NTSE - National Talent Search Examination - 2015-2016

NTSE: An Introduction

All about NTSE

What your talent at a tender age can bring you? How can you support your own education with scholarships for your School Education? How can you exhibit your knowledge amongst the glit­tering lot and compete with them? What National Talent Search Examination (NTSE) is all about?

Different scholarship and Olympiad exami­nations bring you great opportunities right from your school days. Though there are many talent competitions which offer you financial aids for studies and acknowledge your talent at state and national levels, NTSE is the most presti­gious talent cum scholarship examination.

NTSE Selection Process

NTSE Selection comprises two stages to identify talent:

NTSE Level I: This stage is conducted by the State/UT usually in November. Any student of class X can register themselves for this stage of the selection process.

NTSE Level II: Those students who qualify Stage I appear for this stage of the examination. This is conducted at the National level and stu­dents from across the country that has cleared Stage I compete at this level.

What is NTSE?

NTSE is a national level exami­nation cum scholarship program which recognizes and nurture talented students across India and also offers cash awards to the successful candidates.

Each year almost 4000 students are selected who qualify Level I of the examination. The selected candidates then appear in Level II examination.

NTSE is an important examination valid for class X students only, as it gives a platform to students to compete at national level and avail scholarships for their further education.

NTSE Exam Pattern

Stage I– The Stage I of the test is divided into two parts- Part I and Part II. The part I of the test is Mental Ability test (MAT). The second part of this test is Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT), in which students have to attempt 50 questions related to Language.

Stage II– The Stage II of the test is divided into two parts- Part I and Part II. Part I is same as the MAT of Stage I, but Part II of SAT consists of 100 questions related to Maths, Science and Social studies. The SAT section is designed to judge reading abilities, interpretation, evaluation and gen­eral awareness about the subjects.

How to apply?

NCERT generally announces NTSE Application Form in May every year, for the scholarship exam, which is held in November. The application form process starts in the first week of August and continues till the end of August.

Who can apply?

As per NTSE Eligibility, stu­dents from different states of the country studying in X standard are eligible for appearing in the examination. Whether a student is from a government or a private school, he/she is eligible to apply for NTSE.

Find below the important dates of NTSE:

Stage	Area		Month
Level I (State)	Submission of application form		August
Examination in Mizoram, Meghalaya, Nagaland and Andaman & Nicobar Islands		November
Examination in all other States/UT		November
Level II (National)	Examination in all States/UT		May

NTSE Application Form

National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) generally announces NTSE Application Form in May every year, for the NTSE scholarship exam, which is held in November. The application form process starts in the first week of August and con­tinues till end of August.

✓✓Candidates can contact State/UT liaison officer to procure application form

✓✓ The duly filled-up form should be signed by the respective principal of the school

✓✓The completed application form should be sent to the following address

Address –In-Charge, National Talent Search Scheme Cell, Education Survey Division, National Council of Educational Research & Training, Sri Aurobindo Marg, New Delhi-110016

Phone: 011-26560464

Website: http://www.ncert.nic.in

Application Fee: NTSE Application Form fee for Stage I exam is notified by respective State/UT. NCERT does not charge any fee for NTSE State II exam.

NTSE Eligibility Criteria

NTSE Eligibility Criteria says students of class X from a rec­ognized school are eligible for this examination cum scholarship pro­gramme. NTSE scholarship exam is a national level examination cum scholar­ship program which recognizes and nur­ture talented students across India and also offers cash awards to the successful candi­dates.

Eligibility Criteria of NTSE are set by the National Council of Education and Training (NCERT), which is conducted at two Levels. Level I of NTSE is conducted at State level, and according to the eligi­bility criteria Indian students of class X are eligible for appearing in the test.

Students must have scored 60% marks in their class IX, during the previous aca­demic year. Student should be from a rec­ognized school in the respective State or Union Territory. In case of SC, ST and PH category students a relaxation of 5% is provided. The maximum score in their IX class must be 55% marks.

Students scoring 80% or above in the State level, are eligible for Level II which is held at national level. Almost 4000 students are selected for the National level test across the country. Every student who scores the required number of marks at Level II is eligible for the schol­arship program.

NTSE Important Dates

The Important Dates of NTSE are listed below:

Stage	Area		Month
Level I (State)	Submission of application form		August
Examination in Mizoram, Meghalaya, Nagaland and Andaman & Nicobar Islands		November
Examination in all other States/UT		November
Level II (National)	Examination in all States/UT		May

NTSE Exam Pattern

NTSE Exam Pattern is broadly categorized into two important lev­els- State Level and National Level. The first stage of the test is conducted by individual state or union territory and follows a test format compromising of two parts- Part 1 and Part 2. The NTSE Exam Pattern is an objective type test, available in both paper-pen and computer-based formats.

NTSE Exam Level I test is divid­ed into two parts- Part I and Part II. The Part I of the test is Mental Ability test (MAT), which consists of reasoning and logical based questions. In this part students have to answer questions related to power of reasoning, ability to think, evaluate, ability to discriminate and visualize. The number of questions students have to answer is 50 which are related to analogies, classifica­tions, series, pattern perception, coding-decoding, hidden figures and problem solving etc. The sec­ond part of this test is Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT), in which stu­dents have to attempt 50 questions related to Language.

The Level II of the test is divid­ed into two parts- Part I and Part II. Part I is same as the MAT of Level I, but Part II of SAT consists of 100 questions related to Mathematics, Science and Social studies. The SAT section is designed to judge reading abili­ties, interpretation, evaluation and general awareness about the subjects.

The candidates are required to select any one language either English or Hindi as the mode of examination, which will be applicable throughout the exam process.

The Second level of NTSE Exam is the National Level, where short listed students from State Level appear for the examination. This level is conducted by NCERT and has two parts- MAT and SAT. However, at this level a negative marking of 1/3 points is done for each wrong answer given by the students. The time is bounded to 135 minutes for completing the test.

Test	No. of Questions	Maximum Marks	Time Allotted	Marking Scheme
LEVEL I
MAT	50	50	45 minutes	+1 for right answer zero marks for wrong answer
SAT – Language Test	50	50	45 minutes
LEVEL II
MAT	50	50	45 minutes	+1 for right answer  -1/3 marks for wrong answer
SAT – Mathematics, Science, Social Science	100	100	90 minutes

NTSE Selection Procedure

NTSE Selection Procedure of schol­ars is done on the basis of their scores in the National level test. NTSE scholarship exam is a national level examination cum scholarship program which recognizes and nurture talented students across India and also offers cash awards to the suc­cessful candidates.

Scholars are selected on the basis of the scores achieved in the final National level test. NCERT selects only those candidates who have successfully achieved the required score in the final stage of the examination and provide scholarships of Rs 500 per month.

NTSE Exam Pattern is categorized under two important sections- State level and National level. Students of class X across India can apply for the NTSE state level, which is conducted by individual state and Union Territories. After achieving desirable score, they are eligible for National level. Almost 4000 students are select­ed for the National level test across the country.

NTSE has a two-stage selection process for awarding scholarships to students. At Stage I, selection is done at State or UT level through a written examination. After qualifying Stage I a student appears for Stage II, which is conducted by NCERT at national level. Every student who scores the required number of marks at Stage II is eligible for the scholarship program.

Each state has recommended a quota of spe­cific number of students to be sent for the National level of examination. However, there is no such quota for awarding the scholarships but certain percentage of scholarships is reserved under different categories. 15% reser­vation of scholarships is for SC