National Entrance Screening Test

Annual college entrance examination in India

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The National Entrance Screening Test (popularly known as NEST) is an annual college entrance examination on India, conducted for admission into the National Institute of Science Education and Research (NISER), Jatani and the Centre for Excellence in Basic Sciences (UM-DAE CEBS), Mumbai. These two institutes use NEST as a sole criterion for admission to their undergraduate programs.

2017 was the year in which NISER received highest applicants ( 68,544 ) and students appeared ( approx. 47000 ) for NEST exam. Afterwards it's starts declining in 2018 - 44060 students appeared then in 2019 - 37510 ; 2020 - 21275 ; 2021 - 24328 students appeared for NEST exam ( official annual reports published by NISER on its official website ) . For about approx. 100 Unreserved seats out of 202 in NISER, one can get admission upto 400-700 general rank ( cutoff vary year on year ) in NEST Exam till last round. This is due to the fact many candidates choose to prefer other career option like Engineering, Medical, Natural Science at IISc or IISERs, etc.

Pattern of the test

Before 2024, the question paper pattern of NEST was different. From 2024 onwards, the question paper consists of 4 sections of Physics, Chemistry, Maths and Biology. Each section contains 20 questions (MCQs) with single correct answers. So, the total number of questions in all sections is 80 (20×4). +3 marks is awarded for correct answer, -1 for incorrect answer and 0 if unanswered. The total marks of question paper is 240 (80×3). However, the merit list is prepared out of 180 marks (Best 3 sections). So, if you need you can leave any one section as per your preference. The toughness level of questions of NEST is comparable to that of JEE Advanced but the questions in NEST is more conceptual. The cutoff varies yearly but you can target 90-100 marks out of 180 for your selection.

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 21,275 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:

Institute	Intake (2007)	Intake (2008)	Intake (2009)	Intake (2010)	Intake (2011)	Intake (2012)	Intake (2013)	Intake (2014)	Intake (2020)	Intake (2021)
National Institute of Science Education and Research (NISER)	40	40	52	60	60	60	60	100	202	202
Centre for Excellence in Basic Sciences (UM-DAE CBS)	20	12	35	35	35	35	35	35	59	59