NTSE

NTSE (National Talent Search Examination) is a very prestigious school-level scholarship exam conducted by NCERT (National Council of Educational Research and Training) every year in the month of May, notification for which is issued in the July/August month of previous year.

As per  Close to 1,50,000 students appear in this scholarship exam every year, in which only 1000 gets the scholarship - thus only 1 in every 150 is ultimately selected - the acceptance rate is only 0.67%! Compare this with the acceptance rate of Ivy League institutes like Harvard –7.1% (22,955 students applied, 2,058 accepted), Yale – 8.3%... source: 

Above means that getting a seat in Harvard is easier than getting the NTSE scholarship!

What is NTSE?

NTSE is a very prestigious exam held by NCERT every year to identify bright young Indian minds (studying in India as well as in abroad) and offer scholarships right from Class-X onwards till he/she completes Ph.D. In fact it is one of the very few Catch-Them-Young programs launched by Government, which has been a resounding success.

NTSE has been conducted for the last 50 years by NCERT – It was started for only Delhi in 1963 and was called National Science Talent Search Scheme (NSTSS). In 1964, it was extended to all the state/union territories. Thus NTSE is almost as old as NCERT, which came into existence in 1961.

Why NTSE?

i) Instant recognition:

As said, NTSE is a very prestigious exam and once you clear it, you get instant recognition at a very young age. When you grow older and write your own resume for jobs/admissions etc., credential of a NTSE scholar puts you far ahead of others.

ii) Monetary benefits:

You can self-support some of your study cost with the scholarship amount of Rs. 1250/= per month right from Class-XI.

iii) Exposure to a National Level Test:

Yes, this is the greatest reason why you should go for NTSE. At the very young age of 12/13, you are exposed to a National Level Test! Since the exam is very competitive and you have to pass through written test as well as Interview at so young an age, when you attempt NTSE, you are groomed automatically for the future exams like IAS, CAT, GRE etc. It is very rare to find a NTSE scholar who has not succeeded in his further careers. Thus regardless of whether you clear NTSE, you should at least make an attempt, just for the experience.

Therefore you should appear NTSE – for recognition, for money and as well as for the experience.

How much is the NTSE scholarship amount:

1.0 Rs. 1250/= per month in Class-XI & XII.

2.0 Rs. 2000/= per month in Under-graduation & PG studies.
3.0 As per UGC norms in Ph.D. level .

What is the Exam Pattern of NTSE?

NTSE is a two stage scholarship exam:

Stage-1) State Level: Written Test only for the purpose of screening qualifying students.

Stage-2) National Level: Written Test.

State Level examination is conducted by each State/UT to screen out students and to recommend the qualifying students to NCERT for the National Level examination. NCERT than conducts the National Level examination.

Thus after NCERT brings out the advertisement regarding NTSE along with the application form, the whole responsibility of the exam shifts to State Level.

At State Level, the particular Liaison Officers accepts the application forms, conducts the State Level examination and than recommends the list of qualifying students to NCERT. So for all purposes after you Download the application form for State Level NTSE Examination, till you are called by NCERT for the written test of National Level examination, you have a single point of contact – the NTSE Liaison Officer of the state you belong to. 

Eligibility to appear in NTSE 2015:

For appearing in NTSE exam, the eligibility is simple: you just need to be a Class X Indian student - you may be studying in India (in any recognized schools) or in abroad. There is no domicile restriction.

If you are an Indian students studying in Class-X abroad, you do not have to appear in Stage-I (State Level NTSE). Instead you can directly apply and appear for the Stage-II (i.e.National level NTSE).

Till 2012, NTSE was conducted for Class-VIII student. But however from NTSE-2013 (i.e. last year), NTSE is being held for Class-X students.

NTSE 2015 Exam Dates:

The whole process of NTSE exam from the date of notification till the publication of final result takes almost a year - while the NTSE notification comes out in July/August in one year, the final result (after the State Level NTSE and than the National level NTSE) is declared in July beginning of the next year. Thus, while you will be applying for NTSE in Class-X, by the time the result is declared, you would be in Class-XI..

The various important dates of NTSE 2015 exam (from application to result) is given below:

Stage I (State Level NTSE 2015) Dates:

Last Date of Form Submission: 31st August, 2014.

State Level NTSE 2015 Exam date:

01.11.2014 (Saturday):  For Mizoram, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Andaman & Nicobar: .

02.11.2014 (Sunday): For all other states: .

Result of state level NTSE exam is declared usually in January/February by the States/UTs. For exact info on the result date, you have to contact your State Liaison Officer.

Stage II (National level NTSE 2015) Dates:

National level NTSE 2015 Exam date for all states: 10.05.2015 (Sunday)

Result of National level NTSE exam is declared usually in Last week of June/First week of July, which will be notified in NCERT NTSE website.

For Indian Students Studying Abroad:

Last Date of Form Submission for Stage-II (i.e.National level NTSE): 28th February, 2015.

Syllabus of NTSE  2015:

Syllabus of NTSE 2015, as given in the notification and "Learn about the Tests" booklet is as below:

NTSE MAT SYLLABUS:

MAT of NTSE is conducted to judge your power of reasoning, ability to think, ability to judge, evaluate or discriminate, ability to visualize in the space, spatial orientation. In NTSE MAT paper, questions on analogies, classification, series, pattern perception, hidden figures, coding-decoding, block assembly, problem solving etc. is asked.  

