessing: a blind guess between 4 options averages +0.25. Ruling out one option raises that to +0.67, and ruling out two raises it to +1.5.
But ties are broken by fewer wrong answers. As reported for 2026, ranks are first decided by the total number of incorrect answers, then by incorrect answers section by section. Each blind guess adds expected marks but also adds wrong answers.
Practical rule: answer if you can rule out at least 2 options. With exactly 1 ruled out, answer only if you have a real lean. Skip blind guesses. Practise this rule in every grand test so it's automatic on exam day.

The best method for a working doctor

Across topper interviews, coaching guidance and research on learning, the same method keeps coming up for people with only a few hours a day: use questions as the main way to learn, keep videos short and targeted, study consistently every day, and test on the weekly day off.

Principle	What to actually do	Why
Questions first, notes after (“retrograde” learning)	For subjects you know reasonably well, do the topic's MCQs first, read every explanation, then fill the gaps in your notes. Watch videos only for subjects or topics where you are weak.	Practice testing is one of the two highest-rated study techniques in Dunlosky et al.'s review. In a US medical-licensing study, the number of practice MCQs and Anki flashcards each predicted exam scores independently (about +1 point per 445 MCQs).
Rapid-revision videos, not the full course	Use one platform's rapid-revision series, which is about 280 h for all 19 subjects (roughly 30% of a full course), plus its QBank. Watch at 1.5–2×.	Several recent top rankers who studied during internship relied on rapid-revision videos, QBank and grand tests rather than the full course.
Short daily sessions, kept up every day	2–4 focused hours on work days, in 60–90-minute blocks. Do the harder main-track work when you're freshest (before duty or on light postings).	Coaching guidance for working professionals agrees that 3–4 focused hours a day, kept up for 10–15 months, works.
Alternate tracks across days	With only about 3 hours, don't split one evening between two subjects. Do the main subject on alternate days and the side subject on the days in between. The day off is a long main-track day.	Keeps variety without breaking a short session into pieces that are too small to be useful.
Learn in small gaps between duties	Keep a QBank app or flashcards on your phone: 10–20 MCQs or 5 minutes of flashcards between patients, during commutes and in breaks.	A rank-4 topper reported solving questions “while shifting patients”. Short, spaced bursts add up and count as spaced retrieval practice. They are a bonus and are not counted in the planned hours.
Weekly grand test on the day off	From phase 2, the day off holds a full grand test (5 × 36 Q, timed) and its analysis. In phase 3, add a 36-question, 42-minute sectional test on two work days. One section fits neatly into a short evening.	Toppers repeatedly say “one GT a week is a must; review it the same day”.
Adjust for how heavy the posting is	On heavy-duty days, do only flashcards or short subjects. On light postings, push Medicine and Surgery. If a week goes badly, set the start date to today and the plan will recalculate.	Consistency over the whole year matters more than a perfect week.

How the time was allocated

Difficulty factor: High ×1.2, Moderate-high ×1.1, Moderate ×1.0, based on PrepLadder's 2026 subject-difficulty review.
80% of each day goes to the two subject tracks. The other 20% goes to mixed MCQs and spaced recap.
Revision hours (phase 2 and phase 3) are shared out 60% by exam weightage and 40% by how long the subject took in first reading.
First reading is capped at 62% of the available study hours, so revision and grand tests always get at least 38%. If first reading doesn't fit, it is compressed and you'll see a warning.

Subject	Track	Est. Q	Lecture h (1×)	Difficulty	1st-pass h	Q per 10 h

“Lecture h” is the approximate length of a full main video course at 1× speed. Published figures exist only for some subjects: Marrow's whole course is 810–1,075 h, with Medicine about 135–146 h, Microbiology about 81 h and Pathology about 71 h. The rest are estimated in proportion. Working-doctor mode uses about 30% of these hours, matching the size of rapid-revision series (about 280 h for all subjects). “Q per 10 h” is the number of exam questions you get for each 10 hours of first-pass study.