AIAPGET 2026 Syllabus — Complete Exam Pattern & Preparation Guide

AIAPGET is conducted annually by the National Testing Agency on behalf of the Ministry of AYUSH, replacing the earlier separate state and university-level PG entrance exams with one national test. A single AIAPGET score is used for counselling into MD/MS Ayurveda seats under the All India Quota (typically 50% of seats in government colleges) as well as, in most participating states, the state quota seats — so nearly every serious BAMS graduate pursuing a postgraduate seat sits this exam.

Because the exam spans four separate AYUSH systems on a shared testing window, Ayurveda candidates are tested only on the Ayurveda-specific paper, covering the fourteen core subjects taught across the BAMS curriculum. Your rank, combined with your category, domicile, and the specific college's seat matrix, determines which specialization and college you can realistically target during counselling — which is why understanding both the exam pattern and the counselling mechanics early in your preparation matters as much as raw subject knowledge.

The Ayurveda paper of AIAPGET consists of 120 objective-type, single-best-answer questions to be completed within 2 hours, delivered as a computer-based test at NTA-designated centres. Each correct answer carries a fixed positive mark, and each incorrect answer attracts a negative mark of -1, while unattempted questions carry no penalty.

This negative marking structure changes strategy meaningfully compared to unrestricted MCQ exams: guessing blindly on questions where you can eliminate none of the four options is statistically close to break-even or a net loss, so disciplined elimination technique matters more here than in exams with no penalty. Because the paper covers fourteen subjects in a fixed time window, average pace needs to stay close to one minute per question, leaving a short buffer for a final review pass on marked or skipped items.

The AIAPGET Ayurveda syllabus draws from the full BAMS curriculum across all professional years:

• Padartha Vigyana & Ayurveda Ithihasa — fundamental principles and history of Ayurveda
• Rachana Sharira — anatomy
• Kriya Sharira — physiology
• Dravyaguna Vigyana — pharmacology and materia medica
• Rasashastra & Bhaishajya Kalpana — pharmaceutics and herbo-mineral medicine
• Roga Nidana & Vikriti Vigyana — pathology and diagnostics
• Swasthavritta & Yoga — preventive and social medicine, yoga
• Kayachikitsa — internal medicine
• Shalya Tantra — general surgery
• Shalakya Tantra — ENT, ophthalmology, head and neck
• Prasuti Tantra & Stree Roga — obstetrics and gynaecology
• Kaumarabhritya — paediatrics
• Agada Tantra & Vidhi Vaidyaka — toxicology and forensic medicine
• Panchakarma — bio-purification therapies

Each subject's weightage varies year to year, but Kayachikitsa, Dravyaguna, and Rachana/Kriya Sharira consistently draw a disproportionately large share of questions given their curricular size.

Within each subject, certain chapters repeatedly generate a disproportionate share of questions. In Rachana Sharira, Asthi (bones), Sandhi (joints), and Marma classification are consistently tested. In Kriya Sharira, Agni, Dosha-Dhatu-Mala physiology, and Prakriti assessment are near-guaranteed territory.

In Dravyaguna, single-drug identification questions (botanical name, Rasa-Guna-Virya-Vipaka, and primary Karma) drawn from the top 150-200 classical drugs form the bulk of the subject's questions, so rote memorisation of a curated drug list pays off disproportionately. In Charaka Samhita-based Kayachikitsa questions, chapters on Jwara, Prameha, Rajayakshma, and Vata Vyadhi appear frequently, while in Sushruta Samhita-based Shalya questions, Sushruta's classification of Vrana, Shastra Karma (surgical procedures), and Marma remain high-yield. In Panchakarma, indications and contraindications for Vamana, Virechana, and Basti, along with common formulations used in each, are tested almost every year in some form.

Month 1 — Rachana Sharira, Kriya Sharira, and Padartha Vigyana, building the foundational layer the clinical subjects rest on.

Month 2 — Dravyaguna and Rasashastra & Bhaishajya Kalpana, with daily drug-list drilling.

Month 3 — Roga Nidana, Swasthavritta & Yoga, and Agada Tantra, subjects that are compact but often under-revised.

Month 4 — Kayachikitsa in depth, given its curricular size and consistent question share, alongside daily 30-question mixed-subject drills.

Month 5 — Shalya Tantra, Shalakya Tantra, Prasuti Tantra & Stree Roga, Kaumarabhritya, and Panchakarma, covered at a brisk but thorough pace.

Month 6 — Full-length timed mock tests twice weekly under real 2-hour, negative-marking conditions, combined with an error log reviewed daily and targeted revision of your weakest 20% of chapters rather than re-reading everything uniformly.

Without reproducing any specific past question, analysis of AIAPGET's recurring patterns over recent cycles shows a few consistent themes worth building into your revision priority. Single-drug identification questions (matching a classical drug name to its botanical identity, Rasa, or primary indication) recur every year across Dravyaguna and Rasashastra. Classification-based questions — types of Vrana in Shalya, types of Prameha in Kayachikitsa, types of Basti in Panchakarma — are a dependable category because Ayurveda's classical texts are inherently organised around enumerated classifications.

Questions referencing which classical text or chapter a concept originates from (Charaka vs Sushruta vs Ashtanga Hridaya) also appear regularly, rewarding candidates who know not just the concept but its textual source. Numerical/dosage-based questions (Snehapana escalation, Basti schedules, Vega counts) are a smaller but near-certain category each year.

The most common mistake is spending disproportionate time on subjects that feel comfortable (often Kayachikitsa, since it overlaps heavily with clinical rotations) while leaving compact, lower-weightage subjects like Agada Tantra or Swasthavritta under-revised until the final week, when there is no longer time to build genuine familiarity.

A second common error is skipping negative-marking-aware mock practice until very late, so candidates enter the real exam without a tested elimination strategy for four-option questions where two options are clearly wrong but the remaining two are close. A third is over-reliance on one review source without cross-checking classical drug names, dosages, or classification numbers against a primary reference, which occasionally propagates errors from one candidate's notes to another's.

Reinforce your subject-wise revision with structured MCQ practice covering all fourteen AIAPGET subjects, use concise study notes for rapid pre-exam revision of high-yield chapters, and track your remaining preparation time with the exam countdown timer to keep your month-by-month plan on schedule.

AIAPGET and NEET PG are frequently confused by students and families outside the medical education space, but they serve entirely separate systems of medicine. NEET PG is the entrance examination for MD/MS and PG Diploma seats in allopathic (MBBS-based) medicine, conducted by the National Board of Examinations, and is only relevant to MBBS graduates.

AIAPGET, by contrast, is the dedicated entrance test for postgraduate seats across the AYUSH systems — Ayurveda, Unani, Siddha, and Homoeopathy — and is only open to graduates of the corresponding undergraduate degree (BAMS for Ayurveda MD/MS seats). A BAMS graduate cannot use an AIAPGET score to seek an MBBS-stream PG seat, and the reverse is equally true. The two exams have different syllabi, different conducting bodies, and lead to registration under entirely separate medical councils, so there is no cross-eligibility between them.