AIIMS Nursing Entrance Exam 2026: Cut-off Guide

The AIIMS Nursing Entrance Exam cut-off works at two levels. The first is the official qualifying standard in the prospectus, the minimum you must reach to be called for seat allocation at all. The second is the closing rank, the last rank that actually gets a seat at a particular AIIMS in a particular category. AIIMS publishes the first in advance; the second only emerges as seat allocation runs, and it changes every year.

This page gives the official 2026 qualifying standards for each test, what the 2026 seat allocation data shows about competition, and how to set a score target. Treat every figure here as a benchmark for planning, not a promise of admission.

Official Qualifying Standards (2026)

The 2026 B.Sc. prospectus applies these percentages to all B.Sc. courses, including Post-Basic. For M.Sc. Nursing, the minimum is the 50th percentile in the entrance test for every candidate, a rule AIIMS has applied to its postgraduate courses since an Academic Committee decision of 14 September 2014. Clearing these floors makes you eligible for seat allocation. It does not by itself secure a seat.

What 2026 Seat Allocation Shows

AIIMS does not publish a category-wise list of closing marks for nursing. It does publish vacant seat positions between rounds, which show where competition was thinner. After rounds 1 and 2 of 2026, 239 of the 1,366 B.Sc. (Hons.) Nursing seats were still vacant and went to the open round.

Vacancies arise when allotted candidates do not join or move elsewhere, so this is not a direct cut-off. It is still a useful signal: some institutes, AIIMS New Delhi among them, fill almost completely in the main rounds, while others carry a large share of seats into the open round. A rank that misses AIIMS New Delhi can still reach a seat elsewhere if your choice list is long enough.

Individual marks are shown on the AIIMS website only after the admission process ends, and there is no rechecking. Any closing marks you see quoted elsewhere are unofficial and indicative only. If you need the real numbers for your own planning, the vacant seat notices and round-wise allocation results on the AIIMS website are the only official trail.

What Moves the Cut-off

• Applicant numbers: the 2026 B.Sc. (Hons.) exam needed two shifts because of high applications, which usually means tighter ranks.

• Paper difficulty and normalisation: a harder paper lowers raw scores across the board, and normalisation adjusts for differences between shifts.

• Seat matrix: new AIIMS or changes in intake shift the closing rank.

• Category and PwBD seats: each category has its own merit list and seat count, so closing ranks differ sharply between UR, OBC-NCL, EWS, SC and ST, and again for PwBD seats earmarked within them.

• Choice behaviour: how many toppers choose MBBS, other courses or other colleges decides how far down the list each round goes.

How to Set Your Target

1. Clear the floor with room: aim for mock scores at least 15 marks above your category's qualifying floor before you think about institutes. This is a practice benchmark, not an official figure.

2. Then aim by preference: if you want AIIMS New Delhi or another high-demand AIIMS, push your mock average higher still and track your rank among other test-takers, not just your raw score.

3. Protect Biology: it is the first tie-breaker, so a strong Biology score helps when many candidates sit on the same total.

4. Fill a long choice list: list every AIIMS you would actually join, in honest order, because round 1 choices also govern round 2.

Check seat positions and results on the AIIMS Examination Section portal.