NTSE 2019: Exam Date, Application, Syllabus, Eligibility

NTSE 2020 will be organized by the National Council of Education Research and Training (NCERT) for the scholarship to around 1000 meritorious students. NCERT has released the official brochure of NTSE 2020 for stage 1 and 2. As per the brochure, NTSE 2020 stage 1 exam in all states and UTs will be held on the first Sunday of November i.e. 3 November. The State Council of Education Research and Training (SCERT) of respective states/UTs conduct the stage 1 of NTSE. Candidates who will qualify in NTSE 2020 stage 1 will be considered eligible for stage 2. NTSE 2020 stage 2 will be conducted by NCERT on 10 May, second Sunday of May 2020. NTSE 2020 stage 1 and 2 exams will be divided into two parts – MAT and SAT. The question paper of NTSE 2020 will contain 200 questions with 1 mark for each correct answer and only 240 minutes will be allotted to complete the test. NTSE scholarship is awarded to deserving students for pursuing science and social science courses up to doctoral level and second degree level for medical and engineering courses. Read the article NTSE 2020 for more details on dates, application, eligibility, exam pattern, syllabus and result.

NTSE 2020 Dates

As discussed earlier, the exam dates of NTSE 2020 stage 1 and 2 have been announced. Check the dates from the table below.

NTSE 2020 Exam Date Announced

The official NTSE 2020 information brochure has been released. According to the brochure, the state level examination i.e. NTSE stage 1 will be conducted in first Sunday of November 2020, except from Nagaland, Meghalaya, Andaman & Nicobar Islands and Mizoram, where it will be held in the first Saturday of November 2020. Thus it can be said that NTSE 2020 stage 1 exam will be conducted on 2 and 3 November, respectively. NCT of Delhi, Bihar, Jharkhand, Jammu & Kashmir, West Bengal will conduct NTSE Exam on 17 November.

NTSE 2020 Overview

Candidates can go through the important highlights of NTSE 2020 from the table below.

NTSE Full Form

Students might get confused about NTSE. To clear the doubts of candidates, the full form of NTSE is National Talent Search Examination. As mentioned above, this scholarship scheme organized by NCERT, is awarded to the meritorious candidates for pursuing science and social science courses up to PhD level and second degree level for medical and engineering courses. Every year, around 1,20,000 to 1,40,000 students appear for NTSE stage 1, while only 10000 candidates are eligible to appear for stage 2. Of which only 2000 aspirants are selected for NTSE scholarships.

NTSE 2020 Stage 1 

The NTSE stage 1 exam is conducted by SCERT of various states and UTs. Candidates who have a domicile of a particular state are eligible to fill the NTSE stage 1 application form. The modes of filling and payment of application form, as well as fees, differs from state to state. The application fee and modes can be different but NTSE 2020 stage 1 exam will be conducted on the same date except from Nagaland, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Andaman & Nicobar Islands. Similarly, the exam pattern will also be the same. The number of candidates who will qualify in stage 1 will be eligible for stage 2.

NTSE 2020 Stage 2

All the qualified candidates from stage 1 will be called for NTSE Stage 2. NCERT will conduct a common national level scholarship examination to shortlist 2000 merit students. The qualified aspirants will not have to fill a separate application form. NTSE stage 2 exam will have questions from SAT and MAT. No state quota is applicable under this stage, however, candidates belonging to reserved categories and physically handicapped will be provided the general reservations.

NTSE 2020 Scholarship Amount

Candidates who qualify in both NTSE stage 1 and 2 will be awarded scholarship. From the year 2014-15, the rates of scholarship were increased from Rs. 500 to the following rates in various categories:

• Class 11 and 12: NTSE scholarship of Rs. 1250 per month
• UG and PG: NTSE scholarship of Rs. 2000 per month
• PhD courses: NTSE scholarship in accordance of UGC norms

Note: It must be noted that once the NTSE scholarship will be awarded, students must keep up their performance. NTSE 2020 scholarship will be renewed based on the academic performance of aspirants every year. If any candidate is unable to perform well as per the scholarship standard, then the scholarship awarded might be cancelled.

NTSE 2020 Eligibility Criteria

Before candidates start registering for NTSE 2091 must go through the NTSE Eligibility to check whether they are eligible or not. It is mandatory to fulfil the eligibility conditions set by the authority. The eligibility conditions which must be fulfilled by aspirants are:

• Nationality: Candidates must be a citizen of India. However, Indian students studying abroad in Class 10 can also compete for NTSE. 
• Domicile: Candidates from all the states can appear for the NTSE scholarship examination. Thus no domicile restrictions can be imposed.
• Class: Candidates studying in class 10 can only apply for NTSE 2020
• Education Board: Candidates pursuing their studies from recognized schools including Kendriya Vidyalaya, Navodaya Vidyalaya and Sainik School etc. will be eligible to appear for NTSE 2020. Students studying under the Open and Distance Learning (ODL) can also apply for scholarship test provided they must be below the age of 18 years and should not be employed.

NTSE Eligibility Criteria 2020 for Student Studying Abroad

As mentioned above, candidates from outside India can also apply for NTSE 2020. The following are NTSE eligibility conditions which must be fulfilled:

• A candidate will be eligible to appear for NTSE stage 2 2020 only if s/he has secured at least 60% in aggregate at the previous annual examination
• Such aspirants have to travel to India for appearing in NTSE stage 2 any of the centres

NTSE 2020 Application Form

The application form of NTSE 2020 will begin from the first week of August. Candidates have to fill NTSE Application Form in stage 1 only. NTSE 2020 application form will be available either in online or offline mode from the Liaison Office or the official website of SCERT. It is mandatory to fill all the required details in the application form carefully and get it signed by the Principal of the school.

