National Talent Search Examination (NTSE)

The National Talent Search Examination or the NTS exam is conducted  by the National Council of Educational Research & Training (NCERT) with the purpose of identifying brilliant students and nurturing their talent, so that they may scale great heights in their chosen field, and bring pride and glory to the motherland.

NCERT awards 1000 Scholarships to talented students of Class X  each year under the National Talent Search Scheme. The scheme provides financial assistance in the form of a monthly scholarship and an annual book grant. Students who are awarded the scholarship receive financial assistance up to Ph. D level in Social Sciences, Basic Sciences and Commerce. Students pursuing professional courses like Engineering, Medicine, Management and Law receive financial assistance up to Master degree.

Fees: Rs. 500/-

Eligibility : All students of Class X studying in recognized schools are eligible to appear for the Stage -I examination, conducted by the States/UTs, in which the schools are located. There will be no domicile restriction.

Exam Pattern: The NTS exam is conducted in two stages.  The first stage selection is made at the level of States/ UTs through a written examination. Students qualifying the first stage examination are eligible to appear for the second stage examination conducted by NCERT at a national level. The second stage examination will also comprise of an interview in addition to the written examination.

The written examination is an Objective Type of an exam which is conducted in two parts, both at the State/UT level and at the NCERT level as follows :

1. Part I :  This part is a General Mental Ability Test (G.M.A.T.). This test is given to the students to judge their power of reasoning, ability to think, ability to judge, evaluate or discriminate, ability to visualize in the space, spatial orientation etc. A variety of questions e.g. analogies, classification, series, pattern perception, hidden figures, coding-decoding, block assembly, problem solving etc. are used for this purpose. This test comprises of 100 questions.

2. Part-II : This is a Scholastic Aptitude Test (S.A.T.). SAT contains items from Sciences, Social Sciences and Mathematics. A discussion about this scheme took place in the 94th Meeting of Executive Committee of the NCERT held on 25.11.2010 and was decided that from 2012 the NTSE will again be held for class X students.

From the year 2013-14

• NTSE will be conducted for Class X students

• The examination will consist of Mental Ability Test (MAT) and Scholastic Ability Test (SAT)

• Quota for State/UT will be computed proportionally on the basis of students enrollment

In Class IX and X

• The amount of scholarship will be Rs. 500/- per month for all the students studying
  In Class XI onwards (irrespective of class/course) except for Ph.D., where in it is paid as per UGC norms.

• The scholarships under the present scheme are awarded to the candidates for pursuing courses in sciences and social sciences up to doctoral level and in professional courses like medicine and engineering up to second-degree level subject to the fulfilment of the conditions provided in this brochure.

Study Material for NTSE :

• 5 Test papers for MAT

• 5 Test papers for SAT