The National Entrance Screening Test (popularly known as NEST) is an annual college entrance examination in
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
, conducted for admission into the
(NISER) and the Center for Excellence in Basic Sciences (UM-DAE CEBS), Mumbai. These two institutes use NEST as a sole criterion for admission to their undergraduate programs. Also, the Integrated Science Education & Research Centre (ISERC) of
Visva-Bharati University
Visva-Bharati () is a public central university and an Institution of National Importance located in Shantiniketan, West Bengal, India. It was founded by Rabindranath Tagore who called it ''Visva-Bharati'', which means the communion of the w ...
has been using the merit list of NEST for admission into its undergraduate program.
As of 2018, obtaining a seat in
NISER
The National Institute of Science Education and Research (NISER) is an autonomous premier public research institute in Jatani, Odisha, India under the umbrella of Department of Atomic Energy, Govt. of India. The institute is a constituent ...
has become highly competitive. From a total of roughly 80,000 applicants nationwide, only 0.5% qualify for admission. As of 2018, the total intake of NISER and UM-DAE CBS is 200+2 students and 45+2 students respectively (where two seats in each college are reserved for students belonging to the state of Jammu and Kashmir).
NEST is conducted in both English as well as Hindi language.
Pattern of the test
The NEST question paper has five sections. The first section, which is compulsory for all candidates, includes general questions. The next four sections includes questions on (1)
Biology
Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditary i ...
, (2)
Chemistry
Chemistry is the science, scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a natural science that covers the Chemical element, elements that make up matter to the chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules and ions ...
, (3)
Mathematics
Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...
and (4)
Physics
Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...
. Candidates can attempt all the four sections out of which the best three will be taken to calculate the final marks and percentile. All sections carry equal marks (17 questions as of 2022) and has sectional cutoff. The questions are aimed at testing the
Conceptual understanding
Conceptual may refer to:
Philosophy and Humanities
*Concept
*Conceptualism
*Philosophical analysis (Conceptual analysis)
*Theoretical definition (Conceptual definition)
*Thinking about Consciousness (Conceptual dualism)
*Pragmatism (Conceptual pr ...
and
analytic ability of the candidates. The questions are of objective type with four answers given for each question, for 12 questions there may only be one relatively correct answer for each which fetches 2.5 marks. Wrong answers are awarded -1 marks. Remaining 5 questions have multiple correct options for partially correct or incorrect answers students are awarded 0 marks and for completely correct 4 marks.
Seats and intake
The number of students taking the examination has been increasing since it was first conducted in 2007. In 2020 200+2 seats were for NISER and 45+2 seats for UM-DAE CBS. About 90,000 students appeared in the exam. The exam was conducted in two sittings. 9hrs to 12:30hrs and 14hrs to 17:30hrs.
The availability of seats in recent years is as given in table below:
See also
*
References
External links
National Entrance Screening Test official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:National Entrance Screening Test
Standardised tests in India
Year of establishment missing