No application form is required for NTSE stage 2. Candidates who will qualify in stage 1 will be eligible to take NTSE stage 2 examination. Candidates can download NTSE application form of their state from the link provided here.

NTSE Application Fee 2020

Candidates must note that it is important to pay the application fee of NTSE 2020 for stage 1. The amount of NTSE stage 1 as prescribed by various states and UTs must be paid directly either in online or offline modes. As there is no NTSE application form to be filled for stage 2, thus no application fee must be remitted.

NTSE 2020 Admit Card

The admit card of NTSE 2020 will be available in the second week of October. SCERT of respective states will release the NTSE admit card 2020. Only aspirants whose application form will be successfully accepted can download the admit card of NTSE 2020. It can be downloaded after entering the required credentials. Without NTSE Admit Card, aspirants will not be allowed to enter the examination hall.

NTSE admit card for stage 2

NTSE 2020 admit card for stage 2 will be available 21 days prior to the examination. To download the admit card of NTSE stage 2 2020, candidates need to enter the required details in the space provided. In the printout of NTSE admit card, students have to paste their passport size photograph.

In case of any discrepancy in NTSE admit card 2020 for stage 1 and 2, candidates must immediately contact the concerned admission office of the District Inspector of Schools.

NTSE 2020 Exam Centres

NTSE 2020 Exam centres are the list of cities in which examination will be conducted. NTSE 2020 is to be conducted in all states of the country. While filling the application form, candidates have to provide their preferences of exam centres as per their convenience. Candidates must select the preferences carefully as no modifications will be done after the final submission. The allotment of NTSE exam centres will be done on the basis of first come first serve method. The details such as name and address of NTSE 2020 exam centres will be available in the admit card.

NTSE 2020 Exam Pattern

As mentioned above, NTSE 2020 exam will be of 240 minutes and will be conducted in offline mode. A total of 200 questions will be asked in the NTSE Exam. The question paper of NTSE 2020 will be divided into two parts – MAT (Mental Ability Test) and SAT (Scholarship Ability Test). There will be no language paper in NSTE 2020. The selection of eligible candidates will be done on the basis of marks obtained in MAT and SAT. Check NTSE exam pattern from the table below.

NTSE 2020 Question Paper

As mentioned above, the question paper of NTSE 2020 will contain two sections which are: MAT and SAT. The questions in MAT and SAT in NTSE Question Paper will be asked from the following topics:

NTSE MAT question paper 2020

The questions asked in MAT question paper will be asked from:

• Analogies
• Classification
• Series
• Pattern perception
• Hidden figures
• Coding decoding
• Block assembly
• Problem solving etc.

NTSE SAT question paper 2020

The question paper of NTSE SAT 2020 will have questions from Science, Mathematics and Social Science. Check the table for better understanding.

NTSE 2020 Syllabus

SCERT as well NCERT has not prescribed any NTSE syllabus for stage 1 or 2. The questions asked in NTSE stage 1 and 2 will be from Class 9 and 10 syllabus. Students are advised to complete their NTSE Syllabus for better preparation. Knowing their syllabus of NTSE 2020 will help aspirants to be aware of their strengths and weakness. Also, students can also refer to separate booklet namely, “Learn about test” containing sample papers of MAT and SAT.

NTSE 2020 Answer Key

Once NTSE stage 1 will be over, the SCERTs of respective states will release the official answer key of NTSE 2020 in PDF format. NTSE 2020 Answer key stage 1 will be released by December 2020. NTSE answer key will comprise of solutions to the questions asked in the examination. Since the stage 1 will be held in pen and paper-based mode, thus candidates can carry the question paper. Candidates can match the solutions provided in NTSE answer key with the marked ones in the question paper to calculate their probable scores. The links to download NTSE answer key stage 1 for different states will be provided on this page once released.

Similarly, NTSE Answer Key Stage 2 will be released by NCERT in online mode in May 2020. Aspirants can estimate their approximate marks to be secured in the examination. For the evaluation of scores, candidates need to follow the official marking scheme set by the authority. The answer key of NTSE 2020 stage 2 will be provided on this page once published.

NTSE Result 2020

After the completion of the test, the respective state authorities will release the result of NTSE 2020 stage 1 in the month of January or February. NTSE result will be announced in the form of merit list. Based on the marks secured in MAT and SAT, NTSE result 2020 will be prepared. NTSE 2020 result will be available in the PDF format or scorecard. If the result will be released in the form of score card, then candidates can download it by entering the particular credentials. In case, the NTSE result available in PDF format, it can be downloaded by clicking on the link and searching the name and roll number of aspirants.

NTSE stage 2 result 2020 will be announced in the month of June/July. Candidates securing the minimum cut off of NTSE 2020 will be included in the result. NTSE Result will be released in the PDF format. In order to download NTSE result for stage 2, aspirants need to click on the relevant link. The list will include the names and roll number of selected candidates for the scholarship along with other details.

NTSE 2020 Cut off for Stage 1 and 2

The cut off of NTSE 2020 is the minimum marks to be secured by aspirants to qualify the test. The qualifying NTSE cut off percentage for stage 1 and 2 has been set by authorities. The set minimum cut off must be secured in both MAT and SAT sections. Students can check the NTSE Cut Off here. The following is the cut off for stage 1 and 2.

 Candidates securing NTSE cut off for stage 1 and 2 will be considered qualified in both stages. In 2015, the minimum qualifying percentage for SC/ST and PH candidates was increased from 32% to 35%

About NTSE Scholarship Exam

NTSE scholarship exam can be taken by Indian as well as overseas students. NTSE scholarship was constituted in 1963 by NCERT for 10 students, which is 1000 now. This scholarship is awarded based on the written examination, a project report and interview.