How to Read INI-CET Cutoffs: Opening and Closing Ranks

What a cutoff is

After each counselling round, allotment results show which ranks were given which seats. From these, two numbers are read for each combination of institute, specialty and category:

• Opening rank: the best (lowest-numbered) rank allotted a seat in that combination.
• Closing rank: the last (highest-numbered) rank allotted a seat in that combination.

On this site both numbers are copied from the official document exactly as printed. They are not calculated from other figures.

Reading one row

A single cutoff row only makes sense with all of its labels:

• Institute and specialty: MD Medicine at one institute and MD Medicine at another are separate rows.
• Category: each category has its own seats and therefore its own closing rank.
• PwBD: seats for persons with benchmark disabilities are listed separately from the same category without PwBD.
• Seat type: where a document lists separate seat pools, each has its own cutoff.
• Session and round: the same combination can close at different ranks in different rounds and sessions.

Comparing two rows is only meaningful when everything except the thing you are comparing is the same.

Rounds are separate

Each round is a new allotment. Candidates join, upgrade, withdraw or leave seats vacant between rounds, so a closing rank can move in either direction from one round to the next. This site stores every round separately and never merges them into one “final” cutoff.

When you compare sessions, compare the same round with the same round. The Cutoff Explorer's historical comparison lays one institute and specialty out as sessions against rounds for exactly this reason.

Missing and corrected values

• Not available means the official document did not print that value. It is never filled in from another round or estimated.
• No data means no record for that combination has been published here. It does not mean the specialty was not offered.
• (corrected) means a later official notice corrected the value. The original stays in the dataset history.

What cutoffs cannot tell you

• The future. Seats, the number of candidates and their preferences change every session.
• How competitive a single-seat row really is. When a combination has one seat, its closing rank is the rank of one person and can swing widely between sessions. Check the seat matrix for how many seats a row had.
• Why a row closed where it did. A high closing rank can mean few people chose that option, not that it is easier or worse.
• Which option is better. Cutoffs measure demand in one allotment. They are not a quality ranking, and this site does not rank institutes or specialties.

Using the Cutoff Explorer

1. Open the Cutoff Explorer and choose a session and round.
2. Filter by your category and PwBD status first, then narrow by institute or specialty, or search by name or abbreviation.
3. Choose one institute and one specialty to open the historical comparison across sessions and rounds.
4. Open the source link on any row to see the official document it came from.

Filters are saved in the page address, so you can bookmark or share the exact view.