Percentile vs Percentage Explained: How NEET PG Cut-Offs and Counselling Actually Work

As NEET PG counselling comes back into focus following a sharp revision in qualifying cut-offs, confusion has grown among aspirants and parents over what a lowered percentile actually signifies. Many candidates mistakenly equate percentile with percentage, but the two concepts are fundamentally different — and understanding this distinction is crucial for decoding eligibility, ranking, and seat allocation in postgraduate medical admissions.

NEET PG eligibility is not based on marks or percentage scored. Instead, it depends entirely on percentile, a relative measure of performance compared to other candidates. This is why even candidates with comparatively low marks may still qualify for counselling if their percentile meets the prescribed threshold.

Percentage vs Percentile: The Core Difference

A percentage reflects how many marks a candidate has scored out of the total marks in an exam. It is an absolute value and does not depend on how others performed.

For example, NEET PG is conducted for 800 marks. If a candidate scores 320 marks, their percentage is:

Percentage = (Marks obtained ÷ Total marks) × 100
= (320 ÷ 800) × 100
= 40 per cent

This number only shows individual performance and offers no insight into relative ranking.

A percentile, on the other hand, compares a candidate’s performance with all other test-takers. It indicates the percentage of candidates a student has scored equal to or better than.

For instance, if 85,000 out of 1,00,000 candidates scored less than or equal to a particular candidate, the percentile would be:

Percentile = (Number of candidates scoring ≤ your score ÷ Total candidates) × 100
= (85,000 ÷ 1,00,000) × 100
= 85 percentile

In simple terms, percentage measures marks, while percentile measures relative position.

How NEET PG Percentile Is Calculated

After the NEET PG exam, scores of all candidates are arranged in ascending order. Each candidate’s percentile is then calculated based on how many examinees they have outperformed or matched.

This means percentile remains unaffected by the total marks of the exam and instead depends on overall performance trends. If an exam is particularly tough, even low marks can translate into higher percentiles.

Why NEET PG Uses Percentile for Counselling

The National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences, which conducts NEET PG, determines counselling eligibility purely on the basis of percentile. Marks or percentage play no role in deciding who can participate in counselling rounds.

Traditionally, qualifying percentiles were set at:

• 50th percentile for General and EWS candidates

• 45th percentile for General PwBD

• 40th percentile for SC, ST and OBC candidates

Only candidates meeting these thresholds were eligible for counselling.

Why the Recent Cut-Off Revision Matters

To address a large number of vacant postgraduate medical seats after earlier counselling rounds, authorities significantly lowered the qualifying percentiles for NEET PG 2025.

Under the revised criteria:

• General and EWS cut-off was reduced to the 7th percentile

• General PwBD cut-off was lowered to the 5th percentile

• SC, ST and OBC cut-off was brought down to the 0th percentile

This means eligibility is now based entirely on relative ranking rather than raw performance. Even candidates with very low or negative scores may qualify for later counselling rounds if they meet the revised percentile requirement.

Officials say the move aims to fill over 18,000 vacant PG medical seats nationwide. However, the decision has also triggered debate within the medical community, with critics questioning its long-term impact on academic standards.

The Bottom Line

Percentile does not reflect how much you scored — it reflects where you stand among others. In competitive exams like NEET PG, percentile determines eligibility, ranking, and counselling access. Understanding this difference helps aspirants interpret cut-offs correctly and avoid unnecessary panic when raw marks appear low.