NTSE SAT SYLLABUS (LANGUAGE TEST ):

Language Test is designed to judge the power of reading comprehension, logical sequencing; interpretative, evaluative, predictive and creative components of language. You can appear for the Language Test either  in English or in Hindi.

NTSE SAT SYLLABUS (MATHS, SCIENCE & SOCIAL SCIENCE):

This SAT section of  NTSE is conducted to judge how much of text-book knowledge your have earned. NCERT has not prescribed any particular syllabus for the State Level Examination as well as for National Level Examination. The reason is simple: India has no universal school board: there are too many educational boards – at National Level as well as State Level.

However, it is safe to assume that questions asked at National Level would be more or less NCERT book oriented and since the very purpose of State Level Examination is to ultimately select students at national level, the questions asked at State Level would also be more or less NCERT book oriented. The standard of questions conforms to the level of Classes IX and X.

Exam Pattern/Format of NTSE 2015:

Exam Pattern of both State Level NTSE & National Level NTSE (i.e. Stage-I & Stage-II) are similar and there are two test section, with a short interval in between them:

Part-I: Mental Ability Test (MAT).

Part-II: Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT).

There are in total, 200 question of 200 marks, to be answered in 3 hours. You can find the test section-wise distribution of marks in NTSE in the table at right.

Minimum qualifying marks in the State Level Examination of NTSE is 40% mark for general category candidate and 32% for SC/ST/physically challenged candidates.

The marks earned by you in the State Level Examination is for screening purpose only and is not carried forward to the National Level Examination for the Merit List. Scoring above minimum qualifying marks does not guarantees you for the next stage (i.e. to be recommended for National Level Exam). Your rank should be within the state-quota alloted to it by NCERT. This state quota is alloted by NCERT based All India Educational Survey (AIES) data.

Eligibility to appear in NTSE 2015:

For appearing in NTSE exam, the eligibility is simple: you just need to be a Class X Indian student - you may be studying in India (in any recognized schools) or in abroad. There is no domicile restriction.

If you are an Indian students studying in Class-X abroad, you do not have to appear in Stage-I (State Level NTSE). Instead you can directly apply and appear for the Stage-II (i.e.National level NTSE).

Till 2012, NTSE was conducted for Class-VIII student. But however from NTSE-2013 (i.e. last year), NTSE is being held for Class-X students.

NTSE 2015 Exam Dates:

The whole process of NTSE exam from the date of notification till the publication of final result takes almost a year - while the NTSE notification comes out in July/August in one year, the final result (after the State Level NTSE and than the National level NTSE) is declared in July beginning of the next year. Thus, while you will be applying for NTSE in Class-X, by the time the result is declared, you would be in Class-XI..

The various important dates of NTSE 2015 exam (from application to result) is given below:

Stage I (State Level NTSE 2015) Dates:

Last Date of Form Submission: 31st August, 2014.

State Level NTSE 2015 Exam date:

01.11.2014 (Saturday):  For Mizoram, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Andaman & Nicobar: .

02.11.2014 (Sunday): For all other states: .

Result of state level NTSE exam is declared usually in January/February by the States/UTs. For exact info on the result date, you have to contact your State Liaison Officer.

Stage II (National level NTSE 2015) Dates:

National level NTSE 2015 Exam date for all states: 10.05.2015 (Sunday)

Result of National level NTSE exam is declared usually in Last week of June/First week of July, which will be notified in NCERT NTSE website.

For Indian Students Studying Abroad:

Last Date of Form Submission for Stage-II (i.e.National level NTSE): 28th February, 2015.

NTSE 2015 Application Form & Admit Card:

You would be able to find the application form for state-level NTSE 2015 from the NTSE State Liaison Officer of your state. from form submission till the State Level NTSE exam is held and the result is declared, your single point of contact for all queries is this NTSE State Liaison Officer.

Some states charges a small amount of exam fee as a Demand Draft, which needs to be deposited along with the application form. But You should confirm from your State Liaison Officer regarding the NTSE fee. 

The form needs to be signed by Headmaster/Headmistress of your school along with Seal. Submit the form along with the exam fee (if required) to the Liaison officer of NTSE exam for you state. Last date is 31st August, 2014.

After you submit the form you would be intimated about the venue/date of written exam for State Level NTSE exam by the Liaison officer of NTSE exam for you state. If you do not get intimation, contact him/her.

Steps for applying to NTSE 2015for students studying abroad:

If you are an Indian student but studying abroad, the 1st stage of the exam i.e. State Level NTSE exam is waived. You need to apply for the 2nd stage i.e. National Level NTSE directly.

You need to apply through the Head of the Institution where you are studying along with an attested copy (by the Head of the Institution) of the mark sheet of of previous examination. Send your application to the following address:
Head, Educational Survey Division
National Council of Educational Research & Training
Sri Aurobindo Marg, New Delhi-110016

This should reach within 28th February, 2015.

NTSE 2016 Exam Dates:

Some of you browsing this blog post may be appearing in NTSE 2016 exam or later and hence would like to know when NTSE 2016 would be held. Well, The schedule of NTSE exam has almost been identical for past five years and hence based on this exam date trend analysis, you can easily forecast the NTSE 2016 Exam Dates.

For instance, the notification comes out in July/August, State level NTSE exam is held in 1st/2nd week of November. The national level NTSE exam is invariably held on the second Sunday of May. With these trends, you can find that date of National level NTSE 2016 Exam would be 8th May, 2016 (Sunday). Also last date for submission of NTSE forms has been 31st August. Hence for NTSE 2016, last date of form submission should be 31st August, 2015.