NEST Exam 2016

What is NEST Exam 2016?

The National Entrance Screening Test or NEST is a compulsory test for admission to the 5-year Integrated MSc programme in basic sciences - Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics and Physics - at National Institute of Science Education and Research (NISER), Bhubaneswar and University of Mumbai - Department of Atomic Energy Center for Excellence in Basic Sciences (UM-DAE CBS), Mumbai. Both NISER and CBS are autonomous institutions established by Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), Government of India, in 2007.

 These institutes have started with the mandate to provide high quality teaching in basic sciences by a faculty of distinguished scientists embedded in a vibrant research environment and to create a national pool of scientists ready to take up research challenges in the frontiers of basic and applied sciences. The Integrated MSc programme at these institutes follows a semester-based course structure and continuous assessment within a flexible and innovative academic curriculum, exposing the students to research early in their programme. The placements of the graduated students from NISER and CBS provide testimony of success to this initiative.

 NISER and CBS are both residential institute equipped with state-of-art teaching and research laboratories, modern computational facilities and computer centres and excellent libraries. All the students are accommodated at in-campus hostels, for both girls and boys, and are provided with an environment conducive to science education and research.

 All the candidates admitted to 5-year Integrated MSc programme at NISER and CBS are eligible for INSPIRE, Govt. of India, scholarship of ₹5,000/- per month and ₹20,000/- per year for carrying out summer projects.

 Besides, top performers at NISER and CBS, securing overall grades above certain threshold at the end of final semester, will be eligible to appear directly for the interview for admission to Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) Training School.

The details of the Integrated MSc programme, courses, research activities, facilities and faculty profile at NISER and CBS can be found on their respective websites (www.niser.ac.in and www.cbs.ac.in).

Who can apply for this scholarship ?

Educational qualification:

Candidates seeking admission to NISER and UM-DAE CBS for the academic session 2016-17 should be from science stream (having any combination of Biology/ Chemistry/ Mathematics/ Physics) at class XII and must write the NEST 2016 examination. Candidates who have passed class XII examination or equivalent from any recognised Board in India in 2014 or 2015 or are appearing in 2016 are eligible for admission. Admission will be offered strictly on the basis of Merit List of NEST 2016. Candidates securing at least 60% marks in aggregate or equivalent grade in class XII examination will be eligible for admission to NISER and CBS. However, there is no restriction on appearing for NEST. For candidates belonging to scheduled castes (SC), scheduled tribes (ST) and physical disabilities (PD) categories, the minimum requirement of marks is 55% in aggregate. Where only letter grades are available, a certificate from the Board specifying equivalent percentage of marks is required. In the absence of such a certificate, the decision of the Admissions Committee of the concerned Institution will be final.

Age limit:

General and OBC category candidates born on or after August 01, 1996 are eligible for admission to the integrated M.Sc. programme of NISER/CBS. The age limit is relaxed by 5 years for SC / ST / PD candidates. However, there is no restriction on appearing for NEST 2016. Necessary certificates supporting eligibility criteria have to be furnished at the time of admission. Please also note that the offer of admission is subject to verification of all original certificates at the time of admission/counselling

How can you apply ?

Online application is done only through www.nestexam.in

To apply for NEST 2016, candidates must fill-up the online application form through www.nestexam.in on or after January 4, 2016. Candidates are strongly advised to read through the detailed online application procedure available on the website. There is no offline application mode available for NEST 2016. 

Terms and Conditions

The Examination

The NEST 2016 will be conducted at 56 major towns and cities all over India on May 28, 2016 (Saturday), 10:00 am – 1:00 pm. Based on the performance in NEST 2016, a common Merit List of the candidates will be prepared and posted on NEST 2016 website on June 17, 2016. The successful candidates will be asked to participate in an admission/counselling process and the admission will strictly be according to the Merit List until all the seats are filled.

Examination centres: A list of NEST examination centres is given. Candidates must choose 2 (two) centres in order of their preference while filling up of application form. It is allowed to select two centers from the same city, such as Delhi-East and Delhi-North. Every effort will be made to allot the centre of first preference. Please note that ultimately the allotment of an examination centre by the Chief Coordinator has to be regarded as final and request for change of centre will, in general, not be entertained. The centre (venue) address will be mentioned on the NEST admit card.

Examination rules: Candidates must reach the test centre at least half an hour before the start of the examination. The examination is of 3 hrs duration and will start at 10:00 am. Candidates will not be allowed to enter the examination hall after 10:30 am. The earliest a candidate can leave the examination hall is 11:30 am, unless it becomes necessary to leave before on medical grounds. The earliest one can carry the question paper out is 12.00 noon. Use of log tables and calculators in the examination hall is not allowed. Candidates must bring their own pen, pencils (HB), eraser and sharpener. Exchange/sharing of these items with other candidates is strictly prohibited. Candidates MUST bring their Admit Card and their school photo Identity Card or any photo ID issued by Government agencies to the examination hall. Any candidate found adopting unfair means will be expelled from the examination hall without warning. Mobile phone and other similar electronic gadgets are strictly not allowed inside examination hall.

Question type: The question paper will consist of 5 (five) sections of objective (MCQ) type questions carrying 50 marks in each section. Section 1 is the general section and is compulsory for all candidates. There will be no negative marking in general section. Sections 2 through 5 will contain subject specific questions from Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics and Physics. Candidates are permitted to attempt as many subject-sections as they wish. However, only the best three subject scores along with the score in the general section will be counted for evaluation and merit list preparation. The questions are designed to test candidates' subject comprehension and analytic ability. In the subject sections, there will be negative marking for incorrect answers. Some questions may have one or more correct answers for which marks can only be earned by marking all correct answers and no wrong answer. For NEST question papers of last few years, refer to the NEST 2016 website.

Language of the question paper will be English only.

Answering questions: The answers to each question are to be marked on an OMR (Optical Mark Recognition) sheet. Details of how to answer on OMR sheet will be given in question paper and OMR sheet.

Syllabus: The syllabus for NEST 2016 primarily follows the NCERT/ CBSE science syllabus of class XI-XII. The detailed syllabus for NEST examination is provided at the end of this document. The syllabus can also be downloaded on the www.nestexam.in website under the ‘Syllabus’ tab. There is, however, no specific syllabus for the general section. This section tests candidate's familiarity with, but not detailed understanding of, major historical milestones in subjects like astronomy, biology, chemistry, mathematics, physics, computer science and environmental science. Questions will be designed to test analytic abilities and comprehension of scientific passages. Some of the questions in this section may require knowledge of class X mathematics.

Note: Previous NEST question papers (2007 to 2015) are available on NEST website.

Important documents

Syllabus-for-NEST-0845.pdf

brochure-0848.pdf

How-to-apply-1209.pdf

Important Links

• Original website
• Apply online link