AIIMS NORCET stage 1 cut-offs are out; stage 2 is on 30 September

Nursing graduates chasing a government hospital post have a short runway. The stage 1 examination of the eleventh Nursing Officer Recruitment Common Eligibility Test was held on 12 September 2026, the qualifying cut-offs were published on 18 September, and stage 2 is on 30 September. The stage 2 result is due on 10 October.

How the cut-off works

Shortlisting is by percentile, not by raw marks, so the number that matters is your position relative to everyone who sat the paper. For a sense of the level, the previous cycle closed at roughly 93.59 percentile for the general category, 84.21 for OBC, 81.96 for SC, 78.98 for EWS and 74.47 for ST, with substantially lower thresholds for PwD candidates in each category. Those are last cycle's numbers — read this year's published list for your own status rather than extrapolating.

Eleven days to prepare, and how to spend them

• Stage 2 is the deciding paper. Stage 1 only filters; the merit that gets you a posting is built here.
• Go subject-wise, not chapter-wise. Medical-surgical nursing, fundamentals, and community health carry the bulk of the weight in a nursing officer paper.
• Practise at exam speed. Candidates described stage 1 as moderate to difficult; the constraint in these papers is almost always the clock.
• Download the admit card the day it appears and check the centre city before you book travel.

A nursing officer post at a central institute is one of the few clinical government jobs recruited purely on a written test, with no interview to argue with — which makes 30 September a genuinely decisive morning.

CareerBox News Desk — reporting on the NORCET stage 1 result and examination schedule issued by the examination section of AIIMS, New Delhi. Official portal: aiimsexams.ac.in. Dates and eligibility change; confirm them on the official portal before you